5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Web Design Company

17 Jul, 2012

For a successful web project, choosing the right web design company is crucial. However, while picking an web design agency you have to ask the most important questions to make the right decision.

A meeting with a web design company is an interview in which you have to make sure that their business is legitimate, and get a sense for the personality and culture of the company.Most importantly, you need to understand the web design company’s approach to the unique challenges you’re dealing with in your project.

“Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”

Asking the right questions

It’s hard to believe but you can choose the ideal web design company based on only 5 intelligent questions. Here arethose 5 questions that will tell you more than any hour-long presentation could:

Question number 1: What is your approach to usability?

This question will help you quickly differentiate between experienced web designers and beginners. It will also help you understand the company’s focus i.e. whether or not they have the most important thing in mind which is of course the visitor. The best people working in web design today will be very happy when you mention usability and they’ll be glad to share their opinions, experience, and the latest research.

If you’re wondering what the best answer should be like, here it is:“I’m delighted that you asked this question!

User-centered design is our belief, and we conduct usability testing whenever possible. We believe in defending the interests of the visitors with actual evidence and research.”

Question number 2: Can you show me examples of projects with similar goals?

It is good to ask for examples of sites with similar goals and features as yours. In this way, you can ask why a tool was built in a certain way, what challenges they faced, what results have been measured, and how the project’s goals were met. If they haven’t built a similar site before see if they are frank about it and have any ideas. Look for a company that can show you a wide range of designs because it means they have a healthy creative philosophy.

Here’s what the best answer should be like:“Let us show you our work”
Your follow-up question should be: How many design revisions are included?

Question number 3: Can I meet the team?

This question will make it clear if the team is in-house or outsourced. Maybe the web design company you’re bearing in mind is a reliable partner company or it could be an ad hoc team of freelancers who have never worked together before. Maybe it is just one person offering to sell the project, do the analysis, design the site, program it, and manage the server! It is best to look for a team of specialists.

The best answer could be one of the following:“We do all projects in-house via a highly skilled team”.
Here is your follow-up question: How frequently have the members worked together?

Question number 4: What if I want to make changes later?

Every website will change over time. Either you will be charged hourly for these changes or a content-management tool will be set up that makes it easy, fast, and free to update text, upload images, and add pages.

Best answer would be:“You will be given a content management system that will let you manage the website. An invoice will never be given to you for basic changes”
Your follow-up question should be: What are the changes that I will have to pay for?

Question number 5: How will we measure results?

If they use terms like bounce rate, unique visits, page views, time on site, inbound links, search-engine rankings, conversion rate, etc. then they know what they’re doing. Always ask for explanations in simple words if they use technical terms that you don’t understand. A company that has done similar projects before will definitely have a general sense for benchmarks.

The best answer is something like:“It is by unique visitors, bounce rate, and conversion percentage that we measure results. The goal for any of our project is to generate leads, so these stats are essential. We measure results by the help of an analytics tool and we’ll teach how to track these measures also.”
Your follow-up question: What kind of numbers should we be expecting for our project?

Extra Tips - When Selecting a Web Design Company

Still need more judging criteria? Your wish is granted:

Check references or meet potential web designers through referrals.
Find out whether the pricing is an estimate or a firm, not-to-exceed number.
Good listeners is an essential quality to look for.

You are now officially equipped with all the information needed in picking the right web design company for your project. In case you were wondering, 4M Designers has the best answers to all your questions, maybe it’s time to hire us!