Web design proposal template, written from a website audit

A web design proposal template gives you the headings: what we found, scope of work, timeline, price, next step. What it can't give you is the content under them. That part is different for every client, and it's the part that shows whether you looked at their business.

A website audit fills it in. Every sentence on the client's page that fails becomes a line in the scope, with the current text, the replacement and the reason. Every fact the page doesn't state becomes a question for the client. And the same audit, run again after the work, shows what changed.

This post walks through the template section by section, filled in from a real audit. We can't publish a client's site, so our own homepage, klarnio.com, plays the client, using Klarnio's audit of it from 5 October 2026. Every quote below is taken word for word from that page and that audit.

The template at a glance

Seven sections, in this order:

1. What we looked at: the page, the date, the method.
2. What we found: the scores and the gaps, in a paragraph each.
3. Scope of work: one line per fix, first screen first.
4. What we need from you: the facts only the client has.
5. How we'll show the work: the same audit, run again.
6. Timeline and price.
7. Next step: one action.

Sections 2 to 5 come straight from the audit. Sections 1, 6 and 7 are yours.

Section 1: What we looked at

Keep it to three lines. Name the page, the date you looked at it, and how. A date matters because pages change, and a proposal that quotes a sentence the client has since rewritten starts with a quote that's no longer true.

For our example:

"We audited klarnio.com on 5 October 2026: every claim on the homepage, and the three questions every first-time visitor brings."

Section 2: What we found

Lead with the two numbers, then say what they mean in plain words. Don't make the client decode a score.

For klarnio.com, the audit found 54 claims on the homepage, and 21 of them pass all three tests: a visitor can picture them, check them and tell they could only come from this business. The copy scored 35 out of 100. The customer journey scored 72.

Then one short paragraph per gap, using the audit's own notes. Two from this audit:

"Nothing says what happened yesterday that sends someone here: a client asking why the site brings no leads, a pitch on Thursday, a relaunch that flopped."

"Only a footer address exists; no line says who answers, for what, or how quickly once you are paying 20 to 149 EUR a month."

A quoted finding is one the client can check: they can open their own page and find every sentence.

Section 3: Scope of work

This is the section a template can't write for you, and the one an audit's action plan already has. Each line item names where on the page, what it says now, what it should say, and why.

Order the items by where they sit, first screen first. Here are three line items from the klarnio.com action plan (the full action plan is in Klarnio's paid plans), numbered as they appear in the list below.

Line item 1. Hero headline.

Why: the 30-second figure is something any audit tool could print. The replacement names the input, the output and the time the page already promises, so a visitor can picture it and check it.

Line item 5. Positioning section heading.

Why: defining yourself by what you're not is a line any tool could use. The replacement states the deliverable only this product hands over.

Line item 8. Closing call to action.

Why: the original gives the reader nothing to see or check at the moment they decide. The replacement shows the effort and repeats terms they can hold you to.

Eight items from the klarnio.com plan, in the order they sit on the page, as a list the client can tick off:

1. Hero headline: replace the 30-second line with what the visitor gets and how fast.
2. Hero subheadline: add the moment that brings a visitor here (a blank, see Section 4).
3. Problem section closing line: replace "Most pages fail all three." with a counted ratio (blanks, see Section 4).
4. Re-audit section: show what month three looks like (blanks, see Section 4).
5. Positioning heading: replace "Not another SEO score." with what the product does.
6. Pricing intro: replace the free-and-paid metaphor with exactly what's free and where payment starts.
7. Pricing note: add where support questions go and how fast they're answered (a blank, see Section 4).
8. Closing call to action: replace "You have read enough about it." with the action and its terms.

Each item is a sentence-level change the client can approve, edit or strike. That puts the conversation on their page rather than on your hourly rate.

Section 4: What we need from you

An honest audit doesn't invent facts the page doesn't state. Where a replacement needs one, it leaves a visible blank. In a proposal, those blanks are the client's homework, and listing them up front means nobody discovers them in week two.

Two from the klarnio.com plan. The problem section's closing line:

The support note:

The hero subheadline (line item 2) needs one more: the moment that brings a visitor to the page, which the audit marks as a blank to confirm in customer interviews.

In the proposal, turn each blank into a question with an owner:

1. How many pages have you audited, and how many failed all three tests? Owner: the client, from their records.
2. How quickly will you answer a paying customer? Owner: the client. Only they can promise it.
3. What happens the day before someone signs up? Owner: the client's customers. A few short interviews will answer it.

If you ran the call with discovery questions written from their website, some of these answers are already in your notes. For the whole call, from research to the opening line, see how to prepare for a discovery call.

Section 5: How we'll show the work

Promise what you can show, not what you can't. A redesign can't honestly promise more leads: too much else moves at the same time. What you can promise is a before and after on the same page, measured the same way.

Put it in the proposal like this:

"When the changes are live, we'll audit the same page again with the same method and show you both scores side by side, with every sentence we changed. We won't promise more leads from this work. We'll show you exactly what changed on the page."

That last sentence costs you nothing, and it's a promise you can keep.

Section 6: Timeline and price

These are yours. Leave them as blanks in the template until you've scoped the work:

1. Timeline: DATE for the first draft of every replacement, DATE for the changes to go live, DATE for the re-audit.
2. Price: PRICE for the eight line items, plus PRICE for anything outside them.

Price the scope, not the hours. The client has just read eight specific changes to their own page, so a fixed price for those eight is easy to understand.

Section 7: Next step

One action, with a date. "Reply to approve the scope and we'll start on DATE." Not a menu of options. Every extra option is one more decision the client has to make before saying yes.

Where the audit comes from

You can build Sections 2 to 4 by hand: read every claim, run the three tests from how to audit a website, and write each replacement yourself.

Or audit the client's page with Klarnio. The free report gives you both scores, the gaps with the audit's notes, and the top fix in full. The full action plan, every line item with its replacement and its blanks, is in the paid plans. Either way, the scope of work is about their page, in their words.

Frequently asked questions

Audit a client's page before you write the proposal

Paste the client's URL into Klarnio. In two to three minutes you get both scores, the gaps under each of the three visitor questions, and the exact sentences on their page that a visitor won't act on, quoted word for word. Where a rewrite needs a fact the page doesn't give, it leaves a blank rather than inventing one.

It's free, needs no account, just your email.