The Dying Art of the Human RFP

:Why Your Website RFP Shouldn’t Sound Like a Robot Wrote It

I have a confession to make: I used to love reading RFPs.

As the person who oversees business development at Gecko, I get a first look at how RFPs articulate the challenges organizations face, and crucially, the business problems that lead them to our door. There’s something thrilling about that initial glimpse into a potential partnership – seeing how a company articulates their vision, their struggles, their aspirations. Each RFP used to feel like the opening chapter of a story we might help write together.

But lately, that thrill has dimmed a little.

These days, about 8 out of 10 RFPs that land in my inbox feel distinctly… machine-generated. And I get it, I really do. ChatGPT and other AI tools are powerful resources for gaining fluency in articulating requirements. They can help you create a more comprehensive document, hit all the technical notes, save precious time, and sound polished and professional.

Here’s what we’re losing in translation, though: you.

The Imperfect Perfection of Human Writing

AI-generated RFPs are mechanically perfect. They’re comprehensive, well-structured, and hit all the expected beats.

But in their perfunctory completeness, they strip away the very imperfections that make an RFP truly insightful.

When someone writes an RFP in their own voice – even if they’re not quite sure how to articulate everything perfectly – we learn so much. We see how they think. We glimpse their personality. We understand their level of sophistication about both their problems and potential solutions (and trust me, that’s not a judgment; it’s a valuable data point that helps us craft better responses). Most importantly, we feel the humanity behind the business problem.

Those “imperfections”? They’re actually windows into who you are as a client, what it will be like to work with you, and how we can best serve your needs.

Five Ways to Write an RFP That Gets Better Responses

If you’re preparing to hire a web development agency, here’s how to create an RFP that will help you find the right partner:

1. You Don’t Need All the Answers

Seriously. If you knew exactly what you needed and how to build it, you wouldn’t be hiring an agency. It’s perfectly okay – encouraged, even – to say “We’re not sure about X” or “We’re trying to figure out whether Y is the right approach.” Agencies appreciate honesty about uncertainty because it helps us understand where we can add the most value.

2. Build in a Q&A Process

Allow prospective agencies to ask questions and probe deeper where they need clarity. Some of the best agency-client relationships start with a conversation, not a one-way document drop. A robust Q&A process gives agencies permission to dig into the nuances of your situation and shows you’re open to dialogue. 

3. Let Your Personality Shine Through

Write like a human talking to other humans. Use your company’s actual voice. If your company culture is playful, let that show. If you’re more buttoned-up, that’s fine too. Just be authentically you. The agencies that respond well to your genuine voice are the ones you’ll want to work with anyway.

4. Share the “Why” Behind the “What”

Don’t just list features and requirements. Tell us why you’re embarking on this project. What’s the business problem you’re solving for? What does success look like from your perspective? What keeps you up at night about your current website? Context transforms a checklist into a narrative, and agencies do their best work when they understand the full story.

5. Include the Messy Details

Have competing priorities? Tight budget constraints? Internal stakeholders with different visions? Tell us. Real projects come with real complications, and pretending they don’t exist doesn’t make them go away. Agencies who know how to navigate complexity will appreciate your transparency and can factor these realities into their proposals.

The Bottom Line

AI can be a helpful tool for organizing your thoughts or ensuring you haven’t missed critical elements. (It admittedly helped me edit this blog post!) But if you use it to generate your RFP, please, please use it as a starting point, not the final draft. Go back in and add yourself. Revise the robotic passages. Insert your actual questions and concerns. Let your voice break through the machine-generated gloss.

Because here’s the thing: the best agency partnerships aren’t built on perfect documentation. They’re built on honest communication, mutual understanding, and genuine connection. And that all starts with an RFP that sounds like it was written by the real, imperfect, wonderful humans and companies we’ll hopefully get to work with.

I want to love reading RFPs again. Help me out?