Hiring a growth marketing agency is a significant decision. You are handing someone your budget, your data and part of your company’s growth. The right partner can sharpen strategy, speed up testing and scale what works. The wrong one can lock you into a long contract, keep your data in their accounts and report vanity metrics while results stall. These twelve questions will help you tell the difference before you sign.
Key takeaways
- You should own every ad account, analytics property and dataset; the agency should work inside them with granted access.
- Insist on transparent reporting tied to business outcomes, with access to the underlying data.
- Know exactly who will work on your account and how much of their time you get.
- Understand the pricing model’s incentives: percentage of spend, flat retainer, performance-based or hybrid.
- Score agencies side by side and judge them on the quality of their process, not their pitch.
Before you start: know what you need
An agency evaluation goes faster when you are clear on your own situation. Before the first call, write down:
- Your goal: more leads, more online sales, a new market, a product launch, lower acquisition cost.
- Your numbers: current monthly spend by channel, rough cost per lead or customer, margins and average customer value.
- What you have in-house: design, copywriting, development, analytics, sales follow-up.
- Your budget for both media and fees.
- Your decision timeline and who needs to approve.
If you are still deciding whether you need growth marketing or a more traditional approach, our article on growth marketing vs. traditional marketing explains the difference.
Questions 1–3: ownership, reporting and people
1. Who will own the ad accounts, data and creative?
This is the most important question on the list. The answer should be: you do. Your Google Ads account, Meta business portfolio and ad accounts, TikTok and LinkedIn ad accounts, GA4 property, tag manager containers, pixels and customer lists should be created under your business. The agency gets access as a partner or user. If an agency insists on running campaigns in its own accounts, you may lose your historical data, audiences and learnings if you leave.
Ask too about creative files, landing pages and reporting dashboards. Contracts should state that work you pay for belongs to you, or at minimum that you have the right to keep using it.
2. What will reporting look like, and can I see the raw data?
Ask to see a sample report. Good reporting:
- Leads with business outcomes such as revenue, qualified leads, customer acquisition cost and return on spend.
- Explains what changed, why, and what happens next.
- Reconciles platform-reported results with your own sales or CRM data.
- Comes with direct access to the ad platforms and dashboards, so nothing is hidden.
3. Who exactly will work on my account?
Senior people often run the sales process, and junior people sometimes run the accounts. Ask for names and roles, how many other clients each person handles, who builds strategy, who executes day to day, and what happens when someone leaves. You want to meet the person doing the work before you sign.
Questions 4–6: testing, goals and experience
4. What is your testing process?
Growth marketing depends on structured experimentation. Ask the agency to walk you through how they generate test ideas, prioritize them, decide sample sizes or test durations, define success and document results. A strong answer includes hypotheses, a backlog, a regular test cadence and a way of sharing what was learned, including losing tests. “We optimize constantly” is not a process.
5. How will we set goals and define success?
Goals should connect to your business, not to platform metrics. For an ecommerce brand that might be contribution margin or new-customer acquisition cost; for a B2B company, qualified pipeline rather than raw form fills. Ask how the agency will calculate targets from your margins and customer value. Our guide to ROAS, ROI and CAC covers the metrics a good agency should be comfortable discussing.
6. What experience do you have with businesses like mine?
Relevant experience shortens the learning curve. Ask for examples with similar business models, deal sizes, sales cycles or regulatory constraints. Industry experience is helpful but not essential; experience with your business model, such as subscription, lead generation, local services or high-ticket B2B, often matters more.
Questions 7–9: pricing, contracts and onboarding
7. How do you price your services?
Each common pricing model creates different incentives. None is automatically right or wrong.
| Model | How it works | Advantages | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of ad spend | Fee scales with your media budget, often with a minimum. | Simple; scales with workload as accounts grow. | Incentive to raise spend rather than improve efficiency. |
| Flat retainer | Fixed monthly fee for a defined scope. | Predictable cost; no incentive to inflate spend. | Scope creep; make sure deliverables and hours are clear. |
| Performance-based | Fee tied to results such as leads, sales or revenue. | Aligns pay with outcomes. | Disputes over attribution and lead quality; agency may chase easy conversions. |
| Hybrid | Base retainer plus a performance or spend-based component. | Balances stability with incentive. | Complexity; the metrics and thresholds must be well defined. |
| Project or sprint | Fixed price for an audit, setup or strategy sprint. | Low commitment; good way to test the relationship. | Ongoing execution is usually extra. |
Ask also about extra costs: creative production, landing pages, software licenses and setup fees.
8. What are the contract terms, notice period and exit process?
Read the contract for the initial term, renewal terms, notice period, termination rights and what happens on exit. A fair contract specifies that access and assets transfer back promptly, that the agency removes its own access cleanly, and that you receive final reports and documentation.
9. What does onboarding look like?
A structured onboarding is a sign of a structured agency. Expect a kickoff meeting, access requests, a questionnaire about your business, an audit of accounts and tracking, and a documented plan with priorities and timelines. Ask how long it takes before campaigns change and what the agency needs from you.
Pro tip: If you are unsure about committing to a retainer, start with a fixed-scope project such as an audit or a strategy sprint. You will learn how the agency thinks, communicates and delivers before signing anything long-term.
Questions 10–12: communication, references and fit
10. How often will we communicate, and how?
Agree on a rhythm: for example, a weekly async update, a fortnightly or monthly call and a quarterly strategy review. Ask about response times, which channels you will use (email, Slack, project management tools) and who your main point of contact is.
11. Can I speak with current or former clients?
Case studies are curated. References are more revealing. Ask to speak with a current client and, if possible, one who has moved on. Useful questions for references: How did the agency handle a bad month? Did the people from the pitch actually do the work? Was reporting honest? Would you hire them again?
12. What will you need from us, and what would make you say no?
Good agencies are clear about what makes a partnership work: timely approvals, access to sales data, a decision-maker, sometimes creative resources or development time. They will also tell you when a channel, budget or goal is not realistic. An agency that agrees with everything during the pitch is unlikely to push back when it matters.
Red flags to watch for
- Refusing client ownership of ad accounts, analytics or data.
- Guaranteed results such as a specific ROAS or ranking. Nobody controls auctions, algorithms or markets.
- Vague reporting built around impressions, clicks or “engagement” with no link to revenue or leads.
- Long lock-in contracts with no exit clause or performance review.
- A bait-and-switch team: senior people in the pitch, unnamed juniors on the account.
- No clear testing or tracking process.
- Proprietary black boxes that you are not allowed to see inside.
- Pressure tactics, such as discounts that expire within days.
Watch out: If an agency proposes to run your campaigns in an account it owns “for efficiency,” get the ownership and transfer terms in writing before you agree. Rebuilding years of conversion history and audiences after a breakup is expensive.
An agency comparison scorecard
Score each agency from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) on every row after your calls. Weight the rows that matter most to your business.
| Criterion | What a strong answer looks like | Agency A | Agency B | Agency C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account and data ownership | Client owns everything; agency uses granted access | |||
| Reporting transparency | Business outcomes, raw data access, reconciled with CRM | |||
| Team and capacity | Named people, clear roles, realistic client load | |||
| Testing process | Hypotheses, backlog, cadence, documented learnings | |||
| Goal setting | Targets built from your margins and customer value | |||
| Relevant experience | Similar business model or sales cycle | |||
| Pricing clarity | Model explained, incentives understood, no hidden fees | |||
| Contract fairness | Reasonable term, notice period, clean exit | |||
| Onboarding | Structured audit, plan and timeline | |||
| Communication | Agreed cadence, named contact, response times | |||
| References | Willing to connect you with current and past clients | |||
| Honesty and fit | Pushes back where needed; clear about requirements |
What a good first 90 days looks like
Every engagement is different, but a well-run start usually follows this shape:
Days 1–30: audit and foundations
- Kickoff, access set up in your accounts, and a documented understanding of goals and economics.
- A full audit of campaigns, tracking and landing pages, such as a paid media audit.
- Fixes to conversion tracking and quick wins such as wasted-spend cuts.
- A prioritized 90-day plan and test backlog.
Days 31–60: restructure and test
- Campaign restructuring where needed, new creative and landing page tests.
- Regular reporting against agreed KPIs, with clear notes on what is being learned.
Days 61–90: double down
- Scale winning campaigns, channels and creative; cut what is not working.
- A quarterly review comparing results with the starting baseline and setting the next quarter’s priorities.
How Alluka LLC works
We built our process around the answers we would want as a client. At Alluka LLC, clients own their ad accounts, analytics and data; we work inside them with granted access. You see the same platforms and numbers we see, reporting ties back to revenue and pipeline, and you know exactly who is working on your account. You can read more about our team and approach on our about us page, and compare scopes and pricing structures on our service packages page.
Put us through the 12 questions
Book a call with Alluka LLC and ask us everything on this list. We will answer plainly, show you a sample report and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.
The right agency makes your growth clearer, not more mysterious. Ask these twelve questions, score the answers, check references and start with a clear 90-day plan. A partner that welcomes this scrutiny is usually one worth hiring.
