Web Site RFPs: Shoot from the Hip or Take Careful Aim?
At the web agency I work at, DC Interactive Group, I’ve answered our share of RFPs as more and more prospective clients realize the benefits of having a marketing partner that thinks creatively.
I’ve seen everything from two pages “outlining” (and we use that term generously) some general ideas and rather vague direction to documents that detail goal after objective after core requirements after proof of proficiency.
So, from the perspective of a marketing partner looking to supply your organization with an encompassing, yet succinct, proposal for a new web site, here are some pointers I have come up with:
Goals, Objectives and Requirements
What are you looking to accomplish with a new web site? Is it merely a new face on existing content and message? Are there specific performance or transaction metrics that must be met? Are you open to new features, technologies and even shifts in the way you transact business online?
Don’t worry too much about technical specifications, development environments, server statistics and browser requirements — rest assured that the best interactive partner will assume you want a rock solid, compliant and perfectly functioning web site that is modern, fresh and optimized.
Review of the Current Site
Tell us what you like and don’t like. We do well at anticipating what your hospital or healthcare system should have as a minimum set of features online in order to be competitive, but what we sometimes lack is the particular regional or business segment insight that you uniquely know.
Leave out the “we want the logo bigger” comments as we will thoroughly interview you as far as design, interface and style requirements. Rest assured, we’ve done this before.
Your Team
It’s critical to us that we know how we’re going to interact with you. Some clients prefer a User Group environment where representatives from departments and services lines take equal part in determining the web site’s direction and functionality. Other clients assign a single champion to the project who’s job is to coral the internal forces, focusing the project and keeping it on track.
Measuring Success
You’re about to embark on a huge undertaking, demanding the resources of many people and making most staff, physicians and employees think in a way that may be uncommon to them. What measurements do you want in place to measure the success of the new web site? It’s OK to be general at first, but the best plan can supply some specific (even if they are adjusted later) metrics that we can plan for.
Budget & Timetable
We know, we know, you don’t like to divulge your budget. Well, we’re going to throw out some numbers to you and it’s always best for us both is we know we’re at least within the ballpark of what you have available.
At DC Interactive, we typically provide a proposal for large projects that are broken out into stages and then provide a budgetary range for each of those steps. The advantage of this for you is that you then can help us control that range, depending on expectations, fiscal budgets and other factors.
And when it comes to timetables, there’s the old adage, “price, delivery and quality — pick two.” Well, you don’t have a say in quality — with DC Interactive, that’s always a given. But if your expectations are that a large scale project normally taking 16 weeks needs to get done in two, well, we’re going to be hiring a lot of monkeys to pound those keys. We’re not saying we won’t work with you to meet your expectations, but just be aware that careful and thorough planning can go a long way to control long term costs.
Conclusion
When it comes to giving direction to your interactive partner, there’s a delicate balance between being overwhelming and untrusting and comprehensive and having faith. Pay special attention to those prospective agencies that ask a lot of questions — often, they have your best interests at heart.
