Most companies vet an agency on the pitch. Portfolio, chemistry, price. Then they sign the contract and find out what the relationship actually looks like once the work starts.
The questions that matter most rarely come up before that point. Here’s what to ask before you sign, not after.
Who is actually doing the work
Pitch teams and delivery teams are often different people. The senior strategist who ran your pitch might hand you off to a team you’ve never met once the contract is signed.
Ask directly: who will be in the working sessions week to week. Not who leads the account. Who is actually building the strategy, designing the pages, writing the code.
What happens when scope changes
Scope always changes. A project that looked simple in the SOW gets more complicated once real stakeholders weigh in. The question isn’t whether that will happen. It’s how the agency handles it when it does.
Ask how change requests get priced, how timeline shifts get communicated, and who owns the decision when new work comes up mid-project. An agency that can’t answer this clearly will surprise you later with a change order you didn’t see coming.
Who owns copy accuracy
Design and strategy get plenty of scrutiny before a contract is signed. Copy accuracy rarely does. If your agency is writing final copy for your site, ask who is responsible for fact-checking claims, statistics, and product details. That responsibility should sit with someone, explicitly, in writing.
What the feedback process actually looks like
Every agency says they’re collaborative. Few define what that means in practice. Ask how many rounds of revision are included, how feedback gets consolidated when multiple stakeholders weigh in, and what happens if internal alignment breaks down mid-project. Vague answers here turn into missed deadlines later.
How they handle a timeline slip that isn’t their fault
Projects stall for reasons outside an agency’s control. A client goes dark for two weeks. Legal review takes longer than expected. Ask how the agency handles delays caused by the client side. Does the timeline just quietly extend, or is there a real conversation about impact and cost.
What happens after launch
A website launch isn’t the finish line, it’s the start of a new phase. Ask what support looks like after go-live. Is there a warranty period. Who fixes bugs that show up in week two. Is ongoing work priced separately or built into the original scope.
Why these questions matter more than the pitch
None of this shows up in a polished deck. It shows up three weeks into a project, when scope creeps, feedback gets messy, or a deadline slips. The agencies worth hiring have clear, specific answers to all of it before you ask. The ones that dodge these questions in the sales process will dodge accountability later too.
Ask them before you sign. Not after something goes wrong.