Have you ever issued a website RFP seeing a few people bidding on it? Several important tips increase the success rate of your project RFP. Here’s how to improve your RFP.
Have you ever sent out an RFP for a web design project and only received a few responses? Did you ever think about what went wrong and why design agencies failed to respond as expected? You are not the only one with low success rate RFPs.
RFPs are distributed by companies to potential parties to hire freelancers and agencies for a new project through competitive bidding.
An RFP describes all of the project's specifications and needs. It assists businesses in preparing for new projects by functioning as a proposal to prospective vendors and agencies.
The low success rate of RFPs can be attributed to both issuers and responders. If you don’t write a solid RFP, agencies would be also reluctant to bid for it.
As an RFP issuer, don’t expect any of the 10 top web design companies to respond to your unattractive RFP. They just don’t take that RFP much seriously.
A properly developed RFP can help the web design process. It will help express project requirements and priorities while also a tool for a fair comparison among web development agencies.
The Weaknesses of Ordinary RFPs
To understand how website RFP can be improved, let’s discuss the reasons a weak RFP usually underdelivers.
Ordinary RFPs focus on general corporate information explaining the creation and departments of the company. These can be easily found on your company website, so try focusing on tangible details, directly affecting the project.
Try providing crucial information about the project requirements and your company’s expectations regarding the project.
For example, your company may need a design agency to provide Youtube ads consultation, besides web development. You should mention experience in youtube ads cost estimation as one of the requirements in your RFP document.
Many RFPs show signs or mention that there would be limited communication opportunities with the client. These types of statements can act as a red flag for many design agencies.
It is fair that agencies may need details regarding your brand or expectations during the process of web development. So, if you are reflecting signs of not being available for once in a while questions, then don’t expect many RFP responses.
Unrealistic expectations in terms of time and budget are among the most important reasons why RFPs underdeliver.
Did you ask for an e-commerce site like Amazon, but you want it done within a very tight time frame? Let’s face reality, implementing lots of features into your website, needs plenty of time. It also requires more budget allocation.
You should have a clear and realistic expectation of your requirements and align the proper budget and time for it.
Tips for Writing a Quality RFP Document
Now you know the most important reasons why not many design companies bid on your RFP. It’s time to discuss the points you should consider before issuing your RFP document.
While writing a fully detailed company profile in your RFP is not necessary, no company overview is not helpful either.
Draft a short overview of your company so that the design agencies have the right opinion of who you are. Place a link to your complete company profile so that they can refer to that for any additional information.
Knowing more about your company’s products and services can help agencies to get a baseline on your requirements. The agencies can think of the general pain points that your customers may have.
Consider describing the target audience and your products or services’ potential buyers in preparing your website RFP.
You don’t need to write full details on your buyer personas. A brief explanation of their demographics is fine for the RFP document.
They can understand the style of your website and if it should be a mobile-friendly website or other accessibility requirements.
Make sure you provide sufficient information for the potential agencies to decide whether they should bid or not.
The most important data to include in your RFP are budget range, time frame, and your internal team and resources.
