The 47 Questions to Ask Every Paid Ads Agency
The working interview script for evaluating a paid ads agency. 47 questions across the four meetings of a real diligence process, grouped by what each one is actually testing.
By The Spend Report Editorial Team. Published June 3, 2026. · 6 min read
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This is the interview script we use to evaluate paid ads agencies. 47 questions spread across four meetings. Every question is here because the answer (or the way the answer gets given) tells you something about how the engagement will run.
The script is built for brands at $30k+/month in paid spend. Adjust the bands in the discovery questions if your scale is different.
The questions are grouped by which meeting they belong in. You do not need to ask all 47 verbatim. You need to cover every category, and you need to have at least one question that puts the agency on the spot in each area.
Meeting 1: discovery
The agency is supposed to be learning about you. What they ask is the test.
Listen for these questions coming from them. If they do not ask, ask them yourself in reverse to see how they answer.
1. What do you consider your contribution margin per order, after returns and discounts?
2. What is your blended CAC right now, and how is it trending over the past 90 days?
3. What does your post-purchase economics look like? LTV at 90 days, 180 days, 365 days?
4. What is your current channel mix by spend and by revenue contribution?
5. What is your inventory cycle and lead time? When you scale spend, can supply keep up?
6. Who on your team owns paid? Who do they report to? Who else touches the campaigns?
7. What does your creative pipeline look like? Volume per month, sources, lead time?
8. What has worked and what has failed in the past 12 months of paid?
9. What does success look like at the end of a quarter? At the end of a year?
10. Why are you considering an agency now, versus six months ago or six months from now?
An agency that goes through all 10 of these is doing real discovery. An agency that asks two and pivots to their pitch deck has already decided to sell you, not understand you.
Meeting 2: the proposed approach
You should leave this meeting with a written document, not a deck. If they hand you slides instead of a plan, that is the answer to question 11.
11. What is the specific approach you would take for this account in the first quarter, in writing?
12. What channel mix would you propose, and how is that informed by what you learned in discovery?
13. What is the first hypothesis you would test, and why that one?
14. What would you not do that you have seen other agencies do on accounts like this?
15. What is the smallest version of working together that you would propose, and why?
16. How would your approach change if I told you my CAC target was 20 percent lower than today?
17. What is your view on attribution for this kind of account? Last-click, multi-touch, MMM, or a mix?
18. What benchmarks would you target in months 1, 3, 6, and 12?
19. What would have to happen for you to recommend cutting spend instead of growing it?
20. Where does your approach disagree with conventional advice for brands at this stage?
The answers to 19 and 20 separate the good from the rest. An agency that will not name a scenario where they recommend cutting spend is structurally biased toward growing spend.
Meeting 3: the team and the operations
The agency salesperson does not run your account. The day-to-day team does. This meeting is non-negotiable.
21. Who exactly is on my account, by name and role?
22. How many accounts does each person on my account team manage at the same time?
23. How long has each person been at your agency? At their previous agency?
24. What is your team turnover rate, year over year?
25. When my account lead is sick or on vacation, who covers?
26. What does a typical week look like on my account, hour by hour?
27. How often do I hear from you, and through which channel?
28. What is your reporting structure and cadence? Can I see a sample weekly and monthly report?
29. How do you communicate when something breaks (a sudden ROAS drop, a policy issue, an unexpected disapproval)?
30. What is your escalation path when I disagree with your recommendation?
31. How do you handle creative review? Where does the line sit between agency authority and operator review?
32. What tools do you use for project management and reporting? Are they shared with the client?
33. What is the most common reason a client ends an engagement with you?
The answer to 33 should be a real answer with a specific category, not a generic "we want different things." An agency that has never lost a client either has not been around long enough or is not telling the truth.
Meeting 4: references and contract
By now you should have a sense. References and contract terms either confirm what you already believe or surface the disqualifier you missed.
34. Can I speak to two current clients in my revenue range?
35. Can I speak to one former client whose engagement ended?
36. Can you share three case studies with absolute dollar figures, not just percentages?
37. Can you share the revenue mix of your agency, by channel and by client type?
38. What is your standard contract term, and what are the exit clauses?
39. Who owns the ad accounts, the creative assets, and the data we generate together?
40. What is your policy on hiring people away from each other?
41. What insurance and security certifications do you carry?
42. Do you carry any equity, options, or revenue-share with brands you work with?
43. Are you currently working with any direct competitors of mine? What is your conflict policy?
44. Have you ever been let go by a client mid-contract? What happened?
45. What does the first 30 days of our engagement look like, day by day?
46. What does the offboarding process look like if either side decides to end?
47. What is the question I should have asked but did not?
The last one is the most underused. A confident agency takes it seriously. A weak one waves it away.
What you do with the answers
Run the conversations. Then sit with a single page of notes per agency. Score each on the four-dimension rubric from the pillar guide and how we rank agencies: track record (30), operational fit (25), specialization depth (25), transparency (20).
The agency that answers question 11 in writing with specificity, names real clients on questions 34 and 35, and admits to a real failure on question 44 is usually the one to hire.
The agency that aces the sales meetings but cannot answer 21 through 26 with concrete names and numbers is the one to skip.
If you have not run this kind of process before, take one more pass through how to tell if you are ready to hire before scheduling the first meeting. Hiring before you are ready is more expensive than waiting a quarter.