A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study Commissioned By Webflow, September 2024
In today’s fast-paced digital enterprise, the ability to rapidly create, design, and publish digital experiences has become an essential part of the overall marketing strategy. Organizations seek user-friendly, scalable technology platforms that allow their teams to focus on impactful work to drive marketing performance through collaboration, management, and faster time to market.
Webflow is a website experience platform that allows in-house teams and agencies to create dynamic websites that traditionally require a team of developers, saving time and reducing costs by eliminating the need for highly skilled developers. Enterprises across all industries use Webflow to build best in class digital experiences.
Webflow commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study and examine the potential return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by deploying Webflow.1 The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework to evaluate the potential financial impact of Webflow on their organizations.
Return on investment (ROI)
332%
Net present value (NPV)
$2.12M
To better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with this investment, Forrester interviewed five representatives from organizations currently using Webflow. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the interviewees’ experiences and combined the results into a single composite organization that is an agnostic organization with revenue of $2 billion per year.
Interviewees said that prior to using Webflow, their organizations relied on complex content management systems (CMS) that demanded extensive technical expertise. They also used cumbersome, siloed tech stacks that impeded scalability and left their organizations with complicated processes for simple content updates and new page development. These processes often took months and overburdened full-stack/back-end developers and visual designers. These limitations led to frequent website outages, the inability to align business needs to marketing strategies, lengthy and costly development cycles, and high labor costs — all of which hampered their agility and market responsiveness.
“I’ve done a number of localized implementations in the past and it’s one of the most expensive and time-intensive elements of web implementations. Seeing Webflow’s approach actually building all of that natively and streamlining that process significantly is just a huge unlock because it opens those doors to be able to scale and grow in ways that are much more blocked in other platforms.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Quantified benefits. Three-year, risk-adjusted present value (PV) quantified benefits for the composite organization include:
“The ability to implement designs quickly is just spectacular. It’s very fast for our internal team to make [website] changes and update content. … They love it, there are no complaints at all. [Webflow] is the system we want to use.”
CIO, waste management
Unquantified benefits. Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:
Costs. Three-year, risk-adjusted PV costs for the composite organization include:
The representative interviews and financial analysis found that a composite organization experiences benefits of $2.76 million over three years versus costs of $638,000, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of $2.12 million and an ROI of 332%.
Time saved on content management corrections
80%
Return on investment (ROI)
Benefits PV
Net present value (NPV)
Payback
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment Webflow.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that Webflow can have on an organization.
Interviewed Webflow stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to Webflow.
Interviewed five representatives at organizations using Webflow to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
Designed a composite organization based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organizations.
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
Employed four fundamental elements of TEI in modeling the investment impact: benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks. Given the increasing sophistication of ROI analyses related to IT investments, Forrester’s TEI methodology provides a complete picture of the total economic impact of purchase decisions. Please see Appendix A for additional information on the TEI methodology.
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Webflow and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Webflow.
Webflow reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Webflow provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Consulting Team:
Carmen Serradilla Ortiz
Maria Kulikova
Role | Industry | Region | Revenue | Employees |
---|---|---|---|---|
CIO | Waste management | HQ in Ontario, Canada and US operations | $8 billion | 22,500 |
Senior manager, digital and marketing operations | Banking hardware, software, and services | HQ in GA, US operations | $4.4 billion | 19,000 |
Director of web strategy | Security software | HQ in CA, US operations | $52.5 million | 250 |
Product manager, growth and SEO | Human resources software | HQ in UT, US operations | $63 million | 300 |
Tech lead | Software | HQ in Norway, Europe and LATAM operations | $2.4 billion | 15,000 |
Prior to investing in Webflow, the interviewees’ organizations used other content management systems that required a higher amount of technical expertise labor and large and siloed tech stacks that hindered scalability. The complexity attached to simple content changes, or the development of new pages would imply months of preparation and a heavy lift on full-stack developers and designers.
The interviewees noted how their organizations struggled with common challenges, including:
“Our previous solution couldn’t keep up when marketing wanted to move fast. Our marketers needed the ability to keep up with the marketplace and deliver website experiences that would resonate with customers. When the tool meant to enable your site experience is painful and costly to use, you quickly find yourself locked into a bad position.”
Senior manager, digital marketing and operations, banking hardware, software, and services
“Webflow is quickly surpassing even [a competitor firm] as the easiest end-to-end implementation. Even if you don’t have those dedicated resources, because of the libraries of UI and built-in components, you can easily implement even if you don’t have that knowledge set.”
Director of web strategy, security software
The interviewees’ organizations searched for a solution that could:
After a request for proposal (RFP) and business case process evaluating multiple vendors, the interviewees’ organizations chose Webflow and began deployment.
“The agency network in Webflow is definitely a draw especially for smaller companies that don’t have those internal resources. It can also be a benefit for larger companies who are getting up to speed in Webflow. One of the most powerful things about Webflow is the ease of use, the flexibility, the ability for nontechnical users to really execute full web experiences without any dev intervention.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Based on the interviews, Forrester constructed a TEI framework, a composite company, and an ROI analysis that illustrates the areas financially affected. The composite organization is representative of the five interviewees, and it is used to present the aggregate financial analysis in the next section. The composite organization has the following characteristics:
Description of composite. The global enterprise organization has an annual revenue of $2 billion and uses its main website to establish a digital presence and brand awareness while providing customer service support and lead generation. As the composite organization plans to expand its sites to other geographical areas, it collaborates with Webflow to switch from its previous and high technical content management system to Webflow’s visual-first CMS platform.
Deployment characteristics. The composite organization partners with an external agency for the initial lift-and-shift of its main site and landing pages. The agency provides technical and design assistance for the migration, and the collaborating team includes an enterprise senior project manager, a content strategist, a UX designer, and a technical engineer. The composite organization also involves its in-house team comprised of a website manager, an SEO, a tech lead, and a content manager.
The initial migration was completed in Year 1 and further developments for geographical expansion are ongoing throughout Years 2 and 3, carried out by Webflow users with occasional support from the agency for ad hoc projects.
Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atr | Increased profit due to new customer acquisition through the website | $255,000 | $255,000 | $255,000 | $765,000 | $634,147 |
Btr | Increased productivity on content management development | $498,047 | $498,047 | $498,047 | $1,494,141 | $1,238,569 |
Ctr | Operational efficiencies due to improved content quality | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | $25,500 | $21,138 |
Dtr | Cost savings from labor and licensing costs | $246,500 | $325,125 | $493,000 | $1,064,625 | $863,187 |
Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $1,008,047 | $1,086,672 | $1,254,547 | $3,349,266 | $2,757,041 | |
Evidence and data. The ability to collaborate, build, launch, scale, and optimize digital experiences on a visual-first platform brought significant benefits to the interviewees’ organizations, particularly the enhanced collaboration between marketing and technical development teams. The interviewees reported an improvement in flexibility and control over page creation. This enhanced collaboration positively impacted the end product — the website. As a result of a more polished and better designed website, the interviewees were able to more effectively position their branding and communicate the value of their products, leading to an increase in traffic. This, in turn, enabled the interviewees to devise a strategy for channeling this traffic to the appropriate segment pages.
After observing positive results, in-house teams began adopting a new approach to developing ideas for their digital marketing efforts, as the tech lead of a software organization mentioned, “Being able to create [the website] in such a good way and setting all of those things up, it’s completely changed the way that we think about getting ideas for what we can do next.”
With a better designed website, a more streamlined process for presenting ideas, and improved website traffic, the subsequent impact for the interviewees’ organizations was an increase in leads. This was due to the proper funneling of information and a clear value proposition. Additionally, the CIO at the waste management organization reported this progress brought operational efficiencies to their organization. They shared that they had developed a customer service system on their webpage using chatbots and voice bots to triage customer requests. This system then relayed the information to customer service representatives. The integration of these capabilities resulted in a 17.5% reduction in call volumes from May 2023 to May 2024 for the waste management organization.
From increased organic traffic to higher lead generation, the director of web strategy noted their security software organization reported a 10% rise in sitewide conversion rates in the first month following the launch of a program. This was made possible because Webflow facilitated testing and experimentation at a pace that directly benefited the sales pipeline and, as the director of web strategy said, “The quicker you can get some of these early wins, the more that scales, the more you’re able to capitalize on those wins.”
0.5%
Increase in sales
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Risks. Factors that could impact the size of this benefit for organizations include:
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $634,000.
“We’ve doubled our organic traffic, which is very much attributed to Webflow because of the constant improvements that they’re making to their platform.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A1 | Total revenue | Composite | $2,000,000,000 | $2,000,000,000 | $2,000,000,000 | |
A2 | Increase in sales | Interviews | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | |
A3 | Attribution to Webflow | Interviews | 30% | 30% | 30% | |
A4 | Increased revenue due to added customer base | A1*A2*A3 | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 | |
A5 | Operating margin | TEI standard | 10% | 10% | 10% | |
At | Increased profit due to new customer acquisition through the website | A4*A5 | $300,000 | $300,000 | $300,000 | |
Risk adjustment | ↓15% | |||||
Atr | Increased profit due to new customer acquisition through the website (risk-adjusted) | $255,000 | $255,000 | $255,000 | ||
Three-year total: $765,000 | Three-year present value: $634,147 |
Evidence and data. Interviewees shared with Forrester that the design of digital experiences with their previous content management systems, whether they were main sites or landing pages, involved a very large highly skilled technical team. As the senior manager of digital and marketing operations at a banking hardware, software, and services organization shared with Forrester, “The nature of [previous solution] just made it a really painful, long, long process to get anything done.”
Since some interviewees’ organizations used highly complex design user interfaces, they were also required to manage and handle technical issues. The senior manager of digital and marketing operations at a banking hardware, software, and services company informed Forrester that their previous content management systems included a managed service, which meant they were responsible for providing maintenance. Consequently, when they encountered several outages, it necessitated collaboration between in-house technical teams and the engineers from the previous system to resolve the issues. With Webflow, all interviewees confirmed that they had not yet experienced any website outages throughout the entirety of their partnership.
With a more streamlined process for creating digital experiences and the avoidance of large technical hurdles, interviewees reported that switching to Webflow enabled them to reduce IT efforts dedicated to resolving tickets. This reflected the increased productivity that IT teams experienced with Webflow.
“[Webflow’s CMS] frees our developer up to continue working on the tasks that require development, and our [web strategy] team can now address [website] maintenance issues. We find the problem; we solve the problem and deploy it in minutes.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Interviewees had the option to either implement the transition to Webflow with their in-house team or collaborate with an agency for the initial lift-and-shift. Some interviewees noted their organizations preferred agency collaboration because they lacked an internal team equipped for this task and hiring one would have been costly.
Agencies helped interviewees with technical and design operations and, because these agencies had experience building pages with Webflow, they were able to complete the migration three times faster than the previous content management system.
“The [agency] took care of one of these migrations in three days. It was unreal, the amount of time saved — days versus months. We didn’t expect to go that fast. We were astonished.”
Senior manager, digital and marketing operations, banking hardware, software, and services
Interviewees noted that creating, editing, and publishing content with their previous content management system took months. The senior manager of digital and marketing operations at a banking hardware, software, and services shared how long it took before to build out a template, “You were looking at roughly about a six-week turn in the [previous solution] era because it had to go through the sprint, it had to go through QA, and they would get slotted into a deployment.”
After switching to Webflow, the time to market decreased considerably for the interviewees’ organizations. This improvement was due to the ability to quickly build components, visually inspect them, and test across various breakpoints and devices. The senior manager of digital and marketing operations at a banking hardware, software, and services also noted: “That was 10 to 12 weeks roughly for something a little bit more complex. You’re looking at a quarter basically. Whereas in Webflow, building a similar component, you may take about a week to do it, to test it end to end.”
94%
Time to market decrease for content management development
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Risks. Factors that could impact the size of this benefit for organizations include:
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $1.2 million.
“The value of speed to market is ultimately time is money. The more time you have to [to build] these experiences and market them, the more value you can actually drive and spend on future campaigns and initiatives.”
CIO, waste management
Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
B1 | Number of FTEs involved in website and content development | Composite | 10 | 10 | 10 |
B2 | Fully burdened annual salary for employees | Composite | $125,000 | $125,000 | $125,000 |
B3 | Time spent creating, editing, and publishing content on website prior to Webflow (weeks) | Interviews | 16 | 16 | 16 |
B4 | Time spent creating, editing, and publishing content on website with Webflow (weeks) | Interviews | 1 | 1 | 1 |
B5 | Subtotal: Time to market decrease | 1-(B4/B3) | 94% | 94% | 94% |
B6 | Percentage of productivity savings captured | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% |
Bt | Increased productivity on content management development | B1*B2*B5*B6 | $585,938 | $585,938 | $585,938 |
Risk adjustment | ↓15% | ||||
Btr | Increased productivity on content management development (risk-adjusted) | $498,047 | $498,047 | $498,047 | |
Three-year total: $1,494,141 | Three-year present value: $1,238,569 |
Evidence and data. Webflow’s visual-first CMS enhanced operational efficiency for in-house teams, enabling faster changes and corrections without agency intervention. Interviewees reported that the platform’s flexibility allowed for quick, independent updates, and ad hoc collaboration with the agency on larger cascading styles sheets (CSS) modifications.
For simpler tasks, interviewees observed operational efficiencies as in-house teams collaborated directly on the canvas for content editing cycles, bypassing ticket submissions and often multiple rounds of feedback. Efficiencies also arose from the need for fewer FTEs to manage those changes, thanks to the enhanced simplicity, user-friendly interface, and consequently faster resolution content editing processes. The senior manager of digital and marketing operations at the banking hardware, software, and services organization shared: “I can now build authoring experience. I can have our team do it or the agencies do it. If we were to staff up and have it in house, we would have maybe three authors and then a front-end designer. That would probably suffice for the size of our business as opposed to a much larger team prior.”
In critical situations where timing was crucial, the senior manager of digital and marketing operations at the banking hardware, software, and services organization reported that with their prior system, they experienced workflow disruptions due to their need to reallocate staff from other projects to expedite workload completion: “We would just start pulling people off of other projects and then scramble to go ahead and get it up there as fast as we could. That was just disruptive to our workflow. Now, he’s able to author it now. It takes him maybe a couple minutes and then he’s done.”
Interviewees enhanced cross-collaboration across different parts of their organizations due to the visual-first experience platform that Webflow provided. Previously, engineering and technical teams had to be heavily involved in the content editing process. However, the empowerment of nontechnical teams made it easier to build, visualize their ideas, and execute them directly on the platform. The director of web strategy at the security software shared: “The ticket was submitted, the problem was identified, fixed, and rolled out literally within 20 minutes of us identifying the problem and actually fixing it and that was without any developer involved. That division of labor [is] a benefit on both ends because it frees our developer up to continue working on the tasks that require development and then it lets [non-technical teams] address those, if there’s any maintenance issues.”
“Previously, it had taken weeks or sometimes even months to actually execute. We’re able to do more on a much more streamlined timeline because [Webflow] empowers many of our teams so that there isn’t the same type of gatekeeping behind one or two team members.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
80%
Efficiency improvement on content corrections and changes
Risks. Factors that could impact the size of this benefit for organizations include:
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $21,000.
“We’re saving a ton of time. We have removed a lot of the pain points for our team by empowering them to create their own content and take responsibility for their own pages.”
Tech lead, software
Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
C1 | Number of Webflow users needed to make corrections | Composite | 2 | 2 | 2 |
C2 | Fully burdened annual salary for employees | Composite | $125,000 | $125,000 | $125,000 |
C3 | Percentage of time spent on corrections prior to Webflow | Interviews | 10% | 10% | 10% |
C4 | Percentage of time spent reduced on corrections due to Webflow | Interviews | 80% | 80% | 80% |
C5 | Subtotal: Productivity savings | C1*C2*C3*C4 | $20,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 |
C6 | Percentage of productivity savings captured by organization | TEI standard | 50% | 50% | 50% |
Ct | Operational efficiencies due to improved content quality | C5*C6 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
Risk adjustment | ↓15% | ||||
Ctr | Operational efficiencies due to improved content quality (risk-adjusted) | $8,500 | $8,500 | $8,500 | |
Three-year total: $25,500 | Three-year present value: $21,138 |
Evidence and data. Prior to Webflow’s deployment, some interviewees reported that due to complexity and need for large technical teams of highly skilled full-stack/back-end developers and technical support, previous CMS providers required a financial investment double that of Webflow’s system. The previous content management systems were adopted as a managed service, making it essential for the interviewees’ organizations to have an IT team in place to ensure continuous maintenance and support.
Interviewees noted that Webflow streamlined these processes thanks to its visual-first capabilities and turnkey integrations, so other nontechnical team members could collaborate, build, launch, scale, and optimize their web properties without involving full-stack and back-end developers. The senior manager of digital and marketing operations at a banking hardware, software, and services shared: “We had about 22 people on my team. We now have roughly six. That would be impossible if we were doing things with the old (previous) setup. It just would not work. We would be so underwater.”
Interviewees reported that their organizations experienced an increase in cost-saving benefits. They opted for a phased decommissioning where they used their previous system alongside Webflow for one or two years until the transition was fully completed.
In addition to the costs associated with previous systems and larger IT teams, interviewees noted that they also had to consider associated hosting expenses. With Webflow, the enterprise service-level agreement encompassed both support and hosting expenses, thereby providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform-level support and cost-effectiveness within the same environment.
“With Webflow, I have a customer success manager, access to enterprise support but we just never have had an issue. It’s always been super reliable. This is a testament to being on a SaaS platform versus a managed services platform.”
Senior manager, digital & marketing operations, banking hardware, software, and services
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
$863K
Total three-year cost savings from labor and licensing costs
Risks. Factors that could impact the size of this benefit for organizations include:
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $863,000.
Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
D1 | License cost of prior CMS and hosting capabilities | Interviews | $300,000 | $300,000 | $300,000 |
D2 | Number of full-stack developers reallocated | Interviews | 2 | 2 | 2 |
D3 | Fully burdened annual salary for a full-stack developer | Composite | $140,000 | $140,000 | $140,000 |
D4 | Cost savings from reallocation of full stack developers | D2*D3 | $280,000 | $210,000 | $280,000 |
D5 | Percentage of labor and licensing costs avoided | Interviews | 50% | 75% | 100% |
Dt | Cost savings from labor and licensing costs | D5*(D4+D1) | $290,000 | $382,500 | $580,000 |
Risk adjustment | ↓15% | ||||
Dtr | Cost savings from labor and licensing costs (risk-adjusted) | $246,500 | $325,125 | $493,000 | |
Three-year total: $1,064,625 | Three-year present value: $863,187 |
“Webflow is always enhancing [its product capabilities]. These improvements are the kinds of things that my staff really loves.”
CIO, waste management
Interviewees mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:
“Our product team wanted nothing to do with the website, so much so that they had given marketing team responsibility for it when we were still leveraging [our prior solution]. Today, it’s the fastest performing product team that we have, and the broader product org uses Webflow. It’s become the most treasured part of the department.”
Product manager, growth and SEO, human resources software
“Webflow has done a really good job of building out the core features of their platform to a point that it’s a fantastic platform, but they also provide [additional resources] via a third-party app ecosystem.”
Director of web strategy, security software
“[The agency] has a host of really helpful tools that allow us to quickly roll things out that would require more dedicated dev time. The app marketplace is just a really effective way of scaling their platform without making their customers wait until they build it natively, but actually letting third parties fill in some of those gaps.”
Director of web strategy, security software
“Before Webflow, we had one employee per national site to keep them up to date, which meant that we would have more than 15 site owners, as well as two full stack developers, a front-end developer, and additional UX resources tied up with the sites at all times. That team is now down to four or five central resources.”
Tech lead, software
The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Webflow and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:
“Being able to create webpages in such a streamlined way has completely changed how we think about the new ideas for what we can do next.”
Director of web strategy, security software
“Webflow has taken accessibility as a core element within their platform to help make the web a better place and more accessible for all users and to proactively flag some of those [related] issues.”
Director of web strategy, security software
“[Our next steps] are rooted around autonomy for internal teams and empowering [nontechnical users], and then [continued optimization] on the website both in the forms of localization as well as more like segment-based personalization.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Appendix A).
Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Etr | Enterprise service-level agreement | $135,450 | $135,450 | $135,450 | $135,450 | $541,800 | $472,294 |
Ftr | Agency implementation and maintenance fees | $57,500 | $34,500 | $34,500 | $34,500 | $161,000 | $143,296 |
Gtr | Training and onboarding costs | $11,687 | $11,376 | $0 | $0 | $23,063 | $22,029 |
Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $204,637 | $181,326 | $169,950 | $169,950 | $725,863 | $637,619 | |
Evidence and data. Interviewees noted primary ongoing costs consisting of Webflow’s licensing fees. The enterprise service-level agreement included full enterprise support from Webflow and a dedicated service team to support any technical issues with the platform.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Risks. Costs may be higher than projected due to the number of sites, scale, and localization features.
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 5%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $472,000.
Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E1 | License fees | Composite | $129,000 | $129,000 | $129,000 | $129,000 |
Et | Enterprise service-level agreement | Composite | $129,000 | $129,000 | $129,000 | $129,000 |
Risk adjustment | ↑5% | |||||
Etr | Enterprise service-level agreement (risk-adjusted) | $135,450 | $135,450 | $135,450 | $135,450 | |
Three-year total: $541,800 | Three-year present value: $472,294 |
Evidence and data. Interviewees contracted an external agency for initial implementation and migration efforts and then they decided to keep their support for ad hoc projects.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Risks. Costs may be higher than projected due to the following factors:
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $143,000.
Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
F1 | Agency web design and implementation costs | Composite | $50,000 | |||
F2 | Agency maintenance costs | Composite | $30,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 | |
Ft | Agency implementation and maintenance fees | D1+D2 | $50,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 | $30,000 |
Risk adjustment | ↑15% | |||||
Ftr | Agency implementation and maintenance fees (risk-adjusted) | $57,500 | $34,500 | $34,500 | $34,500 | |
Three-year total: $161,000 | Three-year present value: $143,296 |
Evidence and data. Interviewees shared different training and ongoing management efforts depending on the technical level of Webflow users.
Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:
Risks. Costs may be higher than projected due to the following factors:
Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this cost upward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $22,000.
“When you’re getting up to speed, [consider] leveraging the Webflow university, because it’s one of the best customer-facing education libraries. The content is very good. They’ve got a guy who’s actually very entertaining.”
Director of web strategy, security software
Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G1 | Number of web developers | Composite | 1 | 1 | ||
G2 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a developer | Composite | $67 | $67 | ||
G3 | Total hours spent on training and onboarding | Interviews | 40 | 40 | ||
G4 | Subtotal: Total web developer training and onboarding costs | G1*G2*G3 | $2,692 | $2,692 | ||
G5 | Number of web designers | Composite | 3 | 3 | ||
G6 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a web designer | Composite | $60 | $60 | ||
G7 | Total hours spent on training and onboarding | Interviews | 40 | 40 | ||
G8 | Subtotal: Total web designer training and onboarding costs | G5*G6*G7 | $7,200 | $7,200 | ||
G9 | Number of content owners | Composite | 6 | |||
G10 | Fully burdened hourly rate for a content owner | Composite | $45 | |||
G11 | Total hours spent on training | Interviews | 1 | |||
G12 | Subtotal: Total content owner training and onboarding costs | G9*G10*G11 | $270 | |||
Gt | Training and onboarding costs | G4+G8+G12 | $10,162 | $9,892 | $0 | $0 |
Risk adjustment | ↑15% | |||||
Gtr | Training and onboarding costs (risk-adjusted) | $11,687 | $11,376 | $0 | $0 | |
Three-year total: $23,063 | Three-year present value: $22,029 |
The financial results calculated in the Benefits and Costs sections can be used to determine the ROI, NPV, and payback period for the composite organization’s investment. Forrester assumes a yearly discount rate of 10% for this analysis.
These risk-adjusted ROI, NPV, and payback period values are determined by applying risk-adjustment factors to the unadjusted results in each Benefit and Cost section.
Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total costs | ($204,637) | ($181,326) | ($169,950) | ($169,950) | ($725,863) | ($637,619) |
Total benefits | $0 | $1,008,047 | $1,086,672 | $1,254,547 | $3,349,266 | $2,757,041 |
Net benefits | ($204,637) | $826,721 | $916,722 | $1,084,597 | $2,623,403 | $2,119,422 |
ROI | 332% | |||||
Payback | <6 months | |||||
Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
Benefits represent the value delivered to the business by the product. The TEI methodology places equal weight on the measure of benefits and the measure of costs, allowing for a full examination of the effect of the technology on the entire organization.
Costs consider all expenses necessary to deliver the proposed value, or benefits, of the product. The cost category within TEI captures incremental costs over the existing environment for ongoing costs associated with the solution.
Flexibility represents the strategic value that can be obtained for some future additional investment building on top of the initial investment already made. Having the ability to capture that benefit has a PV that can be estimated.
Risks measure the uncertainty of benefit and cost estimates given: 1) the likelihood that estimates will meet original projections and 2) the likelihood that estimates will be tracked over time. TEI risk factors are based on “triangular distribution.”
The present or current value of (discounted) cost and benefit estimates given at an interest rate (the discount rate). The PV of costs and benefits feed into the total NPV of cash flows.
The present or current value of (discounted) future net cash flows given an interest rate (the discount rate). A positive project NPV normally indicates that the investment should be made unless other projects have higher NPVs.
A project’s expected return in percentage terms. ROI is calculated by dividing net benefits (benefits less costs) by costs.
The interest rate used in cash flow analysis to take into account the time value of money. Organizations typically use discount rates between 8% and 16%.
The breakeven point for an investment. This is the point in time at which net benefits (benefits minus costs) equal initial investment or cost.
The initial investment column contains costs incurred at “time 0” or at the beginning of Year 1 that are not discounted. All other cash flows are discounted using the discount rate at the end of the year. PV calculations are calculated for each total cost and benefit estimate. NPV calculations in the summary tables are the sum of the initial investment and the discounted cash flows in each year. Sums and present value calculations of the Total Benefits, Total Costs, and Cash Flow tables may not exactly add up, as some rounding may occur.
Appendix B: Supplemental Material
Related Forrester Research
Reduce Technical Debt By Understanding CMS Capabilities Before RFP, Forrester Research, Inc., April 4, 2023.
The Web Content Management Software Market Forecast, 2024 To 2028, Forrester Research, Inc., May 28, 2024.
1 Total Economic Impact is a methodology developed by Forrester Research that enhances a company’s technology decision-making processes and assists vendors in communicating the value proposition of their products and services to clients. The TEI methodology helps companies demonstrate, justify, and realize the tangible value of IT initiatives to both senior management and other key business stakeholders.
Forrester provides independent and objective research-based consulting to help leaders deliver key transformation outcomes. Fueled by our customer-obsessed research, Forrester’s seasoned consultants partner with leaders to execute on their priorities using a unique engagement model that tailors to diverse needs and ensures lasting impact. For more information, visit forrester.com/consulting.
© Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
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