Website backlog template: deciding what to fix next
A free CSV for website and product requests, with sample rows and a weekly review to decide what deserves attention next.
You can fill a backlog with ideas and still be stuck deciding what to do next. What helps is enough evidence to make that call.
The template below has room for work shared by marketing, product and engineering: a broken form, a campaign page, an SEO opportunity, missing analytics or an onboarding problem. You can put those requests alongside each other without pretending they're the same job.
Free website and product backlog CSV
Open it in Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, ClickUp or another tool that accepts CSV files. The sample rows show how to write items someone can act on.
What each field is for
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Area | Conversion, SEO, campaign, analytics, CRM, content, product or another useful group. |
| Problem or opportunity | The situation to change, written without prescribing the solution too early. |
| Evidence | Customer feedback, behaviour, commercial data, an error, search demand or a known deadline. |
| Expected outcome | The result that would make the work worthwhile. |
| Impact | Low, medium or high based on the size and value of the affected audience. |
| Effort | Small, medium or large based on design, development, content and coordination. |
| Risk | Delivery, legal, data, revenue or dependency risk that changes the order. |
| Owner | The one person responsible for moving the item forward. |
| Status | Inbox, evidence needed, ready, in progress, checking or done. |
| Next check | The date the team will review evidence or progress again. |
| Related URL | The live page, design, issue or supporting document. |
Five example backlog items
| Area | Problem or opportunity | Evidence | Impact | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conversion | Visitors open contact but few begin the form. | Contact-click to form-start funnel | High | Small |
| Technical SEO | Retired integration URLs still receive impressions. | Search Console pages report | Medium | Small |
| Campaign | The next launch needs one focused landing journey. | Approved campaign brief and launch date | High | Medium |
| CRM | Qualified enquiries sometimes arrive without a service value. | HubSpot records from the last 30 days | High | Small |
| Product | New accounts reach sign-up but miss the first useful action. | Activation funnel and support conversations | High | Medium |
A short weekly review
- Clear the inbox. Rewrite vague requests as a problem, evidence and expected outcome.
- Remove duplicates. Keep one item and attach all useful evidence to it.
- Choose the next few items. Prefer high-impact, low-effort work and urgent risk before filling every available week.
- Name one owner. Contributors can be many, but responsibility should be clear.
- Decide how it will be checked. Add the event, report, customer signal or release test before work begins.
I'd keep this meeting short and work through the solution afterwards with the people who need to make it. Everyone who can see the board doesn't need to be in that discussion.
Talk through impact and effort
The labels are useful when they show where people disagree. If something is high impact, what backs that up: reach, commercial value, customer pain or risk? Effort needs the same care. Design, content, development, dependencies, review and release all belong in the estimate, even though it remains a rough judgement.
- High impact, small effort: prepare it for the next release.
- High impact, large effort: break it down or run a discovery step.
- Low impact, small effort: batch it when the surrounding area is already being changed.
- Low impact, large effort: leave it alone unless new evidence appears.
What not to put in the backlog
- A solution with no explained problem, such as “add a chatbot”.
- An idea nobody is willing to own or revisit.
- A permanent recurring task that belongs in an operating checklist.
- A bug that is actively losing enquiries or revenue and should be handled now.
- A duplicate request kept only because it came from another channel.
How I use this with ClickUp and Slack
Slack is a useful place to spot problems and collect context. Once there's work to act on, I'd move it into ClickUp or the team backlog and link the original conversation. Updates can go back to the relevant channel, while the item has a lasting home.
New ideas can go in the inbox until someone reviews them. At that point, you can add evidence, prepare the work, merge it, set a date to check it or close it. That gives you a way to consider passing ideas without letting them compete immediately with work tied to a clear outcome.
Check the result after release
Once the task is done, there's still the question of whether the change worked. Give it enough relevant traffic or customer use, then record what happened. You can decide whether to keep, improve or reverse it, and compare the result with what you expected when judging the next request.
Frequently asked questions
What belongs in a website and product backlog?
Each item needs to explain the problem, the evidence, the intended result, who owns it and how you'll check whether it worked. Maintenance and measurement belong there too, so new releases don't crowd out reliability or learning from the result.
How should a marketing team prioritise its website backlog?
Look at impact, evidence, urgency, dependencies and effort together. Pick a small batch you can finish and check. A high score shouldn't put work ahead of a critical defect or a dependency blocking the release.
How often should the backlog be reviewed?
A short weekly review is a useful start. Check what shipped and whether it passed the agreed checks, remove stale items and pick the next small batch with named owners. Review more often during a launch or incident.
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