My name is Sakamoto, and I work in the sales department of the Marketing Division.
In the previous "BtoB Research" we mentioned that "RFP (Request for Proposal)" is very important when ordering a website renewal. So how do you create an RFP specifically? We have summarized the points you should keep in mind into "5 rules." Even if you are not sure where to start, you will be fine as long as you keep these rules in mind. This time, we will introduce two rules that we would like you to know first.
Rule #1
Communicate your current situation accurately
When we, a web production company, renew a corporate website, the first thing we want to know is the various pieces of "information" that the client absolutely has in abundance.
Things that are obvious to customers, such as business content, industry trends, and competitors, are often completely unknown to external production companies. It's best to go as far as to think you've explained things in too much detail.
This information may or may not be reflected directly on the site, but sharing basic information with the production company is a shortcut to creating a corporate website that reflects the client's wishes.
Is this information really necessary to create a website?
"This is so obvious that it probably doesn't need to be said."
There is no need to overthink things and end up over-organizing or cutting out information.
Here are some basic pieces of information we like to see included in an RFP:
1. Company policy
- Company philosophy and important ideas
- What are your future goals for the business?
2. Your company's products and services
- What are your main products and services?
- What other products and services are available?
- Target for each product/service (industry/user group)
- Industry trends, competitors
3. Current state of the website
- Number of accesses and unique users
- Access ratio from PC and smartphone
- Bounce rate, new vs. returning ratio
- The word being searched
- Most viewed content
4. Operational Structure
- The number of people and man-hours involved in regular update work
- System for responding to inquiries from the site
- System maintenance system
- Server Management Methods
Although we are web production companies and are professionals, we do not have sufficient knowledge of the client's business. Please fully explain your company's philosophy, products, and services in the RFP.
Rule #2
Pick up the issues you are facing
The next important thing is to share the issues. When doing this, it is important to pick up the issues and prioritize them at the same time. It is a good idea to organize the priorities of each issue from "should be improved if possible" to "urgent improvement is required."
Specifically, the items are as follows:
1. Number of hits
- Are you satisfied with the current number of visitors?
- Is the ratio of new and repeat customers desirable?
2. Regarding inquiries
- Are you satisfied with the number of enquiries you are receiving from your site?
- Is the method of inquiry appropriate (such as an inquiry form)?
3. About sales via the website
- Are you satisfied with the sales from your EC site?
- How do you want to develop your EC site?
4. Search keywords
- Are visitors coming from targeted search keywords?
5. Usability
- Have there been any complaints that the site is difficult to use or view?
6. About the content
- Have there been any indications that necessary information is not included?
- Is there any new content you would like to add?
7. About the update process
- Is there anything difficult about updating?
- Are you having trouble with the heavy update workload?
8. Servers and systems
- Is server management and system maintenance taking too much time and effort?
9. Operating costs
- Are you satisfied with your current operating costs?
If you take stock again, you will likely find many issues.
In some cases, it may be necessary to sacrifice other issues in order to solve one issue, and it is expected that it will cost a considerable amount of money to solve all the issues. Therefore, it is important to prioritize the issues you have picked.
In this way, by being aware of the current state of the site ourselves, we are able to carry out the renewal with a clear intention, rather than for a vague reason such as "it's just kind of outdated."
summary
- It's best to share information about your company to the point where you feel like it's a bit too much.
(The production company is a web professional, but is an amateur when it comes to the client's business.) - By sorting out the issues, you can move away from a "haphazard renewal."
- Prioritize from "This is the one thing I can't compromise on" to "I'd like to resolve this if possible."
(It would be difficult to clear all the challenges in terms of time and budget.)
Next time, we will continue to introduce the "Five Rules for Creating an RFP."
SAKAMOTO Yasuo