Start with the user action
If most visitors need to read, compare, trust and contact you, a website is usually the starting point. If people need to sign in, create records, collaborate, transact or manage an ongoing workflow, you are describing an application.
When a website is enough
- Company and service information
- Campaign landing pages and lead generation
- Editorial content and search discovery
- Focused commerce or booking journeys
When you need an application
- User or organisation accounts
- Dashboards and stored records
- Permissions and multi-step workflows
- Subscriptions, transactions and integrations
- A tool people return to after the first visit
Many businesses need both
The public website creates understanding and brings the right people in. The application delivers the ongoing product or service. Planning them as one experience can improve the transition between discovery and use.
Avoid overbuilding the first release
Identify the smallest useful workflow, make it tangible, then build the minimum reliable product around it. A smaller coherent system gives you better evidence than a larger collection of unfinished features.