Agency churn every six months
Third agency in two years, same result each time.
Being on the third agency in two years is rarely bad luck. The pattern repeats because the underlying arrangement is the same each time: an account manager relays instructions to a team the client never meets, reporting describes activity rather than outcomes, and no single named person is accountable for a number. When results dip there is nobody to hold to it, so the only available action is to change vendors and restart the learning curve from zero. What breaks the cycle is structural, not motivational. Named leads who own four to six numbers, a weekly status the client can see, and an escalation rule that triggers automatically when a number stays red for two weeks running.
Root causes
In the order we check them
- No single owner of the number
- Reporting is activity, not outcome
- Junior team on the account
- Strategy and execution split across vendors
The fix
What we change
One accountable growth department, weekly scorecard with G/A/R status, named leads on the account, outcome-tiered pricing.
FAQs
Agency churn every six months: the detail
The detail lives here so the rest of the page stays readable. Open what matters to you.
What causes agency churn every six months?
In the order we check them: no single owner of the number; reporting is activity, not outcome; junior team on the account; strategy and execution split across vendors.
How do you fix it?
One accountable growth department, weekly scorecard with G/A/R status, named leads on the account, outcome-tiered pricing. That is the whole of our agency churn approach — no single lever does it alone.
How long does agency churn take?
Typical result: in_dev. Diagnosis takes days, the structural work takes weeks, and the compounding shows up in the second and third month.
Is this a media problem or an operations problem?
Usually both, which is why single-channel vendors cannot solve it. The symptom appears in the ad account and the cause sits in offer, checkout, fulfilment or confirmation.
What should we measure while fixing it?
Contribution margin per order, not platform return on ad spend. If the fix has not shown up in contribution margin within 60 days, the diagnosis was wrong and we say so.
Can we do this in-house?
Often yes, and the audit gives you the written agency churn plan whether or not you engage us. What in-house teams usually lack is not skill but the volume of parallel testing needed to move the number quickly.
What does it cost to have you fix it?
The 90-day Growth Sprint is the usual entry point: fixed fee, full diagnostic, then rebuild of the one or two things costing the most.
What if it does not improve?
If the agreed KPI has not moved in 90 days, the next 30 days are free.
Could the cause be no single owner of the number?
It is on the list, and it is number 1 in the order we check. Ruling it in or out takes an afternoon with the account and the order data, which is why we diagnose before prescribing rather than starting with whichever fix we happen to sell.
Could the cause be reporting is activity, not outcome?
It is on the list, and it is number 2 in the order we check. Ruling it in or out takes an afternoon with the account and the order data, which is why we diagnose before prescribing rather than starting with whichever fix we happen to sell.
Could the cause be junior team on the account?
It is on the list, and it is number 3 in the order we check. Ruling it in or out takes an afternoon with the account and the order data, which is why we diagnose before prescribing rather than starting with whichever fix we happen to sell.
Could the cause be strategy and execution split across vendors?
It is on the list, and it is number 4 in the order we check. Ruling it in or out takes an afternoon with the account and the order data, which is why we diagnose before prescribing rather than starting with whichever fix we happen to sell.
One-page fix plan
Send me the plan for my numbers
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