Founder's evaluation guide · India
How to choose a performance marketing agency in India
Choose the team that can explain and improve the complete commercial system—not the team with the loudest ROAS screenshot.
Quick answer
Choose an agency that owns the relationship between advertising and the business outcome.
A strong performance marketing agency should understand your unit economics, measure a real conversion, run a repeatable creative system, improve the journey after the click and explain every important decision. Your company should own the accounts and data. Fees, media spend, production and implementation should be separated clearly.
The evaluation is not “Which agency showed the highest ROAS?” It is “Which team can prove that its number represents profitable, collectible business—and show how it will repeat the work in our context?”
The eight-part scorecard
Score the operating system before you score the pitch.
| Area | Question worth asking | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Measurement | Can the agency explain which business outcome it will optimise and how that outcome reaches the ad platform? | 15% |
| Economics | Will the team review margin, returns, cancellations, repeat purchase and cash constraints before proposing scale? | 15% |
| Creative | Is there a documented system for producing, testing and learning from new creative? | 15% |
| Conversion | Who owns the landing page and store friction after the ad click? | 10% |
| Ownership | Will your company own every ad account, audience, pixel, catalogue and source of data? | 10% |
| Reporting | Will reports show delivered revenue or qualified leads—not only platform-attributed conversions? | 10% |
| Operating rhythm | Can the agency show what is reviewed weekly, who decides and how changes are documented? | 7.5% |
| Commercial model | Are management fees, ad spend, production, software and additional work clearly separated? | 7.5% |
Use the weights as a discussion tool, not false precision. A failure on ownership, ethics or measurement can disqualify a partner regardless of its total score.
Proof with context
Ask for one complete case—not ten disconnected numbers.
A useful case explains the starting condition, business model, time period, spend range, action taken, measurement method and limitation. A screenshot without returns, cancellations, lead quality, margin or attribution context can be technically accurate and commercially misleading.
Weak proof
- “We generated 8× ROAS”
- No date range or spend context
- No distinction between placed and delivered orders
- No explanation of what changed
Useful proof
- Starting point and commercial constraint
- What the agency changed
- Verified outcome over a stated period
- Honest caveat and repeatability limits
Impact Marvel publishes this structure on its selected work page, including caveats such as why cheaper leads were not necessarily better buyers and why an earlier unverified growth claim is not used.
Measurement before media
The conversion event must represent value—not convenience.
Google defines a conversion as a valuable action such as a sale or lead and recommends configuring values when transaction-specific information is available. Meta describes Conversions API as a direct connection between business data and its optimisation systems, including later customer-journey and offline outcomes.
That means a D2C team should decide whether it is optimising for placed orders, delivered orders, contribution after returns or another commercially useful signal. A lead-generation team should distinguish a submitted form from a qualified opportunity. The agency should know which signal enters bidding, which remains diagnostic and how duplicate events are prevented.
Commercial clarity
Compare responsibility, not just monthly retainers.
Two agencies charging different fees may not be selling the same work. Clarify whether the retainer includes strategy, campaign operation, creative briefs, actual creative production, landing-page design, development, CRO, tracking repair, analytics, email, reporting and senior involvement.
Ask the agency to separate four numbers: management fee, media spend, production cost and third-party tools. Then ask what can change each number. This prevents a low entry fee from becoming an unpredictable operating cost after the agreement is signed.
Impact Marvel engagements start from ₹50,000 per month plus GST. Ad spend, shoots, influencer fees and separately approved software or production are outside the management fee unless the proposal explicitly includes them.
For the complete fee breakdown, see the Impact Marvel performance marketing pricing guide.
Red flags
Walk away when the promise is more precise than the evidence.
- Guaranteed ROAS before account, economics and fulfilment data are reviewed.
- The agency wants to own the ad account or pixel permanently.
- Every poor result is blamed on budget while the offer, creative and store remain untouched.
- Reporting stops at platform numbers and avoids delivered revenue or qualified pipeline.
- No one can explain who approves creative, who implements landing changes or what happens each week.
- A long lock-in is presented before a diagnostic or mutual operating fit has been established.
A safer decision process
Use three conversations and one written scope.
- 01
Share the real numbers
Give each shortlisted agency the same commercial context, access level and constraints.
- 02
Ask for the first 30 days
Look for a sequence of diagnosis, repair and testing—not a generic channel list.
- 03
Inspect one case deeply
Ask what was attributable, what was not and what the agency would do differently.
- 04
Put ownership and boundaries in writing
Confirm deliverables, exclusions, approvals, data access, fees and exit conditions before payment.
Frequently asked questions
Hiring a performance marketing agency
What should I ask a performance marketing agency before hiring?+
Ask how it measures business outcomes, handles creative testing, improves conversion after the click, accounts for returns or lead quality, protects account ownership and decides when to scale. Request one complete case with context rather than a collection of isolated ROAS screenshots.
How much does a performance marketing agency cost in India?+
Commercial models vary by scope, spend, creative and implementation responsibility. Impact Marvel engagements start at ₹50,000 per month plus GST, excluding media spend and separately approved production or software. Compare the complete scope rather than the retainer alone.
Should an agency be paid a percentage of ad spend?+
A percentage can be reasonable when scope genuinely increases with spend, but it can also reward budget growth before profitability. Ask what additional work happens as the fee rises and whether guardrails are tied to contribution margin, delivered revenue or qualified pipeline.
How long should I give a new performance marketing agency?+
The agency should produce diagnostic and implementation progress in the first month, but reliable performance judgment depends on sales cycle, traffic, data quality and seasonality. A structured 90-day plan is more useful than either a seven-day promise or an indefinite learning period.