Mar 28
Guidelines for a Request For Proposal (RFP)
2006 at 05.06 am posted by Veerle Pieters
Since the launch of my new website I have been receiving tons of e-mails and requests for a proposal. But most companies or people don’t tell anything about what they want, so a lot of valuable time is being wasted by writing back and forth. This topic came up during my stay at my best friend’s place and she came up with the clever idea to write a post about it. Now I can just point people to this post to get a better idea of what we need to establish a good price quote. I tell ya, she’s not only beautiful but smart too ;)
1. Project scope
In this day and age websites are a critical part of business, or at least they should be. But we all know that establishing an online presence requires both time, money and commitment. There are still companies that think their website is just an online brochure, but it's much more than that. When executed correctly it can help increase sales, reduce costs such as support costs for example and it helps improving customer relations. A website should be an investment that you nurture over time. The first building block of a successful website is refreshing the content in a timely fashion.
To get to know the company a little better a brief background is needed. This will provide a better insight into what the client is looking for. This should be followed by a brief description of the project. There should already be a budget set aside for this project and ideally be mentioned so that miscommunication and disappointment is being avoided. We can adjust price sometimes to fit a budget's needs but as you probably understand we're not in this game for charity but to make a decent living.
2. Objectives
The first question that comes to mind should be: "What do you wish to accomplish with this website?". A well thought or defined goal must be present if you want to build a successful website. If you think things through you can start small and grow with ease if the site requires that approach in the future. Other questions that comes to mind are: "What are the expectations of this website? Do you want to sell a product only online or is it an extension to your traditional business? Is a website that will accompany a new product launch? Do you want to collect information from your users so that you can establish a better profile of them?".
3. Target and Project management
What is your primary target audience? If we have a profile it can be easier to plot out a design, so try to give us an idea about the audience that you have in mind. If the site is going to be updated very often, you should take into consideration to use a CMS, such a tool makes life easier and more manageable.
4. Site structure
Most companies don't have a structure in mind yet when they contact us. However a structure is an important part of the price setting scheme. It's true that we can help you in that area but it's always better to do some research on that particular topic before contacting us. You can browse around and give us some examples of websites you like structure wise. It's also the part where you will define the major content areas. Also think about navigation which should not be complex or deep because people hate it when it takes too long to find what they are looking for. In an ideal world you should supply us a grid of the basic idea what you think the website should look like structure wise, we can always advice or correct where needed. It's true that people want content but a good web-design will have the right balance between visual appeal, content and usability. A website with an amateurish design will not provide credibility and I personally wouldn't buy or trust anything from such a site.
5. Content
9 out 10 times we don't have any real content when we begin to design something, so we have to resort to Lorem ipsum text instead. It's not an ideal world we live in, I know but it's better to start the design with real content to get a better idea if all will fit well together. Content is king and it is the one thing that will drive your users back to your site. Like I said above, a regularly updated website is a factor not to underestimate. A well updated site together with clean markup will get a higher ranking on search engines like Google. If budget allows hire a copywriter to take care of that part.
6. To sum things up
Company info
- Contact information.
- A brief background of your company.
Scope, objectives & target audience
- A brief description of the project.
- Goals and general scope of the project.
- Target audience, to who is the site aimed at?
Budget & time frame
- An estimated budget can be very helpful so the designer can come up with solutions that fits in the budget and it can avoid miscommunication if the designer is out of your price range.
- Include a time frame without being unrealistic. The more complex the project is the more time is needed to finish certain phases of the project. An e-commerce site will need much more attention (especially the shopping cart part) then a simple corporate business site.
Design information
- Site structure of the website.
- An overview of the design templates that are needed for the job.
- It can help to deliver some sort of basic grid of placement of items on the template, it shows the complexity and it helps us to define a more specific price.
Design requirements
- Corporate identity guidelines (if these exist).
- Define the general look & feel or style of how you would like the website to look like.
- Examples (of websites) you liked or disliked.
This list seems rather long but the translation of this shouldn't be. In fact it's more efficient to keep it brief and to the point. If we need to go through a 16 pages document then it might becoming too time consuming. This list is just as a reference, only in an ideal world all items will be answered. It's a guide-book for us, so we can give the client a specific price estimate. Also, this will give us a head start once the proposal is approved.
40served
1
Useful article. But in my experience (not just with websites but after many years in architecture) some smaller clients just don’t want those barriers to jump. They don’t want to do any real thinking or to be confused with the facts. They prefer to leave everything to the professional and expect everything to happen and turn out fine in the end. This tends to be the reality - the less-aware want everything easy.
2
Very useful indeed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. And a smashing site-design, b.t.w.
3
I believe it also helps to tell them the basis on which the proposal will be judged - this gives more credence to your request. In addition, and I admit that some don’t agree with it, I believe that those who don’t get the job should be formally told that, and not left to find out in the fullness of time.
4
I can also attest to the above comment… Smaller clients do not like to think. They prefer to leave the thinking to the designer/developer which results in the creation of a what sometimes does not reflect all the clients expectations. But how could it?
5
Congratulations for your wonderful site, I’ve always admire the designer creativity, people like you are able to create from a stone a marvelous world (sorry for my poor english)
Me encanto tu página.
Saludos !
Mary Carmen
(Mexico)
6
Sometimes with the smaller clients/jobs, while true that they expect the designer/programmer to read their minds, the fault lies in part with us the designers. We need to coax the client to provide input to the process. In architecture for example it always helps to have the client talk about the type of house they want, what they want from the house, and their lifestyle etc. Also we get them to show us houses that they have seen and like, This ends up providing a clue as to what the client excepts. But the architect can also include in the preliminary discussions / designs concepts that they may want the client to think about. These designs may not be want the client thought they wanted…. but they may still be open to new designs, concepts etc in housing…i.e. green architecture, recycled materials new design “envelopes” etc. It is the responsibility of the architect to coax out the client and get them involved. Otherwise it could make for unhappy clients/architects. Or at the very least boring uninspired safe housing styles. .
7
Great information. The benefit for the rest of us is that now we can point our clients to this page as well… ;)
Thanks!
8
I agree with that. I have lot of emails came and most of them only ask how much does it cost to build a website, and they need the price A.S.A.P. And the funniest thing is I already put a client worksheet document at my website and they never download and/or read it :). They leave it on us to see through their mind what they want. Now I can also refer them to this article :). Thanks.
9
I find that this is really necessary. Sometimes clients dont even know what they want, and they want you to make a site for them.
10
Solid gold information.
Thanks a million for sharing this! I love you!
Greets,
T.
11
I don’t usually comment on blogs, but to comment once more on this one, unless you are in a position where you have many more enquiries than firm commisions (and I’m not surprised this website generates enquiries), if you want to land the job in this ultra-competitive business you may need to make it as easy as possible on the client, and expect an attitude of “I don’t know what I want but I know what I don’t want when I see it. Or “You’re the expert, not me. Make it happen.”
So at the emailed-equiry end of the market, I think the important web design skills include accurate guesswork, and making a lot from a little. Be prepared to maybe spend unpaid time looking for stock images, just to find the right one to tempt the client into wanting the free concept you spent all those hours putting together.
As far as Veerle’s checklist goes, I imagine it represents an ideal that few designers have the luxury to enjoy. A proportion of clients just aren’t willing to give key issues that much time and attention. And in some ways, the freedom of not being tied to a tight initial brief can be a breath of fresh air compared to some other professions. You ask some of those questions in the checklist and you might regret some of the answers.
That said, I wish Veerle every success. You do a great job, but my guess is that your seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm counts for more than the procedures you work to.
12
Amen to that (especially the cpywriter part, as a translator you wouldn’t believe the amount of badly written text I see), a lot of clients just know that they need “a website” but often expect you to write their content as well as design and code their site. Good communication with a future client can often prevent frustration later on…
Another good example of a request is the one at Stuffandnonsense.
13
Veerle, your kind words about Cindyli are bringing TEARS to my eyes. That’s so sweet!
Nice post (as usual). LOVE the blog! You know so much! :-D
14
Patrick: Fair point, but the more information provided by the client, the more the site designers have to work with and the better the site will likely be. Obviously it’s rare that everything is provided but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
15
What we at LT3media do is send the client back a Word document with questions that need to be filled out. Basically just like what Happy Cog do.
16
we do the same as Zach Inglis stated.
17
Working with smaller companies is always going to be the problem here - they’re just not prepared to jump through the hoops that we put in front of them. But that’s not there fault - and I think it’s a case of us having to re-jig our phraseology. It’s like the architect analogy above - we just have to find different ways of getting the information.
What tends to happen, I find, with smaller companies is that I end up guiding them down a pretty tight path. After I’ve got all the information out of them, I create an ‘expectation map’ for them - a pretty detailed description of what happens next, the input I’ll need from them, what they can expect back from me at various points, etc. That way, their expectations of the process are managed a bit better.
Expectation management is a huge part of the process - especially with smaller companies who may not have worked with a designer / developer before. Managing expectations starts with your response to the RFQ and providing guidelines - even if you know a small company may be intimidated by them somewhat, helps that process - they know they’re dealing with a serious project and not just ‘I need a website, can you help’ type of project.
I’d be interested to know how much success people have with the question ‘And what’s your budget for this?’!
18
wow! i love this site, very helpful!!
19
Greetings from South Africa. Firstly, like everyone else here, I must compliment you on your great design. The colours, the layout, it’s simplicity, make for such a great overall impression.
Thanks also for a most informative and helpful article. Well thanks to DesignRabbit actually. I have this problem all the time.
I get emails saying, “Can you quote me on a website?” And that’s it. Such a waste of time emailing back and forth. I usually just act if we can schedule a meeting, but quite difficult when hundreds of miles between us.
This link will defintely be used regularly.
20
Well, that’s a real “been there, done that” kind of post.. :)
Usually, smaller companies that “want a website”, come over and say it in like Miguel from Falty Towers: I’m Miguel, I’m from Spain, I know nothing. And at this point, you’re in charge for their site. I usually start by telling them I know as much about their product as about my latest client his business. I know some shit about making websites, but I don’t know a thing about chemicals, 10 kinds of high-pressure tools, or making profiles.
So usually I ask them an overview of their activities, as large as possible. That makes it possible to work out a structure. And later on, we can start thinking about a design.
But this checklist of yours is a good foundation!
21
very useful!
” Content is king and it is the one thing that will drive your users back to your site” “A well updated site together with clean markup will get a higher”
Content- really important, and well update really defficult
22
i just became a freelancer recently and these infomations are a very usefull, thanks!
23
I like the idea of using things like basecamp to involve the client electronically and to keep everything organised. We find that the hardest thing about building smaller sites is getting the content from the client, as it can take quite a while. By showing them that their delay in supplying content will put all milestones and timescales back considerably, it usually acts as a good incentive to avoid delay in completing their website
24
Great story Veerle. This makes it more easier to get those value information(s) for designing a website. Good job! Keep up the good work!
25
Hit the spot veerle. It’s like the 6 commandments of a website proposal. Thank yooou! :)
26
This is a very nice article, but I have to agree with the first comment, by Patrick Taylor, in which he says that usually small companies and clients don’t really want to go through the trouble of thinking about all of those items. Most of them, in my short experience, just handle you the problem, and as a good designer you have to create a project and a solution.
Of course that, in your case, this is a lot different, you are probably dealing with much bigger clients and companies, but I still think the overall guidelines could be simpler.
27
Wow, how recognisable this is. Tons of interest and then still nothing yet. So this post is really a good idea. Thanks Veerle!
28
A good read for any aspiring webdesigner-developer !!!
Triple Interview with three webdevelopers: Dustin Diaz, Robert Nyman and Jonathan Snook about webstandards, production environment, browsers.
29
Nice post. This is definitely something that people looking to have a site built should consider reading. To address the first comment, sometimes web designer/developer has to wear the business analyst hat also, providing content for the client.
30
As long as she/he doesn’t forget to charge for it!
31
Really good post, impressive designs. Wish my website can have such beatiful design. I’m the one of such small company clients, actually I’m just a programmer. Look at the site, www.millionpeoplelinked.com. I mixed up two pre-built scripts into one website, ended up with this amateurish design, or even we can say no design work at all. I definately need a copywriter’s help, also need some design work there. For anyone wants free advertising, you can post your companies banner in my free pixel pages. Thanks!
32
A very interesting article , ( I’ll mail it to my boss ) and i found a lot of other interesting material.
i’m sure everyone know already, but i recently found the developer toolbar for
Explorer!! go here
33
Great website and great article. One english nit though, in paragraph one you say: “There are still companies that think their website is just an online brochure, but it’s much more then that.” The word “then” is a time reference; “than” is a comparative reference and should be used here.
34
Great way to think about this, Veerle. I think “We need a new website”, often opens the door for a discussion about brand as well. Many clients just feel “Our site is old, and needs to be new”; missing the potential for technologies like blogging, RSS, podcasting, forums, etc… Beyond being a sales portal, their website (in many cases) can be the most effective channel for communicating their brand. And if the brand is broken (i.e. what we say, does not match what we do) creating a new website has less value for a client than it could if the brand problems were first addressed.
Making this point in your RFP can be very effective.
LOVE YOUR SITE!!! :) :) :)
35
Not that this has anything to do with your post, but your site is just ridiculous. Ridiculous in a I-COULD-NEVER-PULL-THIS-OFF way. It’s amazing. Good job.
36
Right on time when I need to prepare a proposal too. Well said! :D
However, I’ve got a question.
How would you decipher/decode/dismantle this into a proposal if a client just says to you, “I’d like a website like [URL]”?
Sorry for asking this, we get a lot of clients like that over here. :|
37
This post is great. We have a series of questions we ask on initial contact before doing a proposal and some are very similar to these. It’s a good way to know what/who you are dealing with and get rid of people who are not serious about the project. Here is a list of the ones we ask.
1. What is the objective for have a web site and what do you wish to
achieve with it?
2. Do you have a new site or would you like your existing site to be re-designed?
3. Would you like to update your website yourself or will you need monthly maintenance? (to find out if they need a cms)
4. Will the web site need special items besides text and photos (contact forms, message boards, a photo gallery, etc)?
5. Do you have all of the copy for your web site prepared? If not, do you need a professional copyright service to prepare it for you?
6. Do you have all of the art and photos ready that you would like to
use on the site?
7. Who is your main target audience and what are the demographics of the
market?
8. Who is your main competition?
9. What do you do better than the competition?
10. Have you seen other web site that you like? If so, what are their urls and what do you like about them?
11. Have you seen other web site that you DON’T like? If so, what are their urls and why don’t you like them?
12. When would you like to complete the site?
38
Hey Veerle, great write up. I use a similar questionnaire for potential clients.
Making it clear to clients that the more information they give, the happier they will be with the result is crucial, even though they often haven’t the faintest clue how to answer certain things. Our job as designers is to give them sufficient clues with our copy to help them along.
Great resource and fantastic design, keep up the wonderful work!
39
I recently fumbled my way through my first ‘real’ proposal for a company that expected quite a bit. Their RFP was 11 pages long and detailed specific submission guidelines and deadlines and so forth. It was extremely intimidating! Wish I’d had this article then - at least I’d have a good idea of what to tell them I expected from them.
Pretty site. Pretty.
40
Nice writeup Veerle. I wonder if anyone has come up w/ a good template for doing “web design” freelance/work. That, I still have to find.