Getting primary information about a future project

Getting the primary information about the project

Probably the most important issue for the client and the contractor is the question of the cost of the project. At the same time, the customer often appeals to several companies at once in order to clarify the price order and decide on the contractor, therefore the question of the time he is willing to spend on communication with one studio is extremely important for him.

Many companies use questionnaires (or questionnaires) to collect initial information about a project, whether it is website development or corporate identity. It turns out that all the necessary questions have already been asked in it and all that is required of the client is to fill it in and send it to the company so that there, having analyzed this information, will report the cost and time.

At first glance, everything seems logical and simple. In practice, in most cases, everything turns out to be not so joyful. And the main problem lies in the questions asked in these questionnaires. The fact is that website development is a service that requires accuracy, and therefore a small detail in the project description or the client’s desire may ultimately turn into an extra week, or even a month of work. With this in mind, the employees who compose such questionnaires try to ask as many questions as possible which very often clients cannot or do not want to answer. So it turns out that the desire to get the fullest possible information about the project ultimately turns against the development companies .
')

What questions do not need to ask?

You can make a small sample of such questionnaires and look at the questions asked by customers, as well as their number. For example, let's look at issuing on two requests: “ Site Development Questionnaire ” and “ Site Development Questionnaire ” and, accordingly, those questionnaires that companies offer to their customers. Having calculated and discarding the unnecessary, it turns out that the average number of questions that a client is offered to answer is 28. That is, if a client wants to determine the approximate cost of developing a project and compare prices in 5 companies, then he needs to answer ~ 140 questions. Even in spite of the fact that most of the questions in such questionnaires are repeated, it will take quite a lot of time and not every client will want to spend this time.

If we study such questionnaires in more detail, then it can be noted that most of the questions in them should not have appeared there at all, because either the client, by definition, cannot know the answer, or the answer to such questions is obvious.

Examples:

Optimization for the minimum screen resolution:

• 800 * 600
• 1024 * 768

Playback in browser:

• Internet Explorer
• Netscape
• Opera

Moreover, most of these questions. They practically do not play any role in the evaluation of the future project, do not allow to better understand the goals and objectives of the project, but they take a lot of time and the client’s desire to turn to such a company.

What questions should I ask?

There are very few such questions, but it is very important not only to formulate them correctly, but also to ask them in the right form.

For a start, it is important to understand which company turned to you for a service. It is enough to know the company name and contact information of the person responsible for the project. Everything else is easy to find, including detailed information about the company, its type of activity, occupation , etc.

Secondly , it is necessary that the client tells you what goal is facing the future project. In this case, it is very desirable to leave the question open, and not to give answers.

Thirdly , it is important to understand for whom the site is being made, that is, which users will access it. Any client must very well represent their customers, their target audience.

Fourthly , it is necessary that the future project easily fit into the overall positioning of the company in the market, i.e. one must imagine what impression the target product should produce on the final product.

Fifth , there are situations where the customer has a very clear idea of ​​what structure the future site should have. Although it happens the other way around. In any case, this question will not be superfluous, and the answer obtained will rather strongly simplify the task.

Sixth , customers, in addition to their customers, know their competitors very well. Therefore, it is important to ask them about it.

And seventh , it's a good idea to ask the client for additional information on the project. From the core it is: the presence of the logo, corporate identity and brand book. As well as any comments and additions that the client considers important, he will mention.

The remaining questions for understanding what the client wants are not so important, so they can be safely left for "later", the main thing is not to forget about them completely.

Final result

Following these basic theses, we prepared questionnaires for the following types of services:

1. on the development of the logo and corporate identity ;
2. to create a site ;
3. and its promotion .

Separately, I would like to note the convenience of the format of the chosen format - .pdf, namely: its small size, flexibility to give the appearance, as well as the ease of subsequent work with it.