25 Questions to Ask a Digital Marketing Agency Before Hiring

By Edigigo Team | Published: 14 Nov 2026 | Updated: 14 Nov 2026

Most businesses pick a digital marketing agency after one or two sales calls, and most regret not asking tougher questions. The questions below cover the areas where agency relationships succeed or fail: experience, team, pricing, ownership, reporting, AI search and communication. Use them in your first meeting, send them in writing, or score each agency against them.

How to Use This List

You do not need to ask all 25 questions in one call. Pick the eight to ten that matter most for your situation, send the rest by email, and compare the written answers side by side. Pay attention to how specific the answers are. Good agencies give examples, numbers and clear limits, while weak ones give general reassurance. For a wider framework, read our 12-point checklist for choosing an advertising agency.

Experience and Strategy

1. Which businesses like mine have you worked with?

Industry experience shortens the learning curve, because the agency already knows your buyers, seasonality and compliance limits. A good answer names clients or describes anonymised cases in your sector. Be cautious if you only get a list of logos.

2. What results did you deliver for a similar client, and how were they measured?

Ask for the starting point, the time frame and the numbers, such as leads, cost per lead, traffic or return on ad spend. A credible answer separates what the agency did from what the market did anyway.

3. What would the first 90 days look like for my business?

A strong agency can outline an audit, a plan, a launch and a first review, with milestones. A vague reply like 'we will optimise everything' suggests there is no real process.

4. How will you decide which channels to prioritise?

The answer should reference your goals, budget, audience and existing data, not the agency's favourite channel. Agencies that recommend every channel at once are usually spreading your budget thin.

5. What do you need from me to succeed?

Good agencies ask for access, approvals, sales feedback and product knowledge. If they ask for nothing, they probably do not expect to measure real business results.

Services and Team

6. Which services do you handle in-house, and which do you outsource?

Outsourcing is not automatically bad, but you should know who does the work and who is accountable. Ask which specialists are employees and which are freelancers or partners.

7. Who will actually work on my account?

Many agencies pitch with senior people and hand the account to juniors. Ask for names and roles, and whether you can meet them before signing.

8. How many accounts does each person manage?

An overloaded manager means slow replies and shallow optimisation. There is no perfect number, but the agency should be able to answer honestly.

9. What certifications and platform partnerships do you hold?

Google and Meta certifications show baseline training, and publisher relationships can help with placements and rates. Ask how you can verify them rather than taking the claim on trust.

10. Can you cover SEO, ads, content, branding and web together?

Channels influence each other, so a great ad sent to a weak landing page wastes money. Agencies that connect the full funnel under one strategy usually deliver more consistent results than separate vendors.

Pricing and Contracts

11. What exactly is included in your fee?

Ask for a written list of deliverables, such as number of keywords, posts, creatives, reports and calls. 'Complete digital marketing' without specifics is a warning sign.

12. What is the ad spend, and is it billed separately?

Agency fees and media spend are different costs. Ask whether ad money goes directly to the platform from your account, and how any management fee is calculated. Our guide on digital marketing cost in India explains typical pricing models.

13. What is the contract length, and how can I exit?

Check minimum terms, notice periods and what happens to your assets if you leave. Avoid long lock-ins that have no performance checkpoints.

14. Are there setup, tool or creative costs outside the retainer?

Hidden extras are a common source of disputes. Ask about design, video, landing pages, software subscriptions and approval rounds up front.

15. Who owns the ad accounts, creatives, website and data?

You should own your ad accounts, analytics, creatives and domain, so you can switch agencies without losing history. An agency that keeps ownership has leverage over you.

Reporting and Results

16. Which metrics will you report, and how often?

Look for business metrics such as leads, cost per lead, conversion rate and return on ad spend, not only impressions and followers. Weekly or monthly reports with plain-language commentary are a good sign.

17. How do you track leads and attribute them to channels?

Ask about call tracking, form tracking, UTM tags and CRM integration. Without proper tracking, nobody can tell which spend produced revenue.

18. What results can I realistically expect, and when?

Paid campaigns can show early data within a few weeks, while SEO and GEO usually take months. Be wary of anyone who guarantees rankings, leads or sales, because no one controls search engines or buyers.

19. How do you handle underperforming campaigns?

A good answer describes a review cycle, hypotheses, tests and clear decision rules. A defensive or blame-shifting answer tells you how problems will be handled later.

20. Can I speak to current or past clients?

References reveal communication quality, honesty and results better than any pitch deck. Ask for at least two, ideally in a similar industry.

AI, Tools and Working Together

21. How are you adapting to AI search such as ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews?

Customers increasingly discover brands through AI answers, not only search result pages. A forward-looking agency should be able to explain GEO, structured data and brand mentions in plain terms. See our guide to what GEO is and how it differs from SEO.

22. How do you use AI tools in your work, and how is quality checked?

AI can speed up research and drafts, but unchecked output is generic and sometimes wrong. Ask who reviews content, facts and creative before anything goes live.

23. What tools and platforms do you use, and who pays for them?

Clarify which analytics, SEO and reporting tools are included, and whether you will have access to them. Also confirm that nothing important lives only inside the agency's private accounts.

24. How will we communicate, and how quickly do you respond?

Agree on meeting frequency, response times and a single point of contact. How fast and clearly an agency replies during the sales process is a preview of the relationship.

25. In what situations would we not be a good fit?

Agencies that are honest about their limits, such as budget minimums or industries they avoid, tend to be more trustworthy. If everyone is a perfect fit, the agency is probably selling rather than advising.

Red Flags in the Answers

Be cautious if an agency guarantees rankings, leads or sales, refuses to give you ownership of ad accounts or data, cannot show case studies or reports, avoids naming who will work on your account, pushes you to sign quickly, or quotes a very low price with no breakdown. Any one of these deserves a follow-up question, and several together are a reason to walk away.

How to Compare Agencies After the Calls

Score each agency from 1 to 5 on industry experience, proof of results, pricing clarity, reporting transparency, ownership terms, team quality and communication. Add the scores, then check references for your top two. If the numbers are close, choose the agency that gave the most specific and honest answers rather than the most impressive pitch. If you are searching locally, our guide to the best digital marketing agency in Delhi NCR applies the same approach to the region.

How Edigigo Answers These Questions

Edigigo Solutions is a Gurugram-based digital marketing, branding and media agency serving businesses across Delhi NCR, India, South Korea and Canada. We are one option on your shortlist, so we invite you to ask us every question above and to request case studies, a sample report and references. When you are ready, book a free consultation with Edigigo.