Did you know that 75% of users judge a website's design? It only takes 0.05 seconds for a visitor to decide whether or not they like it. So, you must ensure your website leaves a good first impression.
While trying to revamp a website recently, I had fantastic ideas for its design and features. Since I am a marketer, my technical skills fell short and didn’t turn out as planned. That’s when I saw the value of involving web development experts. However, considering a website redesign is a huge investment of money, time, and resources, and it’s hard to expect immediate buy-in from every stakeholder.
If you find yourself in the same position, don’t worry! We’re going to walk through the process of writing a website redesign proposal that your boss can’t say no to. Let’s get started.
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
What is a website redesign request for proposal?
Typically, a business creates a RFP (request for proposal) 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.
With an RFP document, you eliminate the need to speak with each agency individually to inquire about a potential partnership on a web design project. Moreover, you can specify all the details to receive more accurate quotations. 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
It‘s normal to feel overwhelmed by the RFP process, especially since it’s a major project that takes significant time and money to complete. Here are some common obstacles you may face when developing your RFP – and how you can prevent them from happening.
No clarity in RFP details
It hurts you and potential agency partners when you don‘t have a specified timeline, budget, or objectives. It’s highly unlikely that you'll find a proposal that meets your desired needs because agencies merely rely on their best assumptions about what your budget would allow.
So, if you‘ve properly mentioned everything you need, you can choose the best strategic plan for your company rather than just going with what’s cheapest or takes less time.
Finding the right bid
It can be tough to sift through many RFP proposals to find the one you need. You don‘t want to make the wrong choice. You can look at the agency’s website and see whether it's only visually appealing, lacks search engine visibility, and is extremely slow to load.
When you have a strong set of candidates, weed out the agencies that don't satisfy your specifications or who seem like a bad fit for your particular project. If you are impressed with how their agency website is presented and the caliber of their client portfolio, they are the one for you.
Delay in approval
It's important to remember that internal feedback can sometimes be delayed, so you may be unable to respond to agencies on time. Ineffective communication with your partner about your wants, preferences, and opinions can seriously impede the process and result in a finished product that falls short in some areas.
Remember that everyone is responsible for the project, including its timeline. With your new vendor, you should always strive to create a website you can be happy to show off to internal and external stakeholders.
Regardless of what you face during the RFP process, remember it's better to prepare yourself to face and overcome these challenges. Otherwise, you can be stuck with your website redesign project.
The Cost of a Website Redesign: How Much Can It Be?
The average cost of redesigning a website through an agency can be $15,000 to $30,000, depending on how many pages, how much you’re redesigning, etc. Suppose you’re redesigning a simple WordPress site, it would cost around $2,500 and $10,500.
Some projects can even cost $60,000, especially if they involve developing custom functionality, improving your site architecture, etc. Many agencies usually start with a base price and increase it based on your project goals.
So, when setting a price for your website redesign request for proposal, look at the scope of your project. Think about how much time and resources it would take, how prominent your site is, how you want your website designed, etc.
How to Create a Website Redesign RFP
Every website redesign proposal should follow the same basic format. You begin with a problem statement, offer a proposed solution, and estimate the time and budget needed to complete the project.
To gain a better understanding of each of these components, let’s take a look at the website redesign proposal of my fictional company, ABC, below.
1. Start with your company and audience background
Before going straight to why you want a redesign, summarize your company and its background.
Provide enough information in your company overview to give those who have never heard of you a feel of what you do, but not so much that it overwhelms the reader. This will allow vendors to know who you are, what you do, your target audience, and how you serve them.
2. Lay out your problem statement
The proposal should then clearly lay out the problems of ABC’s current site. For example, it’s difficult for visitors to navigate and difficult for back-end users to create pages. In fact, Forbes reported that 45% of users mentioned that website navigation is one of the key factors of customer loyalty.
These navigation and design issues are then tied to metrics: the site is seeing a higher bounce rate and fewer page visits over time. Take a look at some website homepage samples to get an idea of what you want.
Now the proposal will explain how a website redesign will address and resolve these issues.
The team at Vital Design mentions that one of the best RFPs they received was a very basic outline form. That’s because they candidly evaluated their existing website, precisely described their goals for the new one, and identified their target audience. This allowed their teams to get right to the point and save a ton of time when it came time to start working on the project.
3. Highlight what your proposed solution is
The proposed solution is broken down into two sections: the goals of the redesign and the functionality that must be added to the new site to meet these goals.
The primary objectives of ABC’s redesign are migrating to a CMS, improving navigation paths on the front end of the site, and implementing a responsive and modern design to increase conversions. The proposal also includes secondary objectives of the redesign: social media integration and increased engagement with the audience.
Then we move onto the specific functionality required to achieve these goals, including a responsive design and integrations with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Personally, I’d say it’s a good idea to set up key metrics you want to achieve by redesigning your website. Some numbers, like you want a 10% decrease in bounce rate, could help the agency identify and explain how they can achieve that. But do make sure that you’re not too set on these benchmarks, as they can change over time.
4. Mention the time and budget estimate
This section mentions a projected timeline and budget. Stakeholders at ABC are going to have follow-up questions about the timeline and costs, including proposed dates for the start of the redesign and the launch of the new site. They also might ask for estimates of CMS vendors that offer the required functionality mentioned above. You can anticipate and address these questions in your own website redesign request for proposal.
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When setting the dates, set a reasonable deadline for the launch of your web design project when determining the desired launch goal date. Generally, depending on its complexity, a website project can take up to 14 or 18 weeks. An example from 3.7 Designs shows that it can take 30 weeks and above at most, depending on how long each phase of your redesigning takes.
Pro Tip: When comparing proposals during the decision-making process, make sure to mention exactly what vendors should include in their proposals so that you receive standardized responses.
Now that you have a better idea of what a website redesign proposal should include, let’s build a template paragraph by paragraph.
Website Redesign Proposal Template
To get started writing your own proposal, you can use the website redesign proposal template below. You can also look at another template option here or see the sneak peek below.
1. Identify the pain points of your current site
Begin your proposal with an honest assessment of the limitations of your current site. Do the color palette, typography, and other design elements no longer align with your brand? Do you have multiple navigation systems across your site that are confusing or frustrating visitors? Is it difficult for your team to schedule and update content?
Make sure to connect these issues with opportunities your business could capitalize on. Rebranding will help you reach your target audience, simplifying the navigation system will help improve the user experience, and migrating to a CMS like Content Hub will help improve the workflow of your marketers.
Here's a template for assessing your current site:
Our current website is: [LIST FLAWS]
By redesigning our website, we will fix [LIST WHAT REDESIGN WILL CORRECT]
As a result, our business will [LIST COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES]
2. Establish clear and measurable goals for your new site
When taking inventory of your current site, you might find lots of issues that could take the redesign project in different directions. To narrow your scope of work, establish clear and measurable goals for your new website, such as:
- Attracting 10,000 unique visitors a month
- Increasing your conversion rate by 5% each year
- Generating 50 backlinks each month
- Gaining 10 newsletter subscribers each week
Then decide which is your top priority and which are secondary. Say, for example, your top priority is generating 1,000 qualified leads for your sales team per month. Then your secondary goals might be educating prospective buyers on your services by providing at least 10 blog posts, training videos, and other helpful resources per week.
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
Next, outline what your site needs to accomplish these goals. You can also include optional functionality but make sure to clearly state which are must-haves and which are nice to-dos.
For example, it may be essential that you have a blog on your site but nice to have a complete resource center with advanced search functionality. Depending on your budget and timeline, you may only get the core functionality — and that’s okay.
If you align the core features with your main objectives, just getting the bare minimum approved will allow you to meet your goals. For example, a blog by itself can help you drive more organic traffic to your site. But, if you’re lucky, you could get your entire wishlist approved.
Here’s a template for outlining the features you need:
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
Finally, you have to give your boss and other stakeholders an idea of how much the redesign is going to cost and how long it’s going to take.
Try to clearly break down the total cost into line items. Begin by stating which CMS you’re going to use. If it’s proprietary, include how much the software costs per month. If it’s open-source, account for hosting, SSL certification, and any premium themes and extensions you’ll need to purchase. If you’re planning on hiring a freelancer or agency to help redesign your site, estimate that cost by multiplying their hourly rate by the proposed duration of the project.
Knowing that a typical website takes 12–14 weeks to redesign, you can break that down into more actionable deadlines. How many weeks will it take to evaluate and select a CMS? When do you propose to start the redesign? When do you propose to launch the redesigned site? These are just a few questions you should answer in your proposal.
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 time table of the redesign: [LIST STAGES OF REDESIGN]
Testing It Out: Writing My Own Website Redesign Proposal
To understand how a website redesign request for proposal works, I put myself in charge of writing a website redesign proposal for my “fictional” company Blinding Lights.
Starting with the background, I explained that we are a lightbulb company that has been in the industry for the past 10 years. Our audience mostly comprises electrical contractors, large offices or spaces, and government institutions.
Pro Tip: I noticed that when identifying audience segments, it‘s good to be specific about how they interact with your website and how you’re trying to get them to convert.
Then, I moved on to highlighting why I needed to redesign my website. The main reason was that we didn‘t have a separate landing page for each audience segment. However, it proved difficult to understand each landing page’s requirements.
Pro Tip: Find similar websites and do a competitor analysis to see what your website lacks. Then, you can create a framework for what you are looking for.
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, since it's a fictional company, I estimated costs by focusing on how long the process might take and whether the requirements were too high.
What I found useful is leaving some questions at the end 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?
These prompts make it easier to differentiate how each agency works and whether it aligns with your company's objectives.
Ready to Redesign Your Site
Convincing the necessary stakeholders that you need to overhaul your company site can be a challenge. By following the template outlined above, you can create a website redesign proposal that effectively communicates your website’s current issues and explains how a redesign will resolve those issues and grow your business.
From my experience, the most important thing you should focus on is making sure the agency understands your needs clearly and that they ask you questions about it if they don't. In this case, effective communication ensures your requirements are met.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in February 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
