How to write a “how we work” page for a small business website

A small-business website usually has a home page, a list of services, a contact form and perhaps an about page. What it almost never has is the page a customer needs most just before they get in touch: an honest description of how working with you actually goes.

That page goes by different names: "How we work", "Our process", "What to expect". It answers the questions people otherwise ask by phone, one at a time, every week. Done well, it saves you those calls, filters out the jobs you do not take, and makes the customers who do call better prepared. This note gives a structure for it and the writing rules that keep it useful.

Start from the questions people already ask

Do not start by describing your process the way you think about it. Start with the questions customers ask you. For a week, keep a list of every question that arrives by phone, email or message before someone becomes a customer. Most small businesses find the same handful again and again:

• Do you do this kind of job? Do you come to my area?
• How soon can you start, and how long does it take?
• How much will it cost, roughly? Do you charge for a quote?
• Do I pay a deposit? When is the rest due, and how can I pay?
• What happens if something changes partway through?
• What do I need to do or have ready?

Those questions are the outline of the page. Nielsen Norman Group makes the same point about FAQ pages: the questions should echo the real concerns people contact you about, not the ones you wish they asked.

A structure that works for most small businesses

Seven short sections, in the order a customer thinks about them.

1. What we do, and what we don't. Two short lists. The second one is the one people skip and the one that saves the most time. If you do not take jobs under a certain size, do not work outside a certain area, or do not do a particular service, say so here, plainly.

2. How to get started. What the first contact looks like and what you need from them: photos, measurements, an address, a rough budget, the date they need it by. If a form is the best way, link to it.

3. How quickly we reply. A response time you can actually keep, in plain terms: "We reply to every enquiry within one business day." A promise you miss is worse than a slower one you keep.

4. Quotes and estimates. Whether a quote is free, how it is given (on site, by email, after a call), how long it stays valid, and what it includes. Say something about price, even if it is a range. Nielsen Norman Group's research found that prospective customers treat price as their number one information need on a website, and that people leave for competitors' sites when a site does not show prices. Its advice for businesses whose prices vary is to show sample prices for a few typical jobs. If prices depend on things you cannot know in advance, say what they are.

5. Payment. Whether you take a deposit and how much, when the balance is due, which payment methods you accept, and whether prices include tax. Customers are not offended by clear payment terms; they are offended by surprises.

6. During the work. Who they will deal with, how you will keep them updated, and what happens if the scope changes. One sentence on changes ("If the job changes, we agree the new price in writing before we do the extra work") prevents most disputes.

7. After the work. What "finished" means, how you hand over, and how to reach you if something is not right.

End the page with one clear next step: a button or link to the contact form, and the response time again.

Write it so people can actually read it

People rarely read web pages word by word. In Nielsen Norman Group's original study of how people read on the web, 79 per cent of test users always scanned a new page and only 16 per cent read word by word. Its later eye-tracking work recommends starting headings and subheadings with the words that carry the most information. Writing for scanning is not dumbing down; it is the format the reader is already using.

In practice:

• Use headings that say something. "Payment" is fine. "Payment: 30% deposit, balance on completion" is better, because a scanner gets the answer from the heading alone.
• Put the answer first. Both the GOV.UK publishing guidance and the Canada.ca Content Style Guide say to start with the most important information. "We reply within one business day" first; the reason second.
• Keep sentences and paragraphs short. The Canada.ca guide puts the optimal sentence at under 15 to 20 words and suggests a heading roughly every 200 words; GOV.UK suggests splitting sentences over 25 words and writing in the active voice. One idea per paragraph.
• Use the words your customers use. If customers say "quote", do not write "proposal". If you must use a technical term, explain it the first time it appears.
• Use numbers, not adjectives. "Fast turnaround" says nothing. "Most jobs are booked within two weeks" says something, and you can check whether it is still true.

FAQs: useful at the end, not instead

A short FAQ at the bottom can catch questions that do not fit the structure above. Nielsen Norman Group's view is that FAQs still deliver value when the questions echo real customer concerns and a long FAQ is grouped by topic so it can be scanned. Keep it to questions customers really ask, not marketing phrased as a question ("Why are we the best choice?"), and answer each in a sentence or two.

One tension to know about: the GOV.UK guidance advises against headings written as questions, because readers want answers. That is why the sections above use statement headings, and the FAQ, if you have one, stays short and at the end.

Be careful with prices and promises

A "how we work" page is a public statement, so write only what you will honour.

If you work in Ontario and give customers estimates, know the rule that applies. The Ontario government's guidance for businesses says that if you give a consumer an estimate, the law says you cannot charge more than 10 per cent above it unless the customer agrees to the additional charges. Write your quote policy with that in mind, and check the official page for the details that apply to your work.

The same goes for response times, start dates and guarantees. Write the version you meet on a busy week, not on a quiet one.

A fictional example section

Here is how one section might read for a fictional one-person renovation painter. The business and its policies are made up, to show the tone:

Payment: 25% to book, the rest when we finish. We take a 25% deposit to hold your dates. The balance is due on the day the job is finished, after you have walked through it with us. We accept e-Transfer and credit card. All prices include HST.

Four sentences, one heading that carries the answer, and nothing a customer would need to phone about.

Keep it true

Put a reminder in your calendar to reread the page every three months, and whenever something changes: a new payment method, a new service area, a different deposit. The page is only valuable while it matches what actually happens. A customer who reads "we reply within one business day" and waits a week trusts every other line on your site a little less.

Drafted with AI assistance.

Sources

1. Nielsen Norman Group — FAQs Still Deliver Great Value (2014) nngroup.com
2. Nielsen Norman Group — How Users Read on the Web (1997) nngroup.com
3. Nielsen Norman Group — F-Shaped Pattern of Reading on the Web (2017) nngroup.com
4. Nielsen Norman Group — State the Price to Give B2B Sites a Competitive Advantage (2013) nngroup.com
5. Nielsen Norman Group — Show Prices for Common Scenarios (2006) nngroup.com
6. GOV.UK — Use clear language guidance.publishing.service.gov.uk
7. GOV.UK — Create a clear structure for your content guidance.publishing.service.gov.uk
8. Government of Canada — Canada.ca Content Style Guide design.canada.ca
9. Government of Ontario — Protecting consumer rights and safety ontario.ca

• Small business
• Websites
• Writing
• Customers