Your Guide to Choosing an eCommerce PPC Management Company

I won’t sugarcoat this. Hiring an eCommerce PPC management company can be risky. There’s no secret there. You need to make a decision, effectively based on a combination of your best judgment and faith, and then shell over your hard-earned dollars to that agency, with the hope that they will turn that investment into a profit. 

It can be done, and it’s not rocket science. Every year, countless eCommerce PPC agencies make their clients money. 

But there’s always a risk that ROI won’t turn out the way you expected it.

So, with that said, here are some of the best ways to hedge your best and increase your chances that the agency you hire will (literally) pay off.

Determine What Ad Platforms They Specialize in, If Any 

If you are planning on running a specific ad campaign, one of the most important items to clear up, out of the gate, is that the agency in question is familiar with your campaign platform. 

There are three main ad platforms: 

• Google Ads, which uses Google Ad Manager
• Microsoft, or Bing Ads, which uses Microsoft Ad Manager
• Meta, which uses Facebook Ad Manager for Facebook and Instagram Ad Manager for Instagram

While the basis of each of these platforms is fundamentally the same, in practice, familiarity with one does not grant automatic familiarity with another. 

Some eCommerce PPC management companies are familiar with all three of these major ad platforms, but make no assumptions. Ask up front. 

Or, alternatively, just follow their lead. For all you know, you’ve been running Facebook Ads when it would have been more practical for you to be using Google Ads (for instance, if very few of your target users were on Facebook).

How Long Have They Been Managing Clients?

This is another big thing to clear up right out of the gate. While it is entirely conceivable that a brand new ad management company has a staff of certified geniuses on board, there’s no way to prove that if they have no history. 

At the very least, if you hire a company with 10 years of experience in PPC management, you know they’ve been doing something right.

Plus, the longer their tenure of business, the better the chances are that they can front data to back up their efforts with past clients, and the more likely there will be credible reviews out there. 

What Industries Does This eCommerce PPC Management Agency Serve? Do They Specialize?

Some, but not all, eCommerce PPC management specialists also specialize in specific industries. 

Bear in mind that industry specialization can be a very good thing. For instance, serving only the fashion industry, or only the wellness industry, allows professionals to cultivate a sort of institutional expertise. 

Customers’ habits and demographics (and other qualifiers) are often shared across industry verticals. This makes it easier for ad managers that specialize in specific industries to segment, target, and cater to those audiences. 

So it shouldn’t be a deal breaker, but if you can find a PPC specialist with a proven history of working in your industry, all else being equal, that’s the one you should go with.

Can The eCommerce PPC Management Agency Manage Content Creation?

This is a huge one. 

Don’t get me wrong. Targeting and bid strategy are two of the biggest and most important aspects that define the success of a paid ad campaign, and they have almost nothing to do with content creation.

But, without ads that get attention, it’s pretty much all wasted. The visual and written component of the ad will capture attention and seal the deal. 

Sure, it’s critical to ensure you bid the right amount to show up in the right place, at the right time, to the right audience.

But how many times have you scrolled past an ad because the ad copy or visual just didn’t appeal to you?

I rest my case.

Determine How Many People Will Be Working on Your Account 

While specialization based on skill set is a sign of advanced economic models, we can also say that there can be “too many cooks in the kitchen,” especially with respect to paid ad management. 

It’s alright if one person does the keyword research and someone else designs the visuals and writes the copy. It might even be alright if another person manages the bids.

But all of those specialists should report back to one project manager, with whom you interact. 

Not being sure of who handles what aspect of an ad campaign is a recipe for confusion or disaster, and it’s also a recipe for conflicting advice and orders. 

All else being equal, for your own sake and sanity, ask for one point of contact. It will be easier for you in terms of communication and it will also make it easier for you to track how the campaign is performing. 

Ask About Expectations Right Up Front 

Last but not least, you should ask the person with whom you’re working or developing the scope what you should expect for the first three weeks of the campaign. 

Every agency handles the kickoff process a little differently, and getting things started takes time. It will take a PPC management specialist time to perform keyword research, profile the market, and come up with a unified strategy and a reasonable target for ad spend that should bring it all together.

That’s not easy work and it takes time, so while you can launch an ad campaign and get it running in a matter of hours (if not faster) doing so without a strategy is not a good course to pursue. 

Make sure the person that develops the scope or sells you the project tells you outright what you can expect, who you will hear from, and what is needed from you for the first few weeks of the campaign. 

That way you know what to expect and there will be no curveballs.

Other Helpful Tips for Choosing an eCommerce PPC Management Agency

These are some of the most important tips I could come up with, with respect to how to choose an eCommerce PPC management specialist that will satisfy your needs and expectations. 

And you can bet I consulted some of our in-house PPC experts to come by them.

But here are a few extras, just from me.

Check Reviews and Testimonials 

One of the best ways you can vet the quality of an eCommerce PPC management specialist, without even giving them a call, is to look out for reviews.

You can scrub their website for reviews and testimonials, but you have to remember that anything that shows up on an agency’s website is going to be very carefully curated. No one wants negative reviews on their website! Or, at least not a lot of them.

So the best thing you can do is look elsewhere for those reviews. Consult Google and Clutch, as well as other industry verticals (you’ll have to do your own research).

See what other companies that have worked with the agency in question are saying in a bid to find the most unbiased, and therefore honest, reviews. 

Consult eCommerce Case Studies, Let the Data Speak for Itself 

Your best asset in determining whether or not the PPC agency in question can deliver the expected results is real data, from real clients, and preferably in your own industry, or at least a similar one. 

If you do consult a case study, while the surrounding story and background are important, actual metrical figures are more important. You want to know about the challenges the client faced, what the agency suggested, how much spend they allocated, what types of ads they created, and what sorts of results – impressions, clicks, revenue, and most importantly ROAS – they produced. 

Take a look through our collection of case studies to see for yourself. Most of them are dedicated to eCommerce SEO, but some of them deal with PPC. 

Conduct Your Own Social Listening

Have you heard the term social listening? It refers to the process by which businesses put their ears to the proverbial grapevine to see what other customers are saying about them – whether good or bad. 

There are actually apps and tools for this, and while they don’t make much sense for you as a potential customer of a PPC agency to use, you can still follow the same basic process.

Snoop the agency’s socials, and see how and where they interact with their users, and how positive those interactions are. If there are happy or disgruntled customers, their social media channels may be the best place to scope for them. 

Plus, you can see how active they are with followers (and potentially, customers) and how they’ll treat you as a customer, should you become one.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for References

Now, I don’t mean from the eCommerce PPC agency itself. I mean from other professionals in your industry. 

If you attend trade shows or belong to groups that contain other businesses and entrepreneurs in the same industry as yours, these can be a great source of potential information, leads, and resources. 

If you know someone else in your vertical, and have a good working relationship with them, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Maybe they know a specialist or an agency that can help you out.

Don’t Leave Important Questions Unanswered 

Last but definitely not least, don’t let any questions that are bothering you go unanswered. I nearly promise, if you have a question and are hoping it gets answered, but it doesn’t, and you sign up for that campaign without resolving it, it will come back to haunt you. 

While you’re still talking about goals and hammering out a scope – that is the time to ask questions, and remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question.