Explain your service step by step

Open the page for one service you provide. Read it as someone who has booked and is getting ready: what should they do before you arrive, what happens during the work, and what will they receive at the end? Mark any answer that requires a separate phone call to your team.

Use those gaps to prepare a short “What to expect” section. Ask the person who delivers the service to check it against the current way the work is done.

Start with the customer's preparation

Gather the instructions your team already sends before an appointment or job. Compare them with the service page. Identify which details a customer needs before choosing the service, and which belong in a private confirmation message after booking.

Put general preparation on the page: where to arrive, what to bring, or how to make the work area available, where relevant. Keep customer-specific arrangements in the confirmation. Link to a fuller preparation page if the instructions would overwhelm the service description.

Our LiveWell Clinic case study records a practical example: dedicated pages brought together new-patient preparation, insurance and payment guidance, and location details. This describes the published website content; it does not establish a change in bookings. For your own service, look for the preparation information that needs a clear home and a link from the relevant service page.

Describe the points where a customer needs to act

Write the sequence from the customer's side. For each stage, identify who does something and what the customer needs to know before moving on. Include an approval point if work cannot continue without the customer's decision.

Avoid filling the section with internal department names or a minute-by-minute account. Pick the moments that affect the customer's plans. If a visit begins with an assessment and later work needs a separate agreement, make that distinction explicit. Confirm the actual sequence with your service lead before describing it publicly.

Where timing varies, explain what determines it and when the customer will receive a firmer estimate. Do not turn an internal target into a public promise. Check that the timing on the service page agrees with the booking confirmation and any proposal template that mentions it.

State what the customer receives

Read the closing part of the service description. Does it name the delivered work or document clearly? Add the handover format, any explanation provided at completion, and the contact route for questions afterward. Use the terms your customers know.

GOV.UK's interface-writing guidance recommends clear language and headings that describe the text beneath them. Apply that narrowly here: headings such as “Before the visit” and “When the work is finished” give the reader a place to look for instructions.

If ongoing support is a separate service, link to its scope instead of leaving a broad promise of support in this section. Ask the person handling follow-up questions to confirm that the contact route is current.

Read the page alongside a confirmation

On a phone, open the service page and a recent confirmation template with personal details removed. Compare the preparation instructions, sequence and handover description. Resolve differences with the person responsible for the service.

Then ask someone unfamiliar with your process to explain what they would need to do before and after the appointment. Record where they hesitate and revise the relevant passage. After publishing, check the preparation and follow-up links on the live page, and assign someone to update the instructions when the service changes.