Two offers can promise the same things: strategy, optimisation and reporting. The difference appears when you ask what actually happens in the first month, who checks the measurement and how the result is tied to the store's economics. Choosing an agency should clarify these things before you start working together.
Choose an agency that can explain the problem, the testing plan, the responsibilities and the limits of the data. Compare offers on the same scope: media, management, creative materials, measurement and development. Check access to accounts, the form of reporting and the handover procedure. Example results must be read in context, and promises of guaranteed profit are no substitute for an analysis of your store.
Contents
- Prepare your own brief
- Compare the offers
- Questions for the agency
- Access and responsibilities
- Three comparison examples
- Reporting and the first 30 days
- FAQ and checklist
Prepare the information an agency cannot guess
Describe your products, categories, stock and commercial goal. Include the contribution margin or cost limits you know, and say which data is still uncertain. An agency can analyse your accounts, but it cannot correctly deduce your returns cost or warehouse capacity without information from you.
Say what you have tried and what has changed: platform, prices, offer, budget or team. You don't need a very long document, just context that can be verified. An incomplete explanation can produce a well-presented offer for the wrong problem.
Separate the goal from the metric
“I want a higher ROAS” can hide a need for contribution margin or cash. “I want more traffic” can hide a lack of orders. Explain the business result and ask the agency to propose the metrics that describe it, with formulas and limits.
A good goal can be testing one category within a spending limit, with analysis after retained orders. It is not a promise of results, but a framework in which the collaboration can be evaluated.
Compare the same scope of services
Media and management are different costs
Ask for the amount paid to the platforms and the team's fee to be shown separately. Check whether there is initial setup, production costs or tools. A cheaper offer may cover fewer activities, without automatically being better or worse.
Don't judge the service only by the number of campaigns. More campaigns can mean a useful structure or pointless fragmentation. Ask for the commercial reasoning behind the structure and its link to your budget and available volume.
Creative materials and the website must be clarified
Who writes the copy, shoots the products and adapts the formats? Who approves the claims? Who fixes the page if an ad brings relevant traffic but the product variant can't be purchased? These questions prevent situations where each side considers the problem outside its responsibility.
For Google Ads services and Facebook Ads, ask for specific deliverables and processes. If Shopify store development is needed, clarify the cost, priority and post-launch checks separately.
Measurement must not be a vague promise
Ask which events are verified, who places the test order and how results are reconciled. The GA4 ecommerce documentation shows that measurement relies on specific events and parameters. A good-looking report does not confirm the accuracy of the data that feeds it.
Questions that show how the team thinks
What would you check before increasing the budget?
A useful answer should touch on measurement, the offer, contribution margin and whether purchasing works. There is no single list that suits everyone, but the order must be explained. If the proposal starts directly with higher spend, ask for the hypothesis that justifies it.
How do you decide which products we promote?
Look for a discussion about stock, contribution margin, demand and pages. Popularity is not the only criterion. A product with many sales can have weak economics, while one with good contribution can have limited demand.
How do you test creative materials?
Ask what differentiates the concepts and how the results are interpreted. Changing a colour is not the same as testing a commercial argument. Ask for a record of hypotheses and an explanation of the comparison's limits.
What do you do when the data is insufficient?
A competent team can say it doesn't yet have enough evidence. What matters is that it explains what is missing and what decision can be made in the meantime. Constant certainty is not a sign of quality.
How do you read a case study?
Ask for the period, the budget, the revenue basis and the context. Find out whether the results include returns, existing customers and full costs. A documented example shows a potentially relevant experience, but does not guarantee the same result for your store.
What would cause a test to be stopped?
The criteria can include technical errors, a financial limit or the lack of a viable hypothesis. The answer should show discipline, not just a willingness to keep spending. Also agree who approves stopping and relaunching.
Access and responsibilities must stay clear
Use delegated access through the platforms' own mechanisms, with appropriate roles, instead of sharing personal passwords. Check who owns the accounts and who can manage billing. Don't assume that a good verbal relationship automatically settles these details.
Document the materials, sources and configurations that must be handed over at the end. Clarify usage rights for photos, video and other deliverables. These are points of the collaboration that should be recorded in the applicable documents, not left open to interpretation.
Build a responsibility matrix
| Activity | Store | Agency | Collaboration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price and contribution | Provides and validates | Uses in the plan | Review when things change |
| Stock and delivery | Confirms availability | Adjusts distribution | Alerts and priorities |
| Creative materials | Data and approvals | Production as per scope | Calendar and review |
| Measurement | Access and technical support | Audit as per scope | Test order |
| Reporting | Order status | Advertising analysis | The next decision |
The matrix must be adapted to the real team. Don't turn a generic table into a promise about services that haven't been contracted. The goal is to eliminate gaps in responsibility.
Three hypothetical examples for comparing offers
Hypothetical example 1: the full cost
Offer A has a management fee of 1,000 RON and does not include creative materials, estimated separately at 800 RON. Offer B costs 1,600 RON and includes the materials defined in the offer. With the same media spend of 5,000 RON, the total costs are 6,800 RON and 6,600 RON.
The difference alone doesn't say which team is better. Quality, scope and delivery capacity must be compared. The example only shows why a fee viewed in isolation can be misleading.
Hypothetical example 2: orders and contribution
A 30-day test produces 100 retained orders, with an average contribution of 90 RON before marketing. The total contribution is 9,000 RON. With media spend of 5,000 RON and collaboration costs of 1,600 RON, 2,400 RON remains before other fixed costs.
The media cost per order is 50 RON, and the marketing cost included in the example is 66 RON per order. Don't call the latter figure the cost per new customer unless you have separated new customers from existing ones.
Hypothetical example 3: duplicated reporting
Google attributes 70 orders, Meta 60, while the store has 100 distinct orders in the comparable scope. Adding up the platforms gives 130, but that doesn't mean the store had 130 transactions. The overlap and the definitions must be investigated.
An agency should explain the difference and use a common record for the financial decision. It shouldn't promise to identify every contribution perfectly if the data doesn't allow it.
Reporting must lead to decisions
Ask for a report with the result, context, interventions and next step. Metrics must have definitions and sources. Separate what was observed from the probable explanation and from the information still missing.
A useful report can say that a category grew in revenue but contribution fell because of the product mix and returns. It can propose correcting the product selection, not just raising the budget. Don't judge the quality of reporting by the number of pages or charts.
The first 30 days must have clear deliverables
The first stage can include access, an audit and data verification. The second can prepare the products, materials and the test. The third can launch and verify that everything works, and the fourth can analyse the available results. The exact order depends on the situation and must be explained.
Don't ask for mature results before the data and the process are ready, but do ask for evidence of the agreed work. A collaboration can also be evaluated by the clarity of the diagnosis, the respect for responsibilities and the quality of the interventions, without claiming control over every factor in the market.
Reviewing the collaboration must go both ways
The agency must explain what it did and what it learned. The store must provide the agreed information and approvals. If materials are late or stock changes without communication, the result can't be attributed solely to the campaign settings.
For a conversation about whether the collaboration is a good fit, contact BlueAds. Present the goal, the budget and the constraints, then ask for a plan that ties them into a test that can be evaluated.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose the cheapest offer?
Compare the full cost and the scope before deciding. A low price can suit a narrow service, but it shouldn't be confused with an offer that includes production and development.
Does a certification guarantee results?
No. It can be information about training or the relationship with a platform, but it doesn't replace analysis, process and fit with your store. Check the claims and the context.
How many months should I wait?
Set stages and criteria based on readiness, volume and purchase cycle. There is no universal timeline. Ask for verifiable progress and conclusions proportional to the data.
Should the agency own the accounts?
Clarify ownership and access before the collaboration, using the platforms' own mechanisms. The business must understand what it controls and how activity continues if the provider changes.
Should I ask for guaranteed profit?
A promise doesn't remove the factors the agency doesn't control. Ask for hypotheses, limits and responsibilities, plus an explanation of the economics. Vague guarantees can hide restrictive definitions.
What do I do if the report is just a table of numbers?
Ask for interpretation, context and a proposed decision. Ask what changed, why, and what needs to be checked. Metrics without explanation are not enough to steer a budget.
When do I switch agencies?
Evaluate compliance with the agreement, transparency, the quality of decisions and results in context. Before switching, clarify the problems and prepare the handover of access and materials. Don't decide based on one fluctuating week.
Final checklist
- The store's goal and limits are clear.
- Offers are compared on the same scope.
- Media costs and services are separated.
- Measurement has concrete checks.
- Access and handover are documented.
- Reporting explains the decisions.
- Responsibilities are divided explicitly.