The questions you ask a ppc agency during the evaluation process matter more than the proposals they send you. Proposals are polished. Answers to specific, direct questions reveal how an agency actually works, what their account management looks like, and whether their philosophy is aligned with your stage and goals.
These 15 questions are organized by the areas that matter most for startup-stage PPC decisions.
Questions About Experience and Fit
1. Can you share two or three case studies from companies at a similar stage and with a similar business model?
You need evidence of relevant experience, not generic credentials. A B2B SaaS company with a $12,000 ACV and a demo conversion path has fundamentally different optimization requirements than an e-commerce brand or a local services business. If the case studies are from different categories, ask the agency to walk you through how their approach adapts to your specific context.
What to listen for: Specific metrics (CPA, CAC, conversion rate, pipeline influenced), honest discussion of what did and did not work, and evidence they understand your conversion type.
2. Who will be managing our account day to day, and what is their experience level?
This is one of the most important questions to ask and one of the least frequently asked. Senior strategists often run the proposal process, and junior account managers run the accounts. There is nothing inherently wrong with this — but you should know who is doing the work and what their background is.
What to listen for: Specific name, role, years of experience, and how many accounts that person currently manages. More than 8 to 10 accounts is a red flag for attention and responsiveness.
3. Do you have experience with LinkedIn Ads for B2B, and can you run multi-channel programs?
For PPC agencies for SaaS specifically, LinkedIn is often as important as Google Search. An agency that does not run LinkedIn or cannot describe their approach to B2B account-based targeting has a significant capability gap.
Questions About Strategy and Approach
4. What does your onboarding process look like in the first 30 to 60 days?
A credible agency has a defined process. They should describe an audit phase, a strategy document, and a staged build and launch process. An agency that says they can launch campaigns in the first week is either skipping the audit or overpromising. The full picture of what good onboarding looks like is in the PPC agency onboarding process guide.
What to listen for: A specific timeline with named deliverables (audit document, strategy deck, tracking verification, campaign build). Vague answers suggest process gaps.
5. How do you handle conversion tracking setup and verification?
This question separates agencies that treat tracking as foundational from those that treat it as an afterthought. The correct answer involves: auditing existing tracking, verifying conversion fires with a testing tool, setting up any missing conversion actions, and discussing offline conversion imports from the CRM.
What to listen for: Specific tools they use (Google Tag Assistant, GTM preview mode), their process for verifying that tracked conversions match CRM data, and whether they recommend offline conversion imports.
6. What bidding strategy would you start with for our account, and why?
There is no single correct answer here — the right bidding strategy depends on current conversion volume, campaign maturity, and CPA targets. What you are testing is whether the agency has a coherent framework or defaults to a single approach regardless of context.
What to listen for: A conditional answer that depends on your conversion volume and data quality. Red flag: recommending Target CPA from day one on an account with fewer than 30 conversions per month.
7. How do you approach keyword strategy for our category?
Ask them to sketch the keyword universe they would build for your product. A good answer covers: bottom-funnel solution searches, problem-space terms, competitor terms, and branded terms — and explains the segmentation logic and match type decisions.
What to listen for: Problem-space keyword awareness, a coherent match type philosophy, and a plan for negative keyword management. Red flag: leading with tool-generated keyword lists without strategic framing.
Questions About Pricing and Contracts
8. What is your fee structure, and are there any costs beyond the management fee?
Get this in writing before the call ends. Understand whether the fee is a flat retainer, percentage of spend, or hybrid. Then ask specifically about: creative production fees, landing page work, reporting tool costs, setup fees, and minimum ad spend requirements. The PPC agency pricing models guide provides context on what is standard versus inflated.
9. What is the contract length, and what are the exit terms?
A 6 to 12 month initial contract is standard. Shorter terms signal confidence in performance. The exit terms matter: what notice period is required, what data you retain when you leave, and whether there is a penalty clause for early termination. Ask specifically whether you retain full account access after the engagement ends.
10. Who owns the ad accounts — us or the agency?
This should have one answer: you own the accounts. If the agency hesitates, the answer is effectively no. Account ownership means your history, conversion data, and quality scores stay with you when the relationship ends. For a full picture of what to watch for in contracts, the PPC agency contract terms post covers every clause worth reviewing.
Questions About Reporting and Communication
11. Can you share a sample report?
This is the single best proxy for an agency's performance management philosophy. A sample report reveals what they measure, how they present data, whether they lead with business metrics or platform metrics, and whether they include forward-looking recommendations.
What to listen for: CPA or cost per lead leading the report; conversion volume with trend context; written explanation of changes and their rationale; forward priorities section. Red flag: impressions and CTR leading the report without business outcomes.
12. What is your communication cadence, and who do we reach if there is an urgent issue?
Understand whether there is a dedicated account contact, how they prefer to communicate (email, Slack, project management tool), what the expected response time is, and what the escalation path is. Monthly-only communication is insufficient for startup-stage accounts. The detailed breakdown of appropriate reporting cadences is in the PPC agency reporting guide.
Questions About Results and Accountability
13. What KPIs do you recommend for our engagement, and how do you define success?
The agency's answer to this question reveals whether they are oriented toward business outcomes or platform activity. Good answers center on CPA, cost per qualified lead, ROAS, or pipeline influenced. Answers that center on impression share, CTR, or quality score suggest the agency is managing to metrics that are easy to improve regardless of business impact.
14. What happens if performance misses target after 90 days?
A credible agency has a process for this. It might involve a performance review meeting, a strategy reset, or a renegotiated timeline. What it should not involve is silence, deflection, or defaulting to "these things take time" without a specific plan. Ask for specifics.
What to listen for: Willingness to discuss accountability, a process for performance reviews, and what they consider to be their obligation if results are below the agreed targets.
15. What does a successful engagement with your agency look like at 12 months?
This is a forward-looking question that tests whether the agency thinks beyond the initial campaign build. At 12 months, a strong PPC program should have consistent performance against CAC targets, documented learnings from testing cycles, and a clear picture of where efficiency gains are still available. An answer that sounds like the proposal repeated back is a yellow flag.
What to listen for: Specific account milestones (algorithm maturity, CAC targets consistently met, testing cadence established), honest discussion of what plateau looks like, and how they recommend evolving the program over time.
Key Takeaways
- The most revealing questions are the process ones — how does onboarding work, who manages the account, how do you handle tracking — not the results ones.
- Ask for a sample report before signing; it is the most efficient proxy for an agency's performance management philosophy.
- Account ownership and exit terms are non-negotiable points to understand clearly before any contract is signed.
- If an agency cannot answer the bidding strategy, keyword strategy, or conversion tracking questions with specificity, they are likely less experienced than their proposal suggests.
- Use the answers comparatively across multiple agency evaluations — the contrast reveals who has thought carefully about their process and who is improvising.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many agencies should I talk to before deciding? Three to five agencies is a reasonable evaluation set. Fewer gives you limited comparison; more becomes difficult to manage and the marginal information value decreases. Focus on agencies with demonstrated experience at your stage and in your category.
What if an agency refuses to answer some of these questions? Reluctance to answer questions about account ownership, conversion tracking methodology, or exit terms is itself informative. A credible agency has nothing to hide on these points. Evasion or vague answers are signals worth weighting heavily. See the PPC agency red flags guide for the full pattern.
Should I look at the agency's own digital presence as an indicator of quality? Their own website's SEO and ad presence is a weak signal — some excellent agencies have dated websites, and some mediocre agencies invest in their own brand presence. Focus the evaluation on the questions above, the quality of their case studies, and the clarity of their answers. Then review the full PPC agency selection guide for the complete evaluation framework.