How to Get Better Client Briefs for Copywriting: Stop Guessing, Start Writing


You open a new project brief and it reads:

"We want a landing page. Make it punchy. Audience is general public. Brand voice? Hmm… casual, I guess?”

Sound familiar?

If you’re a copywriter, this kind of vague direction is the norm, not the exception. And it’s costing you more than time—it’s draining your creative energy and chipping away at your margins.

On average, copywriters lose 4+ hours a week chasing basic information that should’ve been included upfront. Multiply that over a year, and you’re looking at over 200 hours of wasted time—time that could’ve gone into client work, pitching new projects, or just not working overtime.

The Real Cost of a Vague Brief

When clients don’t clearly articulate their product, audience, or goals, the burden falls entirely on you. You're forced to interpret scraps of information, make assumptions, and hope you’re close enough to the mark.

Here’s what that usually leads to:

  • Writing in the wrong tone or brand voice

  • Misunderstanding the target audience or value prop

  • Rounds of revisions that could’ve been avoided

  • Frustration on both sides

  • Projects dragging longer than they should

  • You getting paid the same for twice the effort

As one Redditor put it: “Writing the piece isn’t hard. Figuring out what the hell the client actually wants? That’s the real job.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The Fix: Build a Better Briefing Process

You don’t need more patience—you need a system that gets the right information from the start.

Smart copywriters are moving away from vague Google Docs and free-form emails. They’re turning to structured, automated briefing tools that ask the right questions, collect actionable inputs, and create a clear record of scope—all before the writing begins.

Here’s how to set up a process that works (and how tools like PaperFlow can help make it seamless):

Strategy 1: Ask Better Questions

The quality of your brief depends entirely on what you ask. Instead of open-ended prompts like “Describe your brand,” give clients precise questions that nudge them into giving useful answers.

For example:

  • “Upload your brand voice or tone of voice guidelines”

  • “What are your three top competitors, and how do they speak?”

  • “What’s the CTA for this piece?”

  • “What don’t you want to sound like?”

With PaperFlow’s pre-built templates for copywriting briefs, you can plug in these kinds of questions and collect all the inputs you need—without writing a single follow-up email.

Strategy 2: Educate While You Collect

Clients aren’t being difficult on purpose—they just don’t always know what you need. That’s why it helps to bake education into your forms.

Explain why you're asking for something:

  • “Knowing your audience helps tailor tone and word choice.”

  • “Upload examples of content you like—this helps avoid misalignment.”

  • “Please specify your product’s benefits, not just features.”

PaperFlow’s forms allow for instructional prompts, helping clients give better answers, faster. They feel guided. You get better briefs.

Strategy 3: Build a Feedback Loop

Even with the best form, some answers will still be vague. That’s why your process needs to include structured follow-ups—not endless email chains.

With PaperFlow, you can:

  • Quickly generate a follow-up form based on previous answers

  • Ask targeted clarifying questions

  • Keep everything connected to the original brief

  • Avoid version chaos

Instead of sifting through a dozen emails with unclear answers, you send a clean form with 3-4 bulletproof questions. Done.

This feedback loop alone can save 2+ hours per project and significantly reduce revision rounds.

Why It Matters

As a copywriter, your business runs on clarity. When you get clean inputs, you write faster, deliver better, and protect your margin.

Here’s what a structured briefing system delivers:

✅ Fewer revisions
✅ Happier clients
✅ Clearer project scopes
✅ Faster turnaround times
✅ More time for deep work (or just life)

Over a year, that adds up to 200+ hours saved—or thousands of dollars in retained value.

A Smarter Way to Brief

PaperFlow was built to streamline creative workflows like yours. Its copywriter-friendly templates and feedback tools are designed to help you:

  • Set clear expectations

  • Collect better inputs from the start

  • Reduce friction during projects

  • Stop wasting time hunting for client info

👉 Start your free trial now — no credit card needed.

  • 14 days of full access

  • Setup in under 5 minutes

  • End-to-end encrypted

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