37 key questions to ask when evaluating digital marketing agencies

Deciding on the fitting digital advertising company accomplice is vital for companies aiming to drive outcomes and scale effectively. With numerous companies vying for consideration, entrepreneurs should ask the fitting questions to make sure they make the only option for his or her firm’s wants.

Though I’ve owned an company for seven years, most of my profession was spent engaged on the consumer aspect. I’ve compiled questions I might have requested after I was on the opposite aspect of the desk and likewise from questions potential shoppers ask us.

These questions can information your company choice course of, aiding in knowledgeable selections. Whereas not all are needed for an RFP, they’re useful for discussions with companies.

Primarily for paid search, they are often tailored for website positioning, paid social, retail media or different wants.

Understanding the significance of this a part of the enterprise

1. What number of complete paid search shoppers does the company have and what’s the common annual spend of their shoppers? 

• Understanding the company’s consumer base and their typical funding ranges helps gauge their expertise and the size of their operations. 

2. What share of the corporate’s income does paid media administration signify?

• This perception offers useful context relating to the company’s emphasis on paid media and its significance inside its total enterprise technique. It goes hand in hand with the query above.
• Is the company simply beginning out in paid search or is it a core functionality? 

Understanding your place

3. Will your enterprise be thought-about a giant, medium or little fish of their PPC division? 

• Understanding the place your enterprise stands in relation to the company’s different shoppers offers perspective on the extent of consideration and sources you possibly can count on to obtain.
• In a perfect world, you’ll match someplace within the center – essential sufficient to get correct consideration however with an company that has expertise with working bigger accounts in order that they can assist you scale.

4. Will you personal your accounts or would they? 

• It’s essential that you just at all times retain possession of your account. That approach in case you’re ever dissatisfied, you possibly can simply take your enterprise elsewhere.
• You’re hiring an company to handle in your behalf, however that doesn’t imply that you just shouldn’t personal the work.

5. What does a typical contract time period appear like? 

• Do they lock you into lengthy contracts with out an out clause? You’ll by no means understand how the connection appears to be like till you’ve began collaborating.
• Be sure you have some flexibility in case the partnership or outcomes aren’t understanding. Should you’re OK signing on for a long run with out an out clause, you might be able to get a reduction.

Account audit and optimization

6. Has the company carried out an account audit and what particular observations and areas for enchancment had been recognized? 

• This query delves into the company’s analytical capabilities and its proactive strategy to optimizing consumer accounts. It additionally helps guarantee they’ve a deep technical and strategic information of discovering alternatives. 
• Be sure you’re getting particular suggestions as a substitute of generalities. Many companies received’t carry out a free audit except it’s for a bigger account.
• Nonetheless, you could think about paying for an audit as a part of your analysis course of to get a really feel for what they’ve discovered and the way they current info.

7. Based mostly on their audit findings, how a lot restructuring do they imagine is critical and what’s their most well-liked account setup strategy? 

• Understanding their proposed methods for restructuring offers perception into their experience and methodologies.
• This may also provide you with a way of whether or not they’re doubtless simply to take your present account and make customary optimizations or if they’re bringing new pondering to the desk.

Assessing efficiency metrics

8. What do typical studies appear like? 

• It’s useful to see a pattern of a weekly or month-to-month report. This gives you a way of what kind of data will probably be shared with you constantly. 
• Do they discuss outcomes or extra vanity-type metrics? Is it the extent of reporting you’d count on? Does it really feel very templated or extra custom-made and filled with wealthy info?

9. Will you will have entry to a dwell dashboard? 

• You’ll need to know if in case you have entry to efficiency knowledge (other than logging straight into Google Analytics or Google advertisements) immediately or in case you’ll must request studies. 
• Should you can entry a dashboard, ask to see a sanitized report model. Ensure that spend and CPA or CPL (or one other efficiency metric) are proven.
• We’ve seen dashboards that report on impressions and shoppers however disguise spend so the consumer doesn’t know what’s worthwhile and what could also be inefficient.

10. What do they sometimes use to guage efficiency? GA4, platform knowledge or one other supply? 

• Every supply of data has execs and cons. Platform knowledge could be very useful as a result of it offers the richest info, however GA4 will present a deduplicated view of the order/income. You may additionally need to perceive in the event that they use different expertise like Triple Whale.

11. What attribution methodology do they sometimes use? 

• This goes hand in hand with the query above. It’s useful to get aligned so that you just’re talking the identical language. Be sure you additionally talk about the attribution window.

Anticipated outcomes, timeline and onboarding course of

12. Based mostly on their findings, how lengthy do they anticipate it should take to see improved outcomes and what are their expectations relating to efficiency good points? 

• Setting life like expectations for outcomes and timelines is crucial for aligning targets and forming a wholesome partnership. Nevertheless, be a bit of weary of overly aggressive forecasts except you understand that your program is in disarray.

13. What’s their course of and timeline for taking up an account? 

• Understanding their onboarding course of helps handle expectations and ensures a clean transition.
• For bigger packages, you’ll most likely count on a request for an overlap interval with the present company.

14. How do they guarantee a clean transition to keep away from any drop in efficiency throughout restructures? 

• Probing into their methods for minimizing disruptions throughout transitions highlights their dedication to sustaining efficiency consistency. 
• Many companies will counsel a interval the place extra minimal adjustments are made whereas they study the ins and outs of the account. Whereas this will appear lax, it could be in your safety.

Trade focus

15. Do they lean into one specific {industry} or unfold their focus and why? 

• You’ll must resolve in case you choose to align with a digital advertising company specialised in your {industry} for focused experience or go for one with a broader focus for numerous views and potential cross-industry insights.

16. If they’ve a number of accounts in your {industry}, how do they guarantee account/consumer separation? 

• Understanding their strategy to sustaining consumer confidentiality and avoiding conflicts of curiosity is essential for establishing belief and transparency.

17. Which bidding methods do they like to make use of and why? 

• Every kind of account would require completely different bidding methods and the technique will change relying on how a lot knowledge is accessible to drive selections.

For retail or ecommerce shoppers:

18. What do they see because the position of textual content advertisements, procuring and Efficiency Max (PMax? What about video or different marketing campaign sorts? 

• It’s useful to know the company’s philosophy on every marketing campaign kind to make sure a well-rounded technique. This query addresses the company’s understanding of retail-specific promoting dynamics and its means to maximise returns for ecommerce companies.

19. How do they navigate optimization challenges in the event that they make use of a ‘go all in on PMax’ strategy? 

• PMax is simpler to run (and sure extra worthwhile for the company to handle!), however that doesn’t essentially imply it’s greatest for your enterprise. 
• Do you actually need to hand off full management to Google? Would you like for there to be extra levers to drag to drive scale or management prices when wanted?

20. You probably have a bodily presence, have they got expertise with native campaigns? 

• What’s their typical strategy and the way do they consider attributing gross sales from shops or driving foot visitors?

For B2B or service focus: 

21. Have they got expertise with RevOps and understanding the nuances between optimizing for a lead vs a professional lead and buyer?  

• Not all leads are created equally and it’s essential in B2B to search out precise changing prospects.

22. Have they dealt with integrations with name monitoring or different offline knowledge sources? 

• B2B and repair companies additionally have a tendency to incorporate extra offline gross sales – captured by cellphone or different means – so that you’ll desire a accomplice that understands seize and leverage the fitting knowledge

Workforce construction and experience

23. What’s the basic construction of their PPC division? 

• Exploring the company’s organizational construction offers insights into its useful resource allocation and specialization. 
• Is there one director over numerous managers? Or is it a workforce with a transparent hierarchy that’s designed to make sure every account has ample senior-level consideration?

24. How large is the general PPC workforce and what number of members are absolutely devoted to paid search or social administration? 

• Understanding the workforce’s composition and experience distribution informs expectations relating to the depth of expertise accessible to help your campaigns. You may additionally need to ask in the event that they use a pod construction or have a unique strategy. 
• The rationale that workforce dimension issues is as a result of one of many causes that shoppers usually like companies is as a result of there’s a pool of people who’re specialists and may convey extra concepts to the desk.

25. What’s the common years of paid search expertise of the people on the PPC workforce? And what’s the minimal? 

• You’ll need to perceive if the company is utilizing skilled professionals or if there are numerous junior members of the workforce. Ideally, you don’t have a workforce that’s “studying in your dime.”

Account administration

26. What number of accounts is the lead answerable for and what position do they play? 

• This query sheds mild on the extent of particular person consideration and involvement you possibly can count on from the company’s management.

27. Who will probably be assigned to your account and what’s every workforce member’s stage of expertise?

• Understanding the {qualifications} of the workforce members assigned to your account is essential for assessing their means to ship outcomes. An company is just pretty much as good because the individuals in your account!

28. How usually will you be assembly with the workforce and who will probably be on calls? 

• Be sure you are clear about who will attend and at what cadence. You might have some calls with extra members of the workforce and others that embody only a restricted set – but it surely’s higher to know upfront.

Day-to-day operations

29. Who handles a lot of the day-to-day work within the accounts and what number of accounts are they answerable for? 

• This query offers insights into the workload distribution and the extent of consideration your account will obtain.
• We’ve linked with people prior to now who’re answerable for greater than a dozen accounts. There’s no approach that particular person could have time to study your enterprise.

30. Who will probably be your major level of contact for day-to-day communications? 

• Clarifying the communication channels and first contact streamlines collaboration and ensures environment friendly downside decision. 
• Will you be working with an account supervisor or do you will have direct entry to the individuals managing your campaigns?
• You’ll need direct entry to make sure that you aren’t taking part in the sport of phone on technique and different essential matters.

31. What’s essentially the most continuously used methodology for communication? 

• You’ll need to discover out if in case you have entry to the workforce by e mail solely or if you may as well talk by Slack or one other means.

Third-party involvement

32. Are any duties outsourced offshore or to 3rd events?

• Understanding the extent of third-party involvement helps consider potential dependencies and dangers related to outsourcing.
• Finally, you’re hiring the company to know who is definitely doing the work from finish to finish.

Collaboration

33. What’s their relationship like with the Google workforce? 

• Entry to Google highlights their means to assemble knowledge rapidly and may convey potential benefits, equivalent to beta options and {industry} insights.

34. How do they view the worth of paid search and website positioning (or Social) partnering and the way do they guarantee efficient communication between groups? 

• Exploring their perspective on cross-channel collaboration demonstrates their holistic strategy to digital advertising and their dedication to maximizing outcomes throughout channels. 
• How do they collaborate inside their company (if they’re managing a number of advertising channels for you) or with different companies (if the work is split amongst companies)?

Case research and references

35. Can they supply related case research showcasing profitable paid search campaigns? 

• Reviewing case research means that you can gauge the company’s observe document and success tales in delivering outcomes for shoppers. 
• Search for one thing that’s consultant of your enterprise, whether or not it’s large or small. That doesn’t imply that it must be in your {industry} – however there must be some parallels.

36. Are there reference shoppers you possibly can converse to about their experiences with the company? 

• Talking immediately with previous or present shoppers offers useful firsthand insights into the company’s efficiency, communication and total consumer satisfaction. It’s uncommon that prospects ask for this and usually reserved for giant accounts.

Consumer retention insights

37. When the company loses shoppers, what are the everyday causes cited? 

• Understanding the elements contributing to consumer churn offers insights into potential dangers and areas for enchancment within the company’s service supply.

Entrepreneurs could make knowledgeable selections when deciding on a digital advertising accomplice by asking a few of these questions and diving into varied features of a potential company’s operations and experience.

You don’t essentially want to debate each one in all these, however selecting an excellent cross-section of questions can assist make sure you discover a good accomplice for your enterprise.