You’ve probably heard how some web design projects finish smoothly in a month, while others drag on for six months with constant drama.
All that drama and delay is not always the designer’s fault. And no, it’s not always the client’s fault either. But there’s a clear difference between clients who make projects easy and those who make them stressful.
We talked to web designers across Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. And they all agreed that great clients share some specific habits that make everything run smoothly. As a result, they get better websites, finish faster, and actually enjoy the process.
If you’re hiring a web developer and want your project to succeed, keep reading because we’ve pointed out exactly what the best clients do differently.
So let’s find out how you can be one of them.
What Makes a Great Web Design Client?
A great web design client always prepares, communicates clearly, and treats the process like a partnership rather than a transaction. They stay involved, communicate clearly, and make decisions without endless back-and-forth. Most importantly, they understand that their actions directly affect how smooth (or painful) the entire process becomes.
One Brisbane-based web developer told us about a client who responded to every email within 24 hours, had all their images ready before kickoff, and trusted the design process. As a result, the website launched two weeks early.
Now compare that to another project where the client took three weeks to send just a logo file. You can probably guess which project turned into a headache.
So if you’re hiring a web designer and want the project to actually finish on time, some clear patterns that separate great clients from nightmare ones.
How Do Great Clients Prepare for a Web Development Project?
As we’ve mentioned before, the best clients don’t walk into a web development project empty-handed. Rather, they do their homework, and they have clear ideas about what they want. This preparation saves weeks of delays and confused emails back and forth.
If you’ve ever watched a web project stall out in the first week, it’s usually because the client showed up with nothing but demand and vague ideas about making it “look professional.”
So you need to keep in mind that a web designer can’t read your mind.
Having Clear Business Goals and Target Audience Details
No one builds a house without blueprints, but that’s exactly what walking into a project without goals is like. Great clients explain these things from the first meeting:
- What they want their site to achieve
- Who’ll be using it
- What content do they need to provide
In short, whatever it is, they spell it out clearly. And they usually provide a mood board or examples of web development project ideas they like.
One Melbourne web developer told us about a client who brought detailed notes about their three main customer types. They even included what questions each group typically asks. That’s gold for a designer who’s trying to develop a user-friendly experience.
Gathering Content and Assets Before the Project Starts
Nothing slows down a website project faster than waiting on content. When you hand everything over up front, your web developer can focus on what they do best.
Here’s what prepared clients bring to the table:
- High-quality images already sized for web use
- Logo files in multiple formats (PNG, SVG, JPG)
- Written copy for every page
- Any existing brand guidelines or style documents
And most importantly, they don’t just promise to “send it later.”
One Adelaide web designer told us her favourite client created a shared Google Drive folder before their first meeting. They already had folders labelled “Homepage,” “About Page,” “Services,” each containing the exact text and images for that section.
That way, the designer could jump straight into building instead of chasing files for weeks.
During the Web Design Process
Once the web designer starts building, great clients stay involved without micromanaging.
For example, they give feedback that actually helps, and they know exactly how to communicate during the design phase. They also make decisions quickly and understand that changing everything halfway through creates more problems than improvements.
Provide Specific Feedback Instead of Vague Opinions
Speaking in language that’s clear and actionable is one of the keys to better communication in any web design project.
You don’t want to be a client who just writes “I don’t like the home page” and expects the designer to guess what they mean. If you want to be a great client, you need to point out the exact elements and explain what needs changing.
Here are some great examples of what makes a good understanding:
| Vague instruction | Say this instead |
| “It feels off” | “Move the navigation menus to the left side” |
| “Something’s wrong with the layout” | “The home page needs more white space between sections” |
| “Make it pop” | “Increase the font size on the headline by 20%” |
| “It needs more pizzazz” | “Add a background image to the hero section” |
| “I don’t like the colours” | “Change the button colour from blue to green to match our brand” |
Pro tip: You can use screenshots with arrows and notes for every piece of feedback. This tactic of giving feedback is clear, actionable, and easy to implement.
Designate One Point of Contact for Decisions
Did you know that poor communication is one of the top five causes of project failure, and it affects 29% of failed projects?
Now let us share a real story. A Brisbane designer once told us about a nightmare project where the business owner, the marketing manager, and the owner’s daughter all sent conflicting feedback. And the homepage got redesigned four times because nobody could agree on the layout. So the project that should’ve taken six weeks stretched to four months.
The moral is that too many voices kill projects. Instead, if you pick one person to make the final calls, that will keep everything moving because the web developer isn’t juggling opinions from multiple people who can’t agree.
Pro Tip: If you need input from multiple people, collect feedback from all of them first, then send one consolidated message to your designer.
Handling Money and Timelines with Web Designers
Money and deadlines are the two things that make or break web projects. These two help set expectations for the entire project. When you’re direct about what you can spend and when you need things done, your web developer can also plan accordingly.
You definitely don’t want to be the client who starts a project without revealing their actual budget. Because a Gold Coast web designer told us about a client who did just that. But later it turned out they only had $2,000 to spend. All that time wasted because nobody wanted to talk about money up front.
Pro tip: Discuss your project’s budget and timeline early so the web developer knows the scope. Along with that, you should also pay invoices on time without the designer chasing them down.
Great Clients Get Great Web Designers
Being a great web design client isn’t complicated. You don’t need to understand HTML, CSS or know the difference between front-end and back-end development. All you need to do is to show up prepared, communicate clearly, and respect the process.
When you share clear goals, hand over content on time, give specific feedback, and pay invoices without delay, everything else falls into place. That way, your web developer will be able to focus on building instead of chasing you down for basic information.
As a result, a client gets better websites, finishes big projects faster, and builds trust with designers who actually want to work with them again.
So if you’re planning your own site or a web app soon, remember that the best results come from being the kind of client designers love working with.