How do you choose an ecommerce PPC agency?

What should an ecommerce PPC agency do?

An ecommerce PPC agency should turn commercial constraints into channel decisions. That starts with product margin, contribution after fulfillment and returns, average order value, repeat-purchase behavior, inventory, and the cash available to fund acquisition. The agency then decides which products and audiences deserve budget, how Google, Meta, and Amazon should work together, and where another dollar is most likely to earn a profitable order.

The work should cover campaign structure, product feeds, creative testing, landing-page feedback, conversion tracking, budget pacing, and a reporting rhythm. Our ecommerce ad management scope and pricing is one concrete example of how those responsibilities can be made visible before a call.

The assigned evidence above shows why process matters more than a single headline ROAS. The useful signal was a 60-day acquisition-cost trend, then staged budget increases with guardrails. Ask a candidate to explain what trend would earn more budget, what would stop an increase, and how it would separate a scalable campaign from one merely collecting attributed sales.

Which channels should the agency actually manage?

Do not treat “PPC” as a single skill. Google Search and Shopping capture existing demand. Meta creates and retargets demand through creative. Amazon advertising operates inside a marketplace where retail readiness, organic rank, and product-detail pages affect paid performance. A broad agency is useful only if it can explain the distinct job of each channel and the tradeoff created by spreading a limited budget across them.

A candidate does not need to manage every platform. It does need to say where its expertise stops. If Amazon is subcontracted or excluded, get that boundary and the handoff process in the scope.

Who should own the ad accounts and data?

Your business should create or control the primary Google Ads, Merchant Center, Meta, Amazon Ads, Shopify, GA4, and tag-management properties. The agency should receive named user or manager access. Google’s current documentation says access can be edited or removed later, and its manager-account documentation says a client account still owns its data and can unlink a manager. Confirm the arrangement before any work begins: Google Ads account access and manager-account ownership.

Ask what happens on exit. You should keep campaign history, audiences where platform rules allow, pixels, conversion actions, product feeds, creative files, dashboards, and documentation. A promise that the agency will “transfer everything later” is weaker than starting inside properties you already control.

How should reporting connect PPC to Shopify revenue?

Require a weekly or monthly table that places platform spend beside Shopify orders, sales, new-customer results, refunds or cancellations where available, and the margin measure used to make budget decisions. Platform reporting is diagnostic, not a substitute for the store ledger.

Attribution settings must be explicit. Shopify documents five available models in its marketing reports: last non-direct click, last click, first click, any click, and linear. It also says the any-click model gives 100% of attribution credit to each clicked channel, so it can allocate more credit than the number of orders received in Shopify’s marketing reports documentation. That is why a multi-channel agency should show the selected model and avoid adding each platform’s claimed sales together.

Ask for a sample report with dummy data. It should answer four questions without a narration call: what changed, why it changed, what the agency did, and what decision comes next.

How do flat, percentage, and hybrid fees differ?

Example, not a market benchmark: a 10% fee on $30,000 of monthly ad spend is $3,000. Under a hybrid agreement with a $2,000 minimum or 10% of spend, the same store also pays $3,000. At $15,000 of spend, the minimum applies and the fee is $2,000. Model several spend levels before signing, then check whether creative, feed work, tracking, landing pages, and extra channels are inside or outside that number.

Published pricing is not the norm among agencies visible in search. Barlo Digital reviewed 178 agency sites from US Google hiring results in October 2026; 54 of 178 published a price for their own services, while 4 of 178 published a fee as a percentage of ad spend. The method, limits, and downloadable data are on our agency pricing transparency study.

For a real comparison point, Barlo’s current ecommerce plans publish a $2,000 monthly floor or 12% of ad spend for the entry plan, whichever is greater, on our ecommerce PPC agency pricing page. The same page states what is included and lets buyers model other spend levels. Use any agency’s published fee as a scope prompt, not proof of fit.

What questions should you ask on the sales call?

1. What store economics do you need before setting a target? Listen for margin, fulfillment, returns, discounts, customer mix, and cash constraints.
2. Who will manage the account each week? Meet that person, not only the seller, and ask what work stays senior-led.
3. What do we own? Get account, data, creative, feed, dashboard, and exit rights in writing.
4. How will you reconcile Google, Meta, Amazon, and Shopify? The answer should name the source of truth and the attribution views used.
5. How do you decide to raise, hold, or cut spend? Ask for decision rules, observation windows, and stop conditions.
6. What is outside scope? Clarify creative production, landing pages, feed fixes, tracking repairs, marketplaces, and international accounts.
7. How does the fee change? Model low, expected, and high spend, including setup fees and channel additions.
8. What are the term and exit process? Ask for notice periods, minimum terms, handoff timing, and access removal.

How can you score ecommerce PPC agencies consistently?

Score written evidence, not presentation quality. Require each evaluator to score independently before discussing candidates. A minimum threshold for measurement and ownership is sensible even when another agency has the higher total, because a weak score in either category makes later performance difficult to verify or preserve.

Which red flags should end the evaluation?

• A guaranteed ROAS without questions about margin, product mix, attribution, or existing demand.
• Agency-owned accounts that your business cannot administer or unlink.
• A report that adds revenue claimed by multiple platforms.
• No meeting with the person who will manage the account.
• A percentage fee with no written scope, cap, or rule for excluded spend.
• Case studies with no time period, spend context, attribution method, or clear statement of what the agency actually did.
• A channel recommendation made before reviewing creative supply, feed quality, tracking, inventory, and economics.