Terms of reference for landing 2026: what to write to the contractor so as not to redo it
Technical specifications for the landing page: nine sections of the structure, requirements for speed and mobile version, analytics goals, acceptance criteria. I analyze how the technical specification differs from the brief and what points are missed most often.
Most landing page redesigns are not about design. They mean that the parties understood the task differently and did not write down anywhere what the finished work looks like. The technical specification exists exactly for this purpose - and most often it lacks one point.
The brief answers the question “why and for whom.” TK - to the question “what exactly are we doing.” To skip over the first and immediately write the second means to record your guesses in document form.
1. Order: brief first
The brief is filled out by the customer: what the business does, who the client is, what objections he has, how you differ, what we consider success. Form - in brief for website development.
The technical specification is written after and based on the answers. If the technical specification appears first, all unanswered questions turn into the performer’s assumptions, and they will appear on the layouts.
2. Offer: one sentence that covers the entire page
A formula that is sufficient in nine cases out of ten: what does the client receive, for how long, at what cost and how is this confirmed?.
The check is simple. If the offer does not fit into one sentence, it means either the offer has not yet been formulated, or you are selling several things at once - and then you need several pages, not one.
3. Nine sections
| Section | Which question does it answer? |
|---|---|
| First screen | Where did I end up and what am I offered? |
| Pain | Is this about my situation? |
| Solution | How exactly do you close it? |
| Social proof | Who has this already helped? |
| Process | What happens after I submit a request? |
| Prices or conditions | How much does it cost and what does it depend on? |
| FAQ | Answers to what prevents you from making a decision |
| Team | Who does it |
| Final CTA | What to do right now |
The order can be changed, the set is rare. The most commonly thrown out is “Process,” and that’s a mistake: the uncertainty of what will happen after pressing a button stops people just as much as the price.
4. Technical requirements that must be named by numbers
The wording “the site must load quickly” is not a requirement: it is unverifiable, which means it will not be fulfilled. The TK contains numbers.
- Core Web Vitals target values and what instrument they are tested on;
- maximum weight of images and requirements for a modern format;
- behavior of fonts when loading so that the text does not jump;
- the minimum screen width on which the page must look correct;
- what happens to the form if there is a submission error.
The last point is rarely remembered, but it is worth asking: a silently unsubmitted form looks to a person like it was sent.
5. Analytics is installed during layout
The list of goals is part of the technical specifications, and not a task “for later”. It’s more expensive to add markup to a finished page, and some events can’t be captured without reworking the layout.
Minimum set: submit a form, click on the phone, click on the messenger, download a file, scroll depth, view the key section. How it works in Metrica - in analyzing goal settings.
6. Acceptance criteria - the most skipped section
Without it, acceptance looks like this: the customer looks at the page and says that “something is missing.” The performer does not understand what exactly, because nowhere is it written what readiness looks like.
The working section looks like a list of conditions being checked:
- the page types the specified values on the specified instrument;
- displays correctly at the listed resolutions;
- all goals from the list are triggered, verified in the report;
- applications reach the CRM, verified by test sending;
- the texts correspond to the approved version;
- All links open, there are no broken links.
Six points, each checked in a minute. Their presence turns acceptance from a negotiation into a checklist.
7. If the landing page is made using a constructor
Technical specifications are still needed, and almost to the same extent. The designer removes questions about technology and some questions about speed, but does not remove a single question about structure, offer, analytics and acceptance - namely, they determine whether a page will sell or not.
8. Summary
The technical specification is written after the brief and describes the solution: an offer in one sentence, nine sections with tasks, technical requirements in numbers, a list of analytics goals and acceptance criteria.
If you leave one part of the entire document, leave the acceptance criteria. They save more time than all other sections combined.
Finished document: landing page template. Form for the customer in front of him - brief for the site. What to check on the finished page - in parsing the landing, conversion rates - in benchmarks.