I reached out to the CMO, and he asked for a redesign proposal. I had no idea what a redesign proposal was, so I had to look it up. In my first website redesign proposal, I outlined the vision and shared new layout ideas, but didn’t include the numbers or expected outcomes.
Turns out, it was useless.
I learned that a website redesign is more about numbers than visuals. The company leaders wanted clear goals. They wanted to know what success looks like.
To be truly valuable, your website redesign proposal needs to precisely outline the problems, objectives, budgets, timelines, and success metrics. Since my first proposal flop, I have written numerous website redesign proposals with accurate metrics and completed several redesign projects.
In this post, I’ll walk you through how to write a website redesign proposal, plus cover the common pitfalls, a formal structure, and a template you can adapt for your own proposal.
Table of Contents:
- What is a website redesign request for proposal?
- The Cost of a Website Redesign: How Much Can It Be?
- How to Create a Website Redesign RFP
- Website Redesign Proposal Template
- Testing It Out: Writing My Own Website Redesign Proposal
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What is a website redesign request for proposal?
Typically, a business creates a request for proposal (RFP) when it wants to work with a new vendor.
A website redesign request for proposal is a document that provides essential details about what the business wants from its new website, such as objectives to be accomplished, obstacles to overcome, and any brand or creative guidelines the website should follow. You can also ask questions about the expertise, capabilities, project scope, strategy, and timeline these possible agency partners can provide.
An RFP lets you brief many agencies at once and collect comparable proposals to inquire about a potential partnership on a web design project. Moreover, you can specify all the details to receive more accurate quotes. Lately, you can even play the field for all potential vendors who want to present their ideas and services for your website.
Website Redesign Proposal Challenges
Even with a solid RFP, the process of reviewing proposals can feel overwhelming. On top of that, if it’s your first RFP, you might hit some roadblocks. They seem simple, but they get confusing.
Here are some common challenges I have faced while redesigning my website, along with tips on how to prevent them from happening.
Lack of Clarity in RFP Details
The most common issue is a lack of clarity. If your RFP doesn’t spell out key details like timeline, budget, or specific objectives, it hurts both you and the agencies responding.
You probably won’t get a perfect proposal that fits your needs if you don’t give clear instructions. The agencies will rely on their own assumptions instead, which may not align with your vision.
As Mike Dobkowski, CEO of Glacial Multimedia, explains it after delivering over 3,000 websites, the biggest pitfalls happen when clients aren’t specific:
“The most common problems arise when clients fail to provide precise details, such as goals, budget, or timeline. When that happens, we have to guess, and the proposal usually doesn’t match what the client really wants.”
It’s apparent that without concrete details, agencies don’t know how much time, staff, or budget to allocate. Similarly, you might get several proposals that look promising on the surface but don’t actually solve your real problem.
Finding the Right Bid
You may receive a dozen responses after the RFP, and they can start to blur together. You definitely don’t want to make the wrong choice, since a redesign is a significant investment.
In my experience, a good first step is to look at each agency’s own website. Does it practice what it preaches?
For example, I’ve seen some agency sites that were visually stunning but super slow to load or had poor SEO. That’s a red flag. On the other hand, if an agency’s website is elegant, fast, and ranks well on search engines, it shows they know their stuff.
Hear from an expert: Paul Teitelman, an SEO expert, agrees, “One of the easiest ways to judge a web agency’s credibility is to look at how well their own website performs in search. If they can’t rank for terms in their own niche, that’s a red flag.”
If you’re impressed with how an agency presents its own site and you see a track record of quality work for clients, that agency could be the one for you.
Delay in Approval
You’ve probably experienced delays waiting on internal feedback, particularly when multiple teams need to weigh in. Department heads have their own priorities and sometimes conflicting team interests, so proposals may sit idle longer than expected.
I’ve seen projects stall for weeks simply because no one replied to the agency, or the team couldn’t align on some specifications.
These internal slowdowns can frustrate the agency waiting on a response and also cause delays in design changes, content submission, and the launch date. And the process gets rushed later to make up for lost time.
Once you bring a new vendor on board, you’ll need to work together with all the stakeholders to hit deadlines and produce a website you’re proud to show off.
The Cost of a Website Redesign: How Much Can It Be?
On average, the cost to redesign a website with quality and standard maintenance ranges from $3,000 to $75,000. The broad range ultimately depends on the scope of your project.
Refreshing a 10-page website’s visual design is less complex. However, ecommerce and complex sites with more pages and custom apps will incur higher costs.
You could also hire a freelancer from marketplaces and redesign your website for around $1,000, but the catch here is the standard, quality, and, most importantly, functionality.
Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
A WordPress development expert estimates that a redesign for a small or moderately complex WordPress site costs between $700 and $35,500. At the higher end, most reputable agencies start with a base package for $10,000 and then increase the price as you add more custom features or pages.
How to Create a Website Redesign RFP
Every effective website redesign proposal I’ve written or read follows a similar basic formula. You start by clearly stating what’s wrong with your current website, outlining what you expect from a better one, and explaining what it will take to achieve it.
I reached out to Evan Cunningham-Dunlop, CEO of Perth Website Studio, to get his perspective as an agency owner who has led countless redesign projects.
Cunningham-Dunlop says, “A successful redesign starts long before the first mockup with the proposal. Proposals that describe clear problem statements, functionality requirements, and measurable outcomes.
“You may design something that looks amazing but fails if the navigation or load times frustrate users. But if your RFP defines both the aesthetic and the technical expectations, you set the foundation for a site that performs as well as it looks.”
Let me break down the key components you should include, step by step. I’ll reference how I recently approached these components in redesigning Infinite Uploads, one of my ongoing projects.
1. Start with your company and audience background.
Before diving into why you want a redesign, give a brief overview of your company. Let the agency know your business and see how you portray it.
Provide enough context so the agency understands who you are and what you do, but keep it concise. Focus on what industry you’re in, what products or services you offer, and who your target audience or customers are.
For example, in the “Project Background” section of the RFP I wrote for the Infinite Uploads website redesign, I began by stating that it involves cloud storage for offloading WordPress media.
You can then see me mentioning that our users include website owners, bloggers, and agencies who are concerned about their storage and hosting costs.
This kind of background helps vendors align their proposals to your business context. If your brand has a specific identity or mission, you can also mention that.
The goal here is to paint a high-level picture of your company’s identity and the audience your website needs to serve.
2. Layout your problem statement.
Next, the proposal should clearly outline the design problems with your current site. You can ask yourself some questions if you want to get precise about this:
- Does your website look outdated and fail to match your brand?
- Is your CMS difficult to use, making content updates a struggle?
- Is the navigation unclear, making it hard for visitors to find what they need?
In fact, Forbes reported that 45% of users mentioned that website navigation is one of the key factors of customer loyalty. So, you must thoroughly review your navigation.
The Infinite Uploads website had become cluttered after adding recent developments and feature updates. So we needed to refine the homepage with a clear and updated brand message.
These problems appeared in real data: Bounce rates on document pages were increasing. Stats like this strengthen your case. For instance, many users say poor navigation makes them lose trust in a site.
I had a chat with Jake Soffer, who was receiving design proposals for his HubSpot-venture-backed website optimization startup, FirmPilot, from various agencies. Most agencies responded with proposals as if he were building a law firm website with a focus on legal themes.
“It was frustrating,” Jake recalls. “We’re not a law firm, we’re an AI-powered SEO company that happens to work with them. The proposals looked nice but completely missed our core business.”
Once you’ve gathered all of the symptoms and organized them, the proposal will explain how a website redesign will address and resolve these issues.
3. Highlight your proposed solution.
In this section, describe your vision for the new website and how it will address the issues you have listed.
Start with the main objectives of the redesign, as the common goals may include upgrading the current CMS, reorganizing the site structure, speeding up load times, improving mobile responsiveness, updating the design, or adding missing features.
For example, in my Infinite Uploads project, the goals are a modern design and a flow that encourages more sign-ups, leading to higher call-to-action (CTA) conversions. Secondary objectives include the features pages, pricing pages, case studies, etc.
You need to outline the fundamental features or tasks required to achieve those goals. If the goal is better conversion, one requirement might be “Stronger homepage hero with demo visuals and prominent Start Free Trial CTA.”
Finally, set a few KPIs to show you care about results. You may want to reduce the blog bounce rate by 10% within three months or increase the average session duration by 20%.
For Infinite Uploads, I included a target to grow sign-ups by a set percentage. These metrics guide the project, but keep them flexible for refinement later.
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4. Mention the time and budget estimate.
End your proposal with a clear timeline and budget. You will have to answer the stakeholders’ questions clearly. “How long will this take?” and “How much will it cost?” are the most common questions.
For the timeline, suggest a realistic schedule. Include when you’d like to start, key milestones, and your target launch date. Be sure to factor in agency selection, design drafts, revisions, development, content migration, and testing.
Most redesigns for mid-sized sites take approximately three to four months (12–16 weeks), while larger projects can extend to six months or more.
For the budget, share at least a range if you have one (e.g., $15,000–$25,000). Mentioning a price range helps agencies pitch within your means and avoids unrealistic proposals.
If you’re unsure, you can leave it open, but expect a range of bids. Break the budget down if possible.
For example:
- Design (branding, mockups, UI/UX): $5,000 – $8,000
- Development (build, pricing calculator, staging, integrations): $7,000 – $12,000
- Content & SEO (copy updates, case study integration, optimization): $2,000 – $3,000
- Testing, QA, and launch support: $1,000 – $2,000
This shows you’ve thought through the expenses. If software licenses, ongoing maintenance, or additional hires are required, please mention those as well.
Finally, ask vendors to follow a standard format when sending proposals (timeline, detailed budget, references, past work). This ensures you can compare responses fairly.
Up to this point, we’ve focused on formal RFPs, the structured documents businesses send to agencies. But often, before you ever get to that stage, you’ll need an internal proposal to win support from your boss or stakeholders.
You can create that website redesign proposal using the same building blocks. The following section walks through how to frame an internal website redesign proposal, which you can later adapt into a full RFP if you decide to engage vendors.
Website Redesign Proposal Template
If you want to write your own website redesign proposal, follow the discussed structure and use the template below as a guide. It gives you a clear outline of what to include, from identifying problems with your current site to setting goals, listing required features, and estimating costs.
This template focuses on the internal proposal, but it can easily be adapted into an RFP later for the formal submission to agencies.
1. Identify the pain points of your current site.
Start with an honest assessment of what’s wrong or suboptimal about your current website. Clearly mention what seems to be working and what is not, as well as any areas of confusion.
A detailed section linking the problems and the corrections will make it easier for everyone to see why the redesign is necessary. It should make clear what the business is going to get, how things will change, and the benefits.
For example, “Rebranding our site’s look and feel will help us reach our target audience of modern tech buyers,” or “Simplifying the navigation will reduce user frustration and bounce rates, keeping potential clients on our site longer.”
Here’s a template for assessing your current site:
- Problem Statement: [LIST FLAWS]
- Project Objectives: [LIST WHAT REDESIGN WILL CORRECT]
- Success Metrics: [LIST COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES]
2. Establish clear and measurable goals for your new site.
It’s easy to come up with a laundry list of improvements for the new site; it’s harder to prioritize. This section helps you narrow the focus by specifying the top goals and how you’ll measure success.
List a primary goal followed by a few secondary goals. Only add the single most important outcome you want here. Ensure these are as measurable as possible.
For instance:
- Increase sign-ups by 25% within six months post-launch.
- Boost CTA click-through rates by 20% across key pages.
- Reduce bounce rate by 15% on homepage and pricing pages.
- Raise free trial-to-paid conversion rate by 10%.
- Grow organic traffic by 20% within six months.
- Make documentation and support easily discoverable.
Then decide which is your top priority and which are secondary. Say, for example, your top priority is increasing the conversion rate of website visitors to trial sign-ups by 25% within six months of the new site launch.
This is the primary goal that all major redesign decisions should support. Then, your secondary goals might be to help users easily discover the documentation, support, and access those resources, or grow organic traffic by 20% within six months through publishing more content or distribution.
Here’s a template for establishing project goals:
- Our top priority is: [LIST TOP PRIORITY]
- Our secondary priorities are: [LIST OTHER GOALS]
3. Outline the required functionality of your new site.
Now, detail what features and functionality your new site must have to achieve those goals. It’s a requirements list, and these are non-negotiable.
You can also include optional functionality, but be sure to clearly state which are must-haves and which are nice-to-have extras. Be aware that you might also have budget and resource concerns.
For example, it may be essential to have a blog on your site, but it’s also nice to have a complete resource center with advanced search functionality.
Depending on your budget and timeline, you may only get the blog, and that’s okay, as it will help you drive more organic traffic. But, considering the resources, you could get your entire wishlist approved.
When we discussed redesigning the Infinite Uploads site, I mentioned to the owner that we need a pricing page with a plan comparison table. It’s an absolute necessity for converting customers.
I also requested an “ROI calculator” tool. A cool interactive idea to show how much storage costs one could save, but it was not critical for launch. So, it went to the latter list.
Hear from an expert: Kris Nicolaou, founder and CEO of Brain Box Labs, highlights how your functionality decisions shape long-term growth: “When clients think about a redesign, they often focus only on today’s pain points. But the real value comes from building for tomorrow. That might mean developing custom features that integrate with business workflows, or structuring the site in a way that can scale as the industry, products, and audiences evolve.”
Pro tip: Don’t just plan for today while redesigning your website. Consider what happens after a year or two, or even five years. Align your website functionality with the evolution.
Here’s how you might structure this in the template:
- To achieve our top priority, we need: [LIST REQUIRED FUNCTIONALITY]
- To help achieve our other goals, we recommend: [LIST OPTIONAL FUNCTIONALITY]
4. Estimate costs and deadlines.
In the final section of the template, outline the expected cost and timeline for the project. Your boss and other stakeholders need an idea of how much of a financial and time commitment the redesign will take.
Start with a summary: “The estimated investment for the redesign is $X, and the project will take approximately Y weeks from initiation to launch.”
Then break it down.
The estimated cost of the redesign is $30,000. It covers design, development, testing, and launch.
Below is the line-item detail of the estimate:
- Design: $10,000
- Front-end development: $12,000
- Back-end/integration: $5,000
- Content/copy updates: $2,000
- Contingency: $1,000
The redesign will last approximately 16 weeks in total.
Below is an estimated timetable of the redesign:
- Week 1-2: Discovery and planning.
- Week 3-6: Design and iterations.
- Week 7-12: Development and content migration.
- Week 13-14: Testing and revisions.
- Week 15: Final tweaks.
- Week 16: Launch.
Your categories may vary based on the project needs.
Providing a line-item breakdown might seem like overkill, but trust me, stakeholders appreciate transparency. It shows where the money is going.
Besides, if one part of the budget looks off to them — “Do we really need $5,000 for content rewrite?” — they’ll ask about it, and you can discuss or adjust. It’s better than an unnoted $30,000 that leaves them guessing.
Here’s a template for breaking down the project budget and timeline:
- The estimate of the redesign is: [LIST THE TOTAL SUM]
- Below is the line-item detail of the estimate: [LIST COSTS IN TABLE]
- The redesign will last approximately: [LIST THE TOTAL WEEKS]
- Below is an estimated timetable of the redesign: [LIST STAGES OF REDESIGN]
Testing It Out: Writing My Own Website Redesign Proposal
Let me walk you through one of the website redesign proposals I recently worked on for Infinite Uploads and what I learned from it.
I started my proposal by describing the company background. Infinite Uploads is a SaaS company that helps websites offload their heavy media to the cloud — particularly WordPress websites.
The users of Infinite Uploads are site owners who have large media libraries, such as photographers, videographers, or educational website owners. Their priority is to offload their heavy storage to the cloud.
Pro tip: Clearly explain your target audience and how they interact with your website. The redesign is primarily about driving business results, not just refreshing design.
Next came the problem statement. The homepage had become cluttered with feature updates. The brand message was unclear. The pricing sections lacked the benefits of using it over the competitors.
Navigation was inconsistent, and bounce rate was rising. These issues revealed friction in the user journey and resulted in lost conversions.
Pro tip: Support your problem statement with data. For example, bounce rate, time on page, or declining sign-ups help your boss see the redesign as a solution to real issues.
So I argued in the proposal that we needed to expand the site’s architecture: Redo the homepage and add dedicated features pages, a clear cost comparison table, and a documentation section for existing users.
I also identified secondary goals, such as improving the site map accordingly and adding a customer portal for each audience segment.
Finally, regarding time and budget, I estimated costs by considering hiring an agency and sending them the RFP with a budget range of $X to $Y.
What I found helpful was leaving some questions at the end of the RFP for the website redesign agencies to answer, apart from the basics, for example:
- Tell us about your creative process and how you would start.
- Why do you believe your organization is the most suitable for this project?
- After the website is launched, what kind of web development support do you provide?
Ready to redesign your site?
Convincing your boss or any other stakeholder to approve a website redesign can be challenging. But with a clear proposal built on research, goals, and realistic plans, it becomes much easier.
In my experience, effective communication is crucial to a successful redesign, both when writing the proposal and during the project itself. Make sure your agency or team understands your needs, audience, and expectations. Encourage the agency you work with to ask questions when things aren’t clear.
A redesign is all about collaboration. When everyone is aligned and talking openly, your goals are more likely to be met and even surpassed.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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Website Redesign
