Why website discovery sessions are important, not just for your website, but for your business.

Have you been discovered yet?

If your website is old, or you wrote the content yourself, it will more than likely need updating. And these days, if you engage a professional content writer for your website, they will probably (we hope) carry out a ‘discovery’ session with you.

What is a website discovery session?

A discovery session is a series of questions designed to get the information about you and your business, on which to build a compelling narrative on.

Quite often, business owners are not the best placed person to write about their own business. And even when they are asked questions about their business, do not think to go any further than simply listing the products and services they sell.

But a website discovery session is about so much more than just your products and services, it’s about why you run your business, what your values are and how you make your customers feel.

When a prospective customer looks at your website, you don’t just want them to know you sell car parts, for instance, you want them to know what makes your business special, how you look after them personally, and have a high reputation for selling quality products. You want them to know there really is no better place to shop online for car parts.

Products and services do not just speak for themselves

Put the items in the shop window and people will buy them? Not quite. You have to work harder than that these days for your website to get noticed. That’s why it’s so important that your values, and who you are as a person, can help to distinguish you from all the other people selling the same, or similar products to you.

What will I be asked in a discovery session?

You might be surprised to ‘discover’ (sorry, we couldn’t resist) that you’ll be asked quite a lot of personal questions. And, of course, you don’t have to answer them. But we strongly suggest that you do, as it is often the personal details, unique to you about why you set up your business that can provide a strong brand story and make you stand out.

Here are some examples of the types of questions you may be asked in a discovery session:

  • What is the history of your business? 
  • Is it a family business? 
  • What led you to set up your business? 
  • What’s important to you about this business? 
  • Who or what is your inspiration? 
  • What are your ambitions/vision for the business? 
  • How do you want your customers to feel? 
  • What problem/s are you solving for your customers? 
  • How will your customers’ lives be better for having dealt with you? 
  • Why do you think customers come back to you? DO they come back? 
  • What are some examples of the good things, and bad, customers say about you? 
  • Who are your customers? Describe your customer types. 
  • How do you compare to your competitors? 
  • What is your reputation in the marketplace? 
  • What do you think it’s like to deal with you? 
  • What makes what you do special, and different to your competitors? 
  • Do your customers get something with you they can’t get anywhere else?

It’s quite an endless list, and it will depend on the length and depth of your answers how many questions you’ll get asked.

A discovery session is like therapy for your business

A wonderful by-product of being asked all these searching questions about you and your business, especially if you’ve never thought about some of these things before, is that it can make you understand the ‘why’ of your business.

Maybe you never quite understood why you set up the business you did, and only by talking it through do you fully understand what it is about it that inspires you and keeps you motivated. When this happens, a valuable brand story suddenly emerges and your content writer gets a big smile on their face.

They’ve struck gold and got the unique narrative they need about you and your business to write distinctive website content that sets you apart. 

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