A useful Shopify website brief explains what the store needs to do, who it needs to serve, and what the team needs to deliver. It does not need to prescribe every section or arrive with a finished design.
The brief gives a freelancer, agency, or internal team enough context to make good decisions. It also helps you compare proposals that might otherwise look similar while including very different amounts of work.
This guide focuses on preparing that document. For the full sequence from planning through launch, read our Shopify website design guide.
Start with the business and the customer
Explain what you sell, which customers you serve, and why someone chooses your product. Include the current website if there is one, your main markets, and the channels that bring people to the store.
Be specific about the buying decision. “We sell premium products to everyone” gives a designer little to work with. “We sell ceramic tableware to people buying their first coordinated dinner set” suggests useful questions about set contents, dimensions, durability, care, and replacing individual pieces.
Then describe the problem the project should solve. Perhaps customers cannot compare ranges, mobile navigation is awkward, or a growing catalog has become difficult to maintain. Keep observations separate from proposed solutions. “Customers struggle to find replacement plates” is evidence to investigate. “We need a mega menu” is one possible response.
Define what a successful project would change
Choose outcomes that can be checked. Some will be commercial, such as improving the performance of an important landing page. Others will concern usability or operations, such as allowing your team to update product care information without asking a developer.
| Broad goal | More useful requirement |
|---|---|
| Make the store look premium | Create a consistent visual system using approved photography, typography, spacing, and color rules across key templates. |
| Make shopping easier | Help customers compare dinner-set contents and find matching individual pieces from both navigation and product pages. |
| Make the website faster | Investigate performance on the main landing, collection, and product templates, then document improvements and remaining constraints. |
| Make it easy to manage | Give the merchant editable product details, reusable sections, clear field guidance, and a practical handover. |
Avoid promising a fixed sales increase simply because the website will be redesigned. Product demand, acquisition, pricing, inventory, and fulfillment also affect performance. Agree on what the team can deliver and how the business will evaluate it.
List the pages and buying journeys you need
A page list is a starting point, but it does not reveal all the work. Two product pages can need different structures if one sells a simple item and another sells a configurable bundle.
List the main templates, meaningful variations, and customer journeys. For the tableware example, the scope might include a homepage, collections, individual products, dinner sets, a care guide, About, Contact, delivery information, and returns information. A wholesale inquiry path might be relevant; a subscription system might not.
Our guide to supporting pages for a Shopify store can help you identify the information around the purchase. Keep genuinely necessary requirements separate from ideas that can wait.
Describe the difficult product, not only the easiest one
Provide examples of products with many options, unusual delivery conditions, low stock, bundles, or detailed specifications. These expose requirements that a simple demo product can hide.
Explain how customers should choose those options and what the business needs to happen afterward. If a made-to-order item needs a longer lead time, the website, confirmation message, and fulfillment process must tell a consistent story.
Audit what is ready and what still needs producing
Gather your logo files, brand guidelines, licensed fonts, product photography, existing copy, and policy information. Identify the approved version and the person who can answer questions about it.
If you do not have full brand guidelines, say so. A project can include establishing the digital design direction, but that is work to scope rather than something everyone should assume is already settled.
For images, distinguish between having photographs and having the right photographs. You may have beautiful close-ups but no useful wide image for the homepage or no consistent product-grid crops. Use an image preparation plan to identify the placements, crops, and missing shots before design approval depends on them.
Make content ownership explicit. Who writes the initial copy? Who verifies product specifications? Who supplies testimonials and permissions? Who approves claims? A missing owner often creates more delay than a missing design reference.
Record integrations and operational constraints
List the systems the store depends on, such as email, reviews, subscriptions, shipping, inventory, customer support, and analytics. For each, explain what it does and whether it must remain.
Do not send passwords in the brief. Describe the access needed, then grant appropriate permissions through the relevant platform when the team is appointed.
Include constraints that affect planning: a campaign launch, seasonal stock, a warehouse change, a migration, or an internal approval process. Separate fixed deadlines from preferred dates. A deadline tied to a paid campaign needs a different contingency plan from a date chosen for convenience.
If the existing store will remain live during development, agree on which changes can be staged safely and which affect shared store content. A duplicate theme is not a complete duplicate of the business. The Shopify redesign checklist covers that distinction and launch coordination.
Share a budget and decide who owns delivery
A budget range helps the team propose an appropriate approach. Without one, you may receive a basic setup quote beside a comprehensive design and development proposal and mistake them for competing prices for the same work.
Ask what is included in discovery, creative direction, UI/UX, content structure, development, testing, training, and post-launch support. Also identify theme licenses, app subscriptions, photography, copywriting, and other costs that may sit outside the build.
Our guide to hiring someone to build a Shopify website explains the differences between freelance and studio scopes. A capable studio can coordinate the disciplines and take implementation off your plate while you focus on marketing and the rest of the business.
Assign one final decision-maker and a small group of people who supply specialist input. Agree on a feedback process. Consolidated comments with a clear reason are easier to act on than conflicting messages from several stakeholders.
Use this short website brief template
Copy the following headings into a document and answer them in plain language. Leave an item open when you need the chosen partner's advice.
- Business: what we sell, where we sell, and what makes the offer useful.
- Customers: who we serve and what they need to understand before buying.
- Current problems: observed difficulties, with examples where available.
- Success criteria: the experiences and capabilities the project should improve.
- Scope: templates, product differences, supporting pages, and important journeys.
- Brand and content: approved assets, gaps, and content owners.
- Systems: integrations, workflows, and technical constraints.
- Delivery: budget, deadlines, approvals, responsibilities, and handover needs.
Add a few visual references with explanations. “We like the clear product comparisons” is useful. “Make ours look exactly like this” risks importing another brand's decisions without understanding whether they fit yours.
Turn the brief into a workable project
You do not need to arrive with every answer. A good planning process helps surface requirements, challenge assumptions, and establish the right scope.
Sugoi Digital's comprehensive design and development projects start at $9,500 USD. We bring creative direction, UI/UX, development, and QA into the same process. Work With Us to discuss your store and the work it needs.
