Manufacturing website checklist.
From products to a useful RFQ.

1. Start with the buyer’s task.

Choose the customer type each part of your website serves: an OEM looking for a production partner, a distributor comparing product ranges or a smaller buyer looking for available stock. Write down their first questions before choosing page layouts.

For each audience, define one useful next step: review a product group, download an approved specification, ask about a sample or request a quote. If wholesale and retail work differently, label those paths clearly.

Organize products around how customers choose.

Give each product group a clear name and a short explanation of its applications. A buyer should be able to move from a category to a relevant product without knowing your internal product codes. Keep codes available for customers who already use them.

• Explain the product or capability and the applications it suits.
• List relevant variants, sizes, materials or finishes in a consistent format.
• State what is standard and what requires a custom discussion.
• Use product photographs and descriptions that match the actual offer.

Make specifications comparable.

Agree a small set of fields for each product family. In a fabric catalog, those might be composition, weight, width and intended use. For another industry, dimensions, material grade or operating limits may matter more. Publish only approved information and make missing data clear.

Label every measurement with its unit. For U.S. buyers, decide whether customary units, metric units or both are appropriate. Check conversions and tolerances with the person responsible for your technical data before publishing them.

When linking specification sheets, show what each document contains and its revision where relevant. Keep the most useful product information on the page as well, so a buyer does not have to open several files to understand the offer.

2. Design a request that your team can use.

An RFQ — request for a quote — should collect enough context for the next conversation. Ask your sales team which missing details most often require another email. Start with those fields instead of a long form that asks for everything.

• Product or capability: a selected product, category or short description.
• Application: what the customer plans to make or use it for.
• Quantity: the amount and unit, with an “unknown yet” option where appropriate.
• Timing and delivery: desired date and destination when they affect the quote.
• Contact: company, name and a way to reply.

Mark required fields clearly. Let buyers describe a custom requirement that does not fit a product dropdown. If drawings or attachments are needed, agree supported formats, access and handling before adding uploads.

Explain what happens after the action. A submitted inquiry should show a confirmation only after successful submission. If a button opens an email draft, label it as preparing an email and tell the visitor they still need to send it. Do not promise a response time your team has not agreed to.

Support confidence with verifiable details.

Use current company contact details, approved capability descriptions and genuine project examples. Include certifications only when your business holds them and the scope is accurately described. Separate minimum order quantities, sample policies and lead-time guidance from terms that depend on the individual quote.

3. Check the complete journey on a phone.

Start at the homepage, find a product group, read its specifications and prepare an inquiry. Run the same journey on a real phone and a desktop. Check the controls you expect customers to use, including language switches and downloadable documents.

• Headings, product tables and navigation fit without clipping.
• Buttons remain readable and usable without horizontal scrolling.
• Form labels and validation messages explain what to do.
• The inquiry reaches the agreed destination, or the email draft contains the intended details.
• Privacy information is available where visitors provide their details.
• Each offered language leads to the correct page or clearly labeled homepage.

Before replacing an existing site, list its useful URLs and agree which pages stay or need a redirect. Check that important product pages have descriptive titles and links from relevant categories. A launch checklist should cover the sales journey as well as the visual design.

4. Review your current site before writing a redesign brief.

Choose one product family and one typical buyer. Ask someone unfamiliar with the navigation to find the right product, identify the essential specifications and work out how to request a quote. Record where they need an explanation from you.

1. Missing information: prepare the approved product data or document.
2. Hard-to-find information: improve labels, categories or links.
3. Unclear next step: specify the inquiry route and what happens afterward.
4. A broken interaction: fix it before adding more pages.

That review gives you a concrete brief: customer type, product family, missing materials and the journey to improve. It also helps separate an initial catalog project from later work such as filters, CRM connections or an online checkout.

Turn the checklist into your website scope.

Share your current website, customer types and the product groups you want to improve. MABARO Studio works remotely from Łódź, Poland, and can help define the catalog structure, page design and inquiry journey before quoting the agreed scope.

See the manufacturing website service or prepare a project brief.