Most med spa owners choose a web designer the way they'd choose a wall color — by looking at portfolios and picking whatever feels the most premium. The problem is that a beautiful website and a website that books patients are two different products, and the gap between them is invisible until your launch traffic shows up and doesn't convert. This guide gives you the exact questions to ask so you can tell the difference before you sign anything.
Why the designer matters more than the template
Templates are cheap and increasingly good. What you're actually paying a designer for is the judgment around them: where the Book Now button goes, how fast the treatment pages load on a phone, whether your consultation form is HIPAA-aware, and how the whole thing is wired to show up in Google when someone searches your city. Those decisions are what turn a visitor into a booked appointment — and they're invisible in a portfolio screenshot.
We wrote a deeper breakdown of this in why most med spa websites don't book patients — but the short version is that conversion is a discipline, not a coat of paint. The questions below are designed to surface whether your candidate actually practices it.
The 12 questions to ask before you hire
Ask these on your first call. You're not looking for perfect answers — you're listening for whether they think about your business or just your brand.
- How will this site actually get me more bookings? A strong answer talks about specific friction — booking steps, page speed, mobile layout, trust signals — not just "a clean, modern look."
- What booking system do you recommend for my clinic, and why? They should ask about your providers, treatments, and whether you need charting or payments before naming a tool. (More on this in our online booking guide.)
- How do you handle patient information and HIPAA? Any form that collects health details needs care. If they look blank here, that's a real liability — see our HIPAA-compliant website checklist.
- Will the site be fast on a phone? Most med spa traffic is mobile. Ask for real load times, not assurances. (Why speed matters.)
- How will people in my city find this on Google? Listen for local SEO, treatment pages, and Google Business Profile — not just "we'll add some keywords."
- Can I edit content myself after launch? You should be able to update hours, prices, and posts without paying for every change.
- Who owns the website and the domain when we're done? The answer must be you. Always.
- What happens if I want to leave? Can you export your content and move hosts? Avoid anyone who locks you in.
- What's included after launch? Bugs, small tweaks, and support windows should be spelled out in writing.
- Can you show me a site you built that's been live for a year or more? Anyone can launch. Ask what happened after.
- Who exactly is doing the work? Make sure the person you're impressed by isn't quietly outsourcing to someone you'll never speak to.
- What do you need from me, and how long will it take? A pro can describe the process and the timeline without hand-waving.
“If a designer can't connect a single decision on the page to a booked appointment, they're selling you decoration — and decoration is the most expensive thing a clinic can buy.”
Red flags that should end the conversation
- They won't put scope, ownership, or post-launch support in writing.
- They can't name a single conversion or SEO decision — only aesthetic ones.
- They want to hold your domain, hosting, or logins "for convenience."
- The price is suspiciously low and the contract is vague (you'll pay the difference in change requests).
- They dodge the HIPAA question or treat patient data casually.
- Every example in their portfolio looks identical, with no thought to the specific clinic.
Generalist agency vs. med spa specialist
A generalist agency will give you a competent, good-looking site. A med spa specialist already knows the patterns that work in aesthetics: how to present treatments and pricing, how to build trust without before-and-after photos that violate platform rules, which booking tools clinics actually use, and how patients decide. You're paying either way — the question is whether you're also paying for the months of learning your specific market.
There's also a difference between a web studio and a marketing agency that trips a lot of owners up. We unpacked it here: med spa web studio vs. marketing agency.
What a fair price actually looks like
Med spa websites span a huge range, and the number on the quote matters less than what's behind it. A $500 template with no strategy and a $40,000 enterprise build are both wrong for most clinics. What you want is a clear scope: a fast, mobile-first site with proper treatment pages, integrated booking, local SEO foundations, and ownership in your name. We break the ranges down honestly in our 2026 med spa website cost guide, and we publish our own pricing instead of hiding it behind a sales call.
How to run a smooth hiring process
- Shortlist 2–3 candidates and run the same 12 questions past each.
- Ask for a live site they've maintained for a year, and visit it on your phone.
- Get scope, timeline, ownership, and post-launch support in writing.
- Confirm you own the domain, hosting, and all logins from day one.
- Start with a clear first milestone so you can see how they work before the full build.
If you'd like a second opinion on your current site before you spend anything, we'll do it for free. Tell us your URL and we'll send the top three fixes that would help you book more patients — no call required: grab a free audit. You can also see how we build to compare it against whoever else you're considering.