Questions 1 and 2
How would you solve our problems?
Whether you're talking about a redesign to an existing website or you're launching an entirely new product, you're always going to be working to solve existing business problems. Unfortunately, a lot of clients don't share these problems with their designers, which means that work suffers, solutions remain out of their grasp, and costs can easily go over budget.
"Clients should come to the table with a list of problems their business faces on a high level and look to the expertise of the agency to help suggest solutions that solve those problems," says Nick Finck, director of user experience at Blue Flavor. "A website agency will operate much more effectively when they are asked to solve problems around an online strategy than they will if they are told what solutions they should be including in their response to an RFP."
Who's doing the technical work?
Here's a simple reality check: Just because you hired XYZ Design Firm doesn't mean that XYZ will be doing all the development on your website. In fact, a lot of designers often outsource their development work to a regular pool of freelancers, according to Scott Paley, co-founder of Abstract Edge, who says that outsourcing isn't a bad thing, per se. But Paley cautions that clients need to understand the nature of that working relationship.
"It's key for a client or agency to ask their web design firm who will be managing the technical aspects of the project," Paley says. "Is it somebody on staff? Is that person very technical him/herself or is he/she relying heavily on the sub-contractor? If there is a sub-contractor, are they in the same or similar time zone? Or, will all of the work be done during overnight hours with nobody around to fix anything during regular business hours? The client or agency should be looking for answers that provide comfort that the web design firm has somebody on staff who is highly technical and will be managing the project, and will also be in direct contact with the client or agency."
According to Paley, the best thing clients can do when they identify the technical person in charge of building their website -- whether that person is a freelancer or in-house -- is to interview that person directly. After all, you're going to be hearing a lot from them over the course of the project.
