Questions to ask a web design agency

A portfolio shows you an agency's best day. The questions you ask in a first conversation tell you what it will be like on an ordinary one, which is what you actually need to know. A few well-chosen questions separate the studios that will look after you from the ones that will hand over files and disappear.

Start with process. Ask how they work, from first conversation to launch, and who you will actually deal with day to day. You want a clear answer with recognisable phases and a named point of contact, not a vague 'we'll figure it out'. How someone describes their process is a good proxy for how organised the work will be.

Ask what they need from you, and when. Good agencies are candid that a project is a two-way commitment, and that content, feedback and decisions from your side keep it on track. An agency that pretends it will all happen without you is either being naive or setting up to blame you later when the dates slip.

Ask what happens after launch. A website is not finished on the day it goes live. Who hosts it, who maintains it, who fixes things that break, and what it costs. Vague answers here are a warning, because the gap between launch and neglect is where a lot of sites quietly rot. You want to know you are not about to be left alone with it.

A portfolio shows you an agency's best day.

Ask who owns what at the end. You should own your domain, your content and your site. It is worth checking plainly, because some arrangements leave a client renting their own website, or unable to leave without losing it. A straight answer to 'what do I walk away with' tells you how the relationship is really structured.

Ask about results, not just looks. A site exists to do a job, whether that is enquiries, sales or bookings. An agency that talks only about aesthetics and never about outcomes may give you something handsome that does not perform. The good ones ask what success looks like for your business before they talk about design at all.

Finally, pay attention to how they answer more than what they answer. Do they listen, ask about your business, and give straight replies including the occasional 'that is not the right spend for you'. Honesty in a sales conversation, especially honesty that costs them something, is the best single sign of how they will behave once you are a client.

If you are about to have those conversations and want a sense of what good answers sound like, we are happy to be one of them. Tell us what you are planning and we will give you straight answers, whether or not we end up being the right fit.