The most useful agency interview turns promises into observable work. Bring the proposal and ask the provider to walk through what your team will see, approve, and own during the engagement.
What arrives first?
Ask for the first deliverables and their acceptance criteria. A strategy document should identify an audience, offer, channel rationale, and measurement plan. A content deliverable should have a clear purpose and a review process. Terms such as optimization or growth support need a concrete explanation.
Choose one item from the proposal and ask the provider to describe its completed form. ‘Content support’ might mean a brief, an edited draft, or a published page; those are different commitments. Identify what your team must supply and who decides whether the item is accepted or needs revision.
How will you learn our product?
Find out who interviews technical staff and how factual questions are resolved. Ask how screenshots, demonstrations, customer examples, and confidential information are handled. Confirm that invented testimonials or unverified results will not be used as evidence.
The FTC’s advertising substantiation policy provides background for reviewing the evidence behind objective product claims before they appear in marketing.
| Interview question | Evidence to request |
|---|---|
| How do you learn the product? | Discovery questions and named reviewer |
| How are claims checked? | Review and correction process |
| How are examples approved? | Permission and confidentiality workflow |
| How are changes handled? | Version notes and approval record |
What happens when results disappoint?
Request an example of how the agency distinguishes tracking failure, weak traffic quality, an unclear offer, and poor follow-up. The answer should identify evidence and corrective work rather than automatically recommend higher spending.
For reports using Google Analytics, consult Google’s attribution documentation when asking how the agency assigns credit and explains the reported outcomes.
Walk through a hypothetical weak-result scenario without treating it as a prediction. Ask which records the agency would inspect first, what it would need from your sales team, and how it would distinguish missing tracking from poor inquiry quality. A useful answer describes an investigation and a reviewable next action rather than only a new spending level.
What happens when we leave?
Check access to accounts, creative files, audiences where transferable, reporting history, and the website. Establish the notice period and handover responsibilities in writing. Ask how subscriptions purchased on your behalf are renewed or cancelled.
Clarify the practical exit process while evaluating the proposal. List business-owned accounts, provider-managed subscriptions, editable files, and items subject to transfer limitations. Ask who performs each handover step and how access is confirmed. Keep an inventory during the engagement so the final transition does not depend on reconstructing months of work from email.
Use the partner selection guide for the broader evaluation and the launch handoff checklist when the selected provider begins work.