How can website planning meet customer needs?

The key to planning a website that meets customer needs is to first distinguish between the client commissioning the website and the target customers who will actually use it, then clarify whom the website should serve and what it should accomplish. Where circumstances allow, interview target customers before development and use their expectations and needs to guide content, functionality, and design, rather than letting the client’s or designer’s personal preferences take the place of those needs.

Clarify customer roles before deciding whom the website should prioritize

A 2010 article by awoo Intelligence notes that a website’s stakeholders may include not only prospective customers but also internal employees, the client, industry peers, and relevant government agencies. The design company may also want its work to stand out so it can showcase it later. Therefore, asking what customers want should not mean considering only the opinions of whoever pays for the website.

Focusing on commercial websites, the article advocates prioritizing customers who generate revenue. This offers a basis for making trade-offs: first identify the website’s primary audience and the business objectives it aims to achieve by serving that audience, then discuss design. This revenue-first position is context-specific and should not be treated as a shared objective for all websites.

Connect needs identified through interviews to content and feature planning

The material proposes this sequence: first understand the target audience’s expectations and needs, then plan and develop features accordingly. Interviews should not merely endorse a predetermined solution after the design is complete; they should influence what the website does.

• Identify the audience:Clarify which target customers will use the website, rather than gathering only internal colleagues’ ideas.
• Understand expectations:Where circumstances allow, conduct interviews before developing a new website to understand what customers want it to offer.
• Link findings to planning:When discussing content and features, refer back to the interview findings and explain which need each proposed choice addresses.

The point is not to consider needs assessment complete once the interviews are done, but to ensure that the information gathered genuinely informs planning. The material does not specify a fixed number of interviewees or a standardized process, so this advice should not be presented as a mandatory requirement.

When design disagreements arise, do not let “I like it” override users’ needs

The original author describes projects in which the client’s personal preferences ultimately overrode findings from earlier interviews with the target audience. This is the author’s account of certain projects, not a claim that every client behaves this way. The reminder is that, even after listening to users’ needs, those needs must retain their influence when design trade-offs are made.

For example, if a client wants an opening animation on the homepage to introduce the company’s size and technology, first ask: does this address target customers’ expectations, or satisfy the client’s desire to showcase the company? A client’s preference alone does not establish a user need, but neither does it justify declaring all animation unsuitable. Bringing the discussion back to the intended audience and its actual needs helps prevent “meeting customer needs” from becoming merely “matching the decision-maker’s preferences.”