Agency question guide

Questions your advertising agency should be able to answer.

Use neutral, evidence-based questions to understand spend, performance, tracking and decisions without turning every meeting into a confrontation.

See questions generated from data Agency accountability guide

Good questions contain three things:

The supporting fact

The intended purpose

The decision or evidence required next

Money and commercial results

Use these to connect platform performance with what the business actually needs.

How much did we spend during this period, and how did that compare with the previous period?
Which tracked outcome are we using as the main measure of success?
What return or acquisition cost does the business need for this activity to be commercially acceptable?
Does the reported value include existing customers, new customers or both?
How are refunds, cancelled orders or poor-quality leads reflected in the reporting?

Campaign purpose and budget

Every significant area of spend should have an understandable role.

What is this campaign intended to achieve: profit, acquisition, awareness, leads or remarketing?
Why is this campaign receiving this share of the account budget?
What evidence would cause you to increase, reduce or move the budget?
Are any campaigns limited by budget, and would more spend still meet our commercial target?
Which activity would you reduce first if the budget had to fall by 20%?

Performance changes

Ask for the cause, evidence and planned response rather than a vague reassurance.

What caused the largest improvement or decline this month?
Which campaign, advert, keyword or search term contributed most to that change?
How much of the difference could be caused by seasonality, offers, website changes or tracking?
What action are you taking, and when should we expect enough evidence to assess it?
What should not be changed yet because there is not enough data?

Creative and Meta Ads

Creative performance needs more than a list of the adverts with the highest sales value.

Which adverts are receiving the most spend, and are they still above target?
Is the same audience seeing an advert more often while clicks are falling?
How many genuinely new creative ideas were tested this month?
Which opening moments make people stop and which videos keep them watching?
Why is an underperforming advert still active, and what role is it expected to play?

Keywords and Google Ads

Understand what people actually searched for before the budget was spent.

Which search terms spent the most without generating a meaningful conversion?
Are there irrelevant searches that should be considered as negative keywords?
How much spend is brand traffic versus non-brand traffic?
Are campaigns losing visibility because of budget or because of advert rank?
Are we paying for expensive clicks that do not match strong purchase or lead intent?

Tracking and attribution

A confident report is only useful if the underlying measurement is dependable.

When was purchase or lead tracking last tested from start to finish?
Which conversion actions are included in the primary reporting figure?
Are conversion values complete and in the correct currency?
Could Meta and Google both be claiming credit for the same sale or lead?
Can you show click-through and view-through results separately where relevant?

Make questions specific

Replace generic concern with the account evidence.

“Is performance okay?” invites a vague answer. A question tied to spend, tracked results and an agreed target is much harder to answer without substance.

Example generated question

“This campaign spent £1,284 over 26 days without a tracked purchase. What role is it intended to play, and what result will determine whether it continues?”

Based on: spend · date range · campaign objective · tracked purchases

Independent advertising visibility

Turn account findings into the right questions automatically.

AdSpend Lens is designed to prepare neutral questions using the figures, targets and confidence level in your connected account.

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