Website RFP Template for B2B Companies: What to Include and Why

Why a proper brief saves you money

An agency quote is really a guess at hours. When your brief is thin, the agency fills the gaps with assumptions. Careful agencies assume more work and quote high to protect themselves. Hungry agencies assume less work and quote low, then raise change requests later.

A clear brief removes most of that guessing. You get:

• Quotes you can compare line by line
• Fewer surprise costs during the project
• Better ideas, because the agency understands the real problem
• A shorter selection process, with fewer back-and-forth calls

It also helps you. Writing the brief forces your team to agree on goals, scope and budget before you talk to anyone. Many website projects go wrong because the founder, marketing and sales each wanted something different and never said so.

The website RFP template, section by section

Copy these headings into a document and fill each one. Short answers are fine. Bullet points are fine. Clarity matters more than length.

1. About us

• Company name, website, location and markets you sell in
• What you sell, in two or three plain sentences
• Company size and stage (for example: 80 people, growing, entering the US market)
• Main competitors, with their websites

2. Why we are doing this project

• What is wrong with the current website
• What has changed in the business (new product, new market, rebrand, funding, acquisition)
• Top three goals for the new site, in order
• How you will measure success after six months (for example: qualified inquiries per month, demo requests, distributor sign-ups)

3. Who the website is for

• Main buyer roles (for example: plant head, procurement manager, CTO, CHRO)
• Other visitors (job seekers, investors, partners, existing customers)
• What each group needs to find or do on the site
• How buyers usually contact you today (form, phone, email, WhatsApp, through a distributor)

4. Current website and assets

• Current platform and hosting
• Rough page count and which pages get the most traffic or leads
• Analytics and Search Console access you can share
• Brand guidelines, logo files, photography and video you already have
• Anything that must be kept (URLs, tools, sections)

5. Scope: use the table in the next section.

6. Content

• Who writes new copy: you, the agency, or shared
• Who supplies images, icons and video
• How much existing content needs moving (blog posts, case studies, PDFs, product data)
• Languages needed

7. SEO and tracking

• Keywords or services you want to be found for
• Whether existing search traffic must be protected (URL mapping and redirects)
• Tracking needed: form submissions, calls, downloads, demo bookings
• Any interest in visibility in AI search tools

8. Technical needs

• Preferred platform, or ask the agency to recommend one (our Webflow vs WordPress guide can help)
• Integrations (CRM, marketing automation, ERP, job portal, chat)
• Security, compliance or data location rules
• Who will host and maintain the site after launch

9. Timeline, budget and decision process

• Ideal launch date, and whether it is fixed (event, funding, trade show) or flexible
• Budget range for the build, and separately for ongoing support
• Who is on your side: decision maker, project owner, reviewers
• Proposal deadline, shortlist date and decision date
• What you want in the proposal and how you will compare them

10. Acceptance and handover. Add a short section that says what “done” means for each deliverable, so nobody argues about it at the end.

The scope table agencies actually need

This is the most useful part of any brief. Agencies price by page templates and features, not total page count. Fill a table like this and paste it into section 5 of your RFP.

How to write the budget section

Many buyers leave budget out, hoping to get a better price. It usually backfires. Without a range, one agency proposes a simple site, another proposes a full brand and content program, and you cannot compare them.

You do not need an exact number. A range is enough, for example “between X and Y for the build, plus a monthly amount for support and SEO.” It tells the agency what level of work to propose. A good agency will also tell you honestly if your range does not fit your scope, and what to cut or phase.

Keep the build and the after-launch budget separate. A website that brings in leads needs ongoing work: new pages, content, conversion tweaks and SEO and lead generation. If all your money goes into the launch, the site will slowly go stale.

What to ask agencies to send back

Tell agencies exactly what you want in their reply. This makes proposals easy to compare. Ask for:

1. Their understanding of your goals, in their own words
2. Recommended approach and platform, with reasons
3. Sitemap or page list they would propose
4. Team members and their roles
5. Phases, timeline and your review points
6. Line-item pricing that maps to your scope table
7. What is not included
8. After-launch support options and pricing
9. Two or three relevant live projects and one client reference

Ask them to keep it short. A focused ten-page proposal is easier to judge than a fifty-page one full of agency history. If you want an example of how a team scopes this kind of work, our website development page shows the phases we follow, and our work page shows live sites like CompBldr, SecMark, JER HR Group and Cornext.

When the proposals arrive, score them the same way. Agree the weights with your team first, so nobody bends the scoring to fit a favorite. Score each line from 1 to 5, multiply by the weight and add up.

If two agencies end up within a few points, the reference call usually decides it. Our website agency checklist has the questions to ask on that call.

Mistakes that cause bad quotes

These are the brief mistakes we see most often. Each one leads to quotes that are hard to compare or that grow later.

• “We need a modern, clean website.” Every agency will read this differently. Describe problems and goals instead of style words.
• Total page count without templates. “50 pages” could mean 50 unique designs or 5 templates filled with content. The price difference is huge.
• No word on content. If you do not say who writes copy, some agencies include it and some do not. That alone can double the gap between quotes.
• Hidden integrations. Mentioning the CRM or ERP connection after you pick an agency almost always means a change request.
• No SEO migration. If your current site gets traffic, say so. Redirect planning takes time and should be quoted. Google’s guide to moving a site explains why every old URL needs a home.
• Too many decision makers. If eight people will review designs, say so. More reviewers mean more rounds and more time.
• Unrealistic deadlines. A fixed date with an undefined scope forces agencies to either cut corners or pad the price.

Sector-specific things to add

Some details matter a lot in certain B2B sectors. Add a line for any that apply to you:

• Manufacturing and industrial: product catalog size, spec sheets and CAD downloads, distributor or dealer locator, export markets, certifications like ISO.
• Engineering firms: project portfolio structure, sectors served, capability statements, tender and RFQ forms.
• Financial services: regulatory disclosures, risk statements, data storage rules, investor sections. See our notes on financial services websites.
• B2B SaaS and tech: product tour, pricing page logic, demo booking flow, documentation links, integration pages.
• Infrastructure: large project galleries, safety and compliance information, government and tender requirements.

Before you send it

Run through this quick check:

• Has the decision maker read and approved it?
• Is the scope table filled, with must-haves marked?
• Is there a budget range for build and for ongoing work?
• Is it clear who writes content and supplies images?
• Are dates for questions, proposals and decisions included?
• Have you offered a 30-minute call for questions? Good agencies will want one.

Send the same RFP to three to five agencies, answer every agency’s questions and share the answers with all of them. That keeps the process fair and the quotes comparable.

If you would like Hypergrow to respond to your RFP, or want a quick review of your brief before you send it out, get in touch.