30 Questions to Ask a New Client Before You Start a Project

Blog › By the MyBriefy team · October 24, 2026

The questions you ask at the start of a project decide most of what goes wrong later. Ask too few and you'll find out about the real goal, the hidden stakeholder or the fixed deadline halfway through. Ask too many and the client stops answering.

These 30 questions cover what most agencies and freelancers need to know about a new client. Pick the ones that fit the work, send them before the kickoff call, and spend the call on the answers.

The business

1. In a sentence, what does your business do, and for whom?
2. What makes you different from the competitors your customers also consider?
3. Who are those competitors?
4. What's changed recently that made you start this project now?
5. Have you worked with an agency or freelancer on this before? What worked and what didn't?

Goals

1. What is the main goal of this project?
2. How will you know it worked? Which number should move, and by how much?
3. By when do you need to see results?
4. What would make you consider this project a failure?
5. Is there a bigger goal this project feeds into?

Audience

1. Who is your ideal customer?
2. What problem are they trying to solve when they find you?
3. What do they currently think of your brand, if they know it?
4. What objections do they raise before buying?
5. Where do they spend time online, and who do they trust?

Scope and deliverables

1. What exactly do you need from us?
2. What is out of scope for this project?
3. Do you have existing assets we should use: brand guidelines, content, research?
4. Are there any must-haves or must-not-haves?
5. Which examples (from anyone, not just competitors) do you like, and why?

Budget and timeline

1. What budget range have you set aside for this?
2. Is there a fixed date we're working towards, such as a launch or event?
3. Are there any periods when you won't be available to give feedback?
4. Is this a one-off project, or do you expect ongoing work?
5. How do you prefer to be invoiced, and who handles payment on your side?

People and approvals

1. Who is our main day-to-day contact?
2. Who makes the final decision on the work?
3. Who else will give feedback, and in what order?
4. How do you prefer to communicate, and how often do you want updates?
5. How quickly can you usually turn around feedback?

If the decision-maker is different from your day-to-day contact, ask to include them on the kickoff call. Work that's approved by one person and rejected by their boss is the most expensive kind.

How to ask them without overwhelming the client

• Don't send all 30 every time. Remove what you already know and what doesn't apply.
• Send them as a form, not a long email, so the client can answer in one place and save progress.
• Pre-fill answers from your sales conversation and ask the client to confirm or correct them.
• Agree the answers in writing. Once the client approves them, they become the brief you work from.

For specific projects, use a brief built for the job: there are free templates for websites, SEO, campaigns and many more.

Keep reading

• How to Write a Website Design Brief (With a Free Template)
• Client Onboarding for Marketing Agencies: A Step-by-Step Process
• What Is a Creative Brief? What to Include and How to Use It