Insights on strategy, websites, UX, and digital growth

Discovery comes in a few different flavours at morphsites:

1. Digital Marketing Discovery

This is the foundation for any business that wants its website to deliver real results. It might be lead generation, improved conversion, or supporting your sales team.

We ask:

• Who are you selling to?
• What problems are you solving?
• What’s your value proposition?
• How are you positioned against your competitors?

We explore how your website and digital presence can support your growth. So we can plan and create something that works, not just something that looks good.

2. Technical Discovery

Ideal for businesses with more operational complexity. That might include system integrations, customer or dealer portals, or replacing fragmented tools with something scalable.

We:

• Map out workflows and data touchpoints
• Evaluate existing systems and dependencies
• Define clear requirements for features and platforms
• Identify risks and constraints before they derail the project

It’s a strategic deep-dive that ensures we’re building the right thing, not just what someone thought they needed during a rushed meeting.

3. Full Discovery (Digital, UX, Technical and Business)

If your business is going through digital transformation or consolidation, this is the route we recommend.

This approach combines:

• Business analysis and internal stakeholder input
• Digital marketing and positioning work
• UX and customer journey mapping
• Technical scoping, feasibility and solution design

It’s the most comprehensive version of discovery. It’s also the one that saves businesses from six-figure rebuilds when the original site fails to deliver.

Why agencies might skip discovery (and why that’s a problem)

Because not every business sees the value in it, at least not initially.

Discovery doesn’t come with extensive visuals. It doesn’t feel like tangible progress. It’s quiet, considered work that can be hard to justify if you’re only focused on deliverables.

And if an agency is more interested in winning the job than solving the problem, leaving it out makes the quote look more attractive and the project sound simpler.

But here’s the truth: if you skip discovery, tough decisions don’t go away. They still have to be made, but they’ll happen later, under pressure, with limited insight and usually at a higher cost.

The worst part is that you often won’t realise where things went wrong until after you’ve launched.

This isn't hypothetical. Web development and digital marketing projects go wrong all too often. Take a real-world example from a global brand...

A cautionary tale - what can happen when you skip website planning and discovery

The brand were branching into a new adjacent market after acquiring some other established businesses in that sector. They'd invested heavily in leadership and sales teams. They needed a new website and digital marketing strategy to support the growth.

We scoped the project and quoted for the full build, including discovery, along with an ongoing digital marketing retainer.

Another agency came in £15,000 cheaper by leaving discovery out entirely.

They went with the cheaper option for the build.

The result?
A generic website. No real messaging. No landing pages. A limited services list. Nothing designed with the end user in mind.

It didn’t convert.

They increased their ad spend, tripled it in fact, but the results stayed flat.
They assumed the issue was the advertising.

Ten months later, senior management were let go.
New leadership came in, reviewed the campaign performance, and quickly asked:
“We’re showing up for the right search terms, so why aren’t we getting leads?”

Because the website wasn’t designed to convert.

It wasn’t built around the customer.
It didn’t reflect the strategy.
It had no foundation.

Now, even with clarity on the problem, the budget is gone. And discovery is off the table again.

So they’re about to repeat the same cycle.

Discovery doesn’t cost. It pays.

This isn’t about pointing fingers. It’s about helping you avoid the same trap.

We’ve seen too many businesses spend tens of thousands building a site with no clear strategy behind it. Then spend just as much trying to fix the problems afterwards, more often than not unsuccessfully.

Higher ad costs. Lower conversion. Lost sales. Wasted time.

A successful digital platform doesn’t come from guesswork. It comes from planning. From knowing what your audience needs and what your business demands.

Discovery gives you that clarity. It gives your team a shared understanding of the goals, constraints, and priorities. It’s the difference between building something useful and building something expensive that underdelivers.

If you’re about to start a digital project — especially one with serious marketing spend behind it — this is the most important step.

Frequently Asked Questions