There are dozens of consent management platforms (CMPs) on the market. Many offer similar features and promise to help you collect consent compliantly with regulatory requirements and build trust with customers.
When you’re choosing a CMP, a request for proposal (RFP) helps you to compare providers based on factors that are critical to your business, like compliance capabilities, customization, industry-specific features, and support offered.
A well crafted RFP invites CMP providers to submit proposals in a standardized format so that you can compare them side by side. According to Eike Paulat, Director of Product at Usercentrics, having all the relevant information at your disposal helps you “speed up your analysis and determine specific questions you may have for vendors.”
This article provides best practices for writing an RFP and tips for choosing a CMP, as well as a downloadable RFP template you can customize and send to potential vendors.
Best practices for writing a consent management platform RFP
“An RFP reduces implementation risks and budget overrun and helps you choose a tool that will help protect your business and scale with your company,” states Paulat. But creating a useful RFP requires you to ask the right questions, so you can identify key differences among vendors’ offerings and choose a solution that meets your business needs today and in the future.
Below are some best practices for creating your RFP that will help simplify your decision-making process. If you’re looking for assistance in collecting information about potential vendors, access our RFI template.
Define clear objectives and the scope of your needs
The first step when exploring CMP options should involve clarifying what you want your consent management platform to do and enable your business to achieve.
Defining your objectives and scope — like which regulations you need to comply with and what other tools you need your CMP to integrate with — helps you ask the right questions to elicit proposals that are tailored to your needs.
For example, if your business operates across multiple regions, your RFP would need a section that requests details about how a vendor handles multijurisdictional compliance and data transfers.
You can also ask about their functionality and roadmap to add additional regulations in the future, and how they will keep them updated.
Provide background and context about your organization
Provide context about your business to give vendors a deeper understanding of your organization and the unique challenges that it faces. Otherwise, you may receive proposals that are too generic to be valuable.
Share the following details along with your RFP:
| Industry and business model | The sector that you operate in and how your business operations affect your priorities for privacy compliance, monetization, and user experience. |
| Website activity | The number of monthly sessions or daily active users on your site will influence what you need from your CMP. |
| Consent touchpoints | Where you collect consent affects how many digital assets your CMP needs to be able to integrate with. |
Providing this background will help vendors write responses that are contextually relevant and speak to your real-world needs. This will make it easier for you to identify whether their solution is a good fit for your business.
Specify which privacy laws you have to comply with and other requirements applicable to your business
Many businesses have to meet the requirements of multiple data privacy regulations, which can create consent management challenges.
Entities with customers in both European countries and US states like California would need to comply with both the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA).
While these laws address similar issues, their requirements differ. Each has distinct rules surrounding consent collection, user rights, and data processing.
For example, the GDPR requires explicit, informed, opt-in consent prior to data collection, while the CCPA focuses more on opt-out mechanisms for the sale and sharing of data, and prior consent is not required in most cases.
Companies may also have industry-specific regulatory requirements to meet, e.g. in healthcare or finance, or policy requirements from important partners, e.g. for digital advertising.
Outline the specific regulations that you need to follow to help vendors understand and articulate whether their solution will work for your business.
Indicate vendor requirements and preferences, such as pricing and billing structure
Not every feature of a CMP will be relevant to or useful for your business. It’s important to ask about the functionality that is most valuable to your organization and its needs.
You’ll also want to consider pricing models — like flat rate versus usage-based pricing — as well as contract terms, billing frequency, and customization options.
For example, if the traffic to your website has seasonal fluctuations, it might be better to opt for a pay-as-you-go pricing structure. A fixed-rate contract, on the other hand, would likely be better suited to a business that sees a consistent flow of visitors to its site and/or app.
Establish a clear evaluation and selection process
A clear framework for assessing vendor proposals will help you find the right CMP faster and with less effort.
When reviewing proposals, you can rule out all vendors that don’t meet your non-negotiable requirements. Then, you can assign weights to optional features and functionality to help you decide among similar solutions.
RFP consent management platform template
We’ve created a structured RFP consent management template that you can download to make it easier to collect responses from potential vendors. Here’s a brief description of each of the sections it includes.
Customer context and information
This tab should give vendors some information about your business and its needs. It’s your opportunity to share any context that will help the provider determine which of their features and functions are most relevant to you.
Functional requirements
This section should provide a space for the vendor to outline all the non-technical capabilities of their CMP. You can include questions about design and customization, reporting and analytics, compliance capabilities and legal requirements, marketing performance features, and preference management.
Technical requirements
Your CMP will need specific technical capabilities, from application programming interface (API) availability to compatibility with tag management systems and other integrations. This section of the RFP form should request detailed information about APIs, technical compatibilities, adaptability and geolocation, and integrations.
IT and security
The IT and security section of your RFP will elicit information about a CMP’s compliance support, data protection, and infrastructure security standards. It could include questions regarding data processing and confidentiality, encryption, access controls, and incident response processes.
Customer service and support
Onboarding, support, and collaboration will be important for getting the most out of your CMP. This tab should cover the types of training and assistance that vendors supply, response times for issues, documentation coverage, and gather details about how they help enable long-term success for their clients.
Pricing and billing structure
This section is your opportunity to collect information about the solution’s pricing and billing model to determine whether it aligns with your organization’s operating structure, projected growth, and budget.
Other useful resources
This section gives vendors a space to share relevant materials that demonstrate their expertise and support the responses they’ve provided elsewhere in the RFP. This could include items like compliance guides, technical documentation, or even case studies.
Tips for choosing a CMP: What to consider
Top consent management platforms support ongoing regulatory compliance across various data privacy laws while also offering:
- Integration flexibility: Seamless connections with existing tools in your tech stack — including your CRM, analytics tools, and marketing software — help to improve workflows.
- Advanced reporting: Real-time dashboards and audit logs enable you to monitor consent trends and demonstrate compliance with regulatory bodies.
- Security: Encryption, access controls, and secure data storage are all necessary to enable compliance and prevent data breaches and unauthorized access.
Once you’ve found providers that deliver on your non-negotiables and have narrowed down your pool of potential CMPs, ask yourself a few questions to establish which one will be best suited to your business.
| Will this solution enable me to achieve compliance with all the data privacy laws relevant to me? | You need to comply with all the regulations that apply to your organization to protect your business against potential legal risks, fines, and damage to customer trust. |
| Does the CMP update automatically to reflect changes in these regulations? | Automatic updates help to keep your consent efforts compliant with evolving privacy laws. |
| Does the company have existing customers in my industry? | Vendors with industry-specific experience are more likely to understand your unique needs and challenges. |
| Can the solution scale and grow with my business? | Opting for a CMP that can continue to support your business as it grows and expands can save you the headache of changing systems later on. |
| Is the CMP customizable? | Tailored consent banners and custom workflows can help you to strengthen your brand identity and optimize your operations. |
| Does the CMP have geolocation features and strong language support to give users all over the world a positive experience on our site? | Displaying the appropriate language and consent information helps you be transparent and improve user experience while achieving privacy compliance. |
“The CMP needs to be user-friendly both for the team setting up and maintaining it, and for the users, so flexible customization options are important. As are automated features like scanning for the cookies you’re using and keeping regulatory information up to date.” — Eike Paulat, Director of Product at Usercentrics
Simplify consent management with Usercentrics
The RFP process can help you evaluate potential CMP solutions to choose the one that best fits your organization’s needs.
If you’re looking for a platform that’s trusted by big names in media and publishing, retail and ecommerce, banking and finance, healthcare, and beyond, look no further than Usercentrics.
Our CMP is a flexible consent management solution that comes with automated updates, integrations with many popular tech platforms, and fully customizable consent banners that offer advanced preference controls.
Over two million websites worldwide rely on Usercentrics to manage consent data and compliance efforts, and our 99 percent-plus customer retention rate speaks to the quality of our solutions and support.