6 Mistakes Banks and Credit Unions Make with Website Redesign RFPs
By Michelle Brown, VP Sales and Marketing, ZAG Interactive
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Executive Summary
- Document everything upfront. List all current site features, must-haves vs. nice-to-haves, and CMS requirements to get accurate quotes and avoid scope confusion.
- Plan beyond launch. Include future needs like scalability, brand changes, and ongoing support requirements so agencies can build accordingly.
- Balance your priorities. Be realistic about timeline and budget—you can’t have fast, cheap, and comprehensive all at once. Communicate which two matter most.
Website redesigns typically happen every three to five years for a bank or credit union in order to keep up with changing technology, evolving business needs and user experience expectations. Most institutions prepare an RFP to solicit quotes from digital agencies but many times, the RFP doesn’t provide all of the information agencies need to create a deliverable that doesn’t lead to more questions or work for your institution. Explore six common mistakes that institutions make when creating a website redesign RFP so that you can avoid them and make for a smooth agency selection process.
Mistake 1: Not Thoroughly Documenting Site Features and Pages
Any responding agency will crawl the existing site and try to identify features of your site that could impact the project scope. It’s helpful for institutions to proactively identify:
- Key features of the current site that should be included on the new site such as interactive product finders or specific forms, and especially items that could impact functionality.
- Elements of the current site that do not need to be part of the new site such as older content (e.g. news before 2023, blogs, newsletters).
- Things that may be on the current site but should be reimagined such as a blog that may be third-party that should ideally be in the CMS, or comparison tables that would be better served as interactive tools.
It’s important for an institution to take the time to review the current site to avoid agencies guessing, missing things or artificially inflating their quotes unnecessarily.
Mistake 2: Outline Must-Haves and Nice-to-Haves
Reviewing website RFP responses is no small feat and it can be arduous to compare apples to apples. It’s helpful to provide an accurate list of items that are expected in a fixed quote budget, as well as other items an agency recommends but that could go beyond the initial expectation.
- The list of must-have items should be reflective of full team’s needs and will likely include re-imagining the site architecture and user experience, tools to centrally manage content like rates and locations, identifying page layouts or unique components such as a video library or featured rates, and much more.
- The list of nice to have items doesn’t need to be as prescriptive, but is helpful for an agency to understand if there is interest and potential budget to recommend features you may not have thought of. This could include tools, page layouts and other items that could better help your institution achieve its goals. This also gives the responding agency an opportunity to communicate some of its offerings, without jeopardizing being dismissed because of the initial budget.
Mistake 3: Not Defining CMS Requirements
Most agencies are expert in a few different content management systems (CMS’), so it’s helpful to clearly identify not only the pain points of your current CMS, but what some criterion may be for a new CMS.
- If a specific CMS or type of is desired, communicate this clearly. Your internal team may have a preference for or against a specific type of CMS. For example, your IT staff may ask you to use an open-source CMS because of security concerns, or your development team may feel more comfortable with a PHP or .NET CMS. In addition, if your institution has a preference or aversion to a proprietary CMS versus licensed, this is important to state.
- Provide information in your RFP about your budget being inclusive of any CMS license fees or not. Like most things in life, there is a range in fees for a content management system. It’s helpful for agencies to understand whether your budget range includes an annual license fee or not, so that they can make a recommendation that aligns with both your budget and your functional/administrative requirements.
Mistake 4: Not Thinking Beyond Launch
Yes, a website redesign is a project. But launching a new site is just the beginning of how your institution will use this vital channel, so ensure your RFP indicates some of the things you might have planned in the years beyond launch. This is important because:
- The site should be scalable as you grow and change. While you may not be able to truly forecast so far out, your site needs to adapt, so mentioning things like having the ability to launch microsites or accommodate a planned brand change in the coming years is important for an agency to know when responding.
- The site will need ongoing support. You should absolutely expect to be independent with most day to day site changes but there are always going to be items that will require outside support, such as ongoing ADA scanning or SEO services. If you already have resources in place to do this – great – but note that in the RFP to be as transparent as possible with the responding agency.
Mistake 5: Having Unrealistic Timelines
Designing and building a custom website for your institution takes time, so while technology has allowed agencies to create efficiencies, a realistic project timeline is important.
- Agency selections take more time than you think. All too often institutions underestimate the time to internally review proposals, schedule agency presentations and make a final agency decision. Then, getting a new vendor approved and contracts signed can take so much more time than many banks and credit unions prepare for. Before you issue an RFP, ensure that you are realistic with the resources of your own team and ensure that the dates you indicate work for the team. Additionally, identify what week your team will be prepared to begin the project as far as initial discovery/meetings, because that’s truly when a project timeline needs to begin.
- The old saying goes that you can have something fast, cheap or good – pick two. This holds true for website redesigns. If you have a laundry list of must-haves but also a conservative budget and timeline, you may find yourself disappointed. Make sure that you communicate which two are your top priorities to make this transparent for all.
Mistake 6: Not Defining Hosting & Support Needs
Your IT team should have accurate information about your specific hosting requirements for the new site. If you are looking for a managed hosting vendor or a SaaS platform, communicate this in your RFP including as many details as possible.
- If you are hosting internally, provide a list of specifications so that the vendor can ensure that the recommended CMS and hosting environment align well.
- If you are looking for a managed hosting service, your RFP should include hosting requirements such as load balancing, security services or even content staging. Knowing this will allow responding agencies to provide a more tailored response, allowing you to better understand capabilities and budgets.
- If you prefer a SaaS platform, then state this when describing your preferred CMS, and again, detail any unique requirements for your institution. Importantly, when preparing your project budget, your ongoing CMS fee will include site hosting when going the SaaS route.
Your next website redesign project is an exciting endeavor, and to ensure that your agency selection process is as smooth as possible, these tips can help avoid unnecessary stress, save time and ultimately result in a better project experience with your selected agency.
