Evaluate a Klaviyo agency by checking relevant evidence, the scope and people doing the work, and the commercial terms. Ask how results were measured, compare proposals against the same workload, and put account access and handover in writing. Record what remains unknown before you sign.
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What should you prepare before the first agency call?
Write a short brief that an agency can use to explain its priorities. Include what you sell, how customers buy again, what runs in Klaviyo today, and which work your team cannot cover. A brand with no one on email needs a different proposal from a team buying specialist advice.
| Input | What to bring | Why it changes the proposal |
|---|---|---|
| Work to outsource | Flows, campaigns, or both; strategy and production needs | A flow build and ongoing campaign management have different workloads |
| Starting point | Existing automations, integrations, consent and reporting concerns | The agency needs to distinguish repair work from routine production |
| Buying cycle | Replenishment, considered purchases, gifting or seasonal demand | The flow priorities and campaign calendar should reflect how people buy |
| Your team's capacity | Who supplies offers, product information and approvals | Delays and responsibilities should be visible before work starts |
| Commercial constraints | Budget range, deadlines and any handover requirements | You can rule out a scope that the team cannot afford or support |
An agency can publish a starting price before seeing your account. That helps you screen for budget fit. The follow-up is whether the final scope and assumptions are clear after discovery. Ask what could change the quote and what would be deferred if the budget stays fixed.
What counts as useful case-study evidence?
Ask for a case with a comparable problem and an explained measurement method. Category, buying cycle, starting condition, metric and measurement period matter more than a headline figure on its own. A result from a holiday sales period needs that context when you are planning an ordinary month.
Confidentiality can prevent an agency from naming the client or sharing account access. An anonymized case can still describe the category, work and reported outcome. Ask what the agency can disclose and which details remain unavailable. Do not demand private customer data as a test of credibility.
For each relevant case, ask:
- What did the team change, and which parts are documented?
- Is the result total revenue, revenue attributed to email, a share of sales or growth against a baseline?
- What period and attribution settings produced the figure?
- What else happened during the period, including promotions or changes in traffic?
- Can they explain the source report without exposing confidential information?
The guide to reading Klaviyo agency metrics applies these questions to HWM's published cases. Those are agency-reported examples. They help you inspect the evidence; they do not forecast your store's result.
How do you compare scope and the people doing the work?
Get the delivery responsibilities in writing. “Full service” leaves too much open if neither side has named who plans, writes, designs, builds, reviews and sends the emails. Ask to understand the team assigned to your account, including who covers absences and handles decisions when something goes wrong.
| Question | Evidence to request | Concern to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the monthly priorities? | Named role and a sample planning format | Who chooses between a flow repair and a new campaign? |
| Who writes and designs? | Relevant work samples and the proposed production scope | Are copy and design included or supplied by you? |
| Who builds, tests and sends? | Responsibility map and a description of QA | Does the agency handle scheduling, or hand files to your team? |
| How are approvals handled? | Review steps, dependencies and expected turnaround | What happens when an offer changes after approval? |
| What happens after launch? | Reporting scope and process for choosing the next change | Are improvements included, quoted separately or left to your team? |
Ask how they choose flow priorities and what would make them change the order. A useful answer connects the work to your account's condition. The same applies to testing: ask what they would test, why, and how they would decide whether the result is useful. A promise to test every email is less informative than an explanation of the decision.
How do you compare fees and contract terms?
Compare the same workload before comparing the fee. Separate agency charges from Klaviyo and other platform costs. Write down the included formats, production volume, revision scope and add-ons, then ask how the price changes when the workload changes.
A flat fee and a revenue share each need explanation. Ask a revenue-share agency which revenue definition, attribution settings and exclusions determine the invoice. Ask a flat-fee agency how it handles work beyond the agreed scope. Neither model establishes the quality of the agency's sending decisions; ask how it balances revenue targets with list health and customer experience.
Use the agency cost guide and HWM's published pricing as references for questions, then verify the proposal you are offered. Public examples do not replace a scope-specific quote.
Before signing, confirm account ownership, admin access, asset ownership, notice periods and handover. Ask what happens to flows, templates, segments, reporting and integrations if the engagement ends. These are questions to resolve with the agency; do not assume that every provider uses the same terms.
Which warning signs need a follow-up?
Follow up when the agency cannot explain its metric definitions, the people doing the work or the assumptions behind the quote. A refusal to clarify those points after you ask leaves a concrete risk to weigh. A confidentiality restriction, public starting price or contract term needs context before it becomes a reason to reject the agency.
Ask for clarification when:
- A proposal uses a result figure without a period or a source.
- The sales conversation names a senior specialist but the delivery roles remain unclear.
- The scope promises improvements without saying who will do the work or how priorities are chosen.
- Access and handover questions receive no written answer.
- A deadline or contract commitment is pushed without explaining the dependency or review point.
Keep the agency's answer beside the original question. If the explanation changes, ask why. That record is more useful than scoring a provider on how persuasive the first call felt.
A worksheet for comparing agencies
Give both agencies the same brief. Fill each cell with an answer and a source, such as a proposal section or case URL. “Unknown” is a valid entry until you have checked it. Use the notes to decide which follow-up would change your choice; the worksheet does not produce an automatic winner.
| Criterion | Agency A: answer and source | Agency B: answer and source | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work and exclusions | To confirm | To confirm | What is outside the fee? |
| Relevant case and metric definition | To confirm | To confirm | Which result matches our problem? |
| Period and attribution settings | To confirm | To confirm | Are the reports comparable? |
| Baseline and other changes | To confirm | To confirm | What can the evidence establish? |
| Named delivery roles and backup | To confirm | To confirm | Who does each part? |
| QA and approvals | To confirm | To confirm | Who approves the final send? |
| Fees, platform costs and extra work | To confirm | To confirm | What changes the invoice? |
| Account access and handover | To confirm | To confirm | What do we retain if we leave? |
Download the comparison worksheet as CSV. It contains the same criteria shown above and blank fields for your notes.
What should you do next?
Take the completed brief into the agency call and ask about the gaps that would affect your decision. For a view of HWM's evidence, open the case-study library. If you want to discuss priorities in your own account, book a free Klaviyo audit.