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As a full-service Amazon agency, we’re aware of brands that have burned through tens of thousands of dollars before finding the right agency fit. The fact is, a bad agency partnership can cost you 6 to 12 months of momentum in a marketplace where your competitors aren’t waiting around.

This guide walks you through the exact framework that successful brands use to evaluate agencies. You’ll learn the eight steps that separate partnerships that accelerate growth from ones that hold you back, the red flags that should send you running, and the questions that reveal whether an agency actually knows what they’re doing.

Why Brands End Up Choosing the Wrong Amazon Agency

The agencies that sound most impressive in sales calls often deliver the least impressive results.

Going with the cheapest option seems financially responsible until you realize why their rates are so low. Cheap agencies mean inexperienced account managers and minimal strategic oversight. You end up paying twice: once for the budget agency, again for the agency that fixes what the original agency broke.

Choosing based on size alone is another trap. We’ve seen 200-person agencies where junior staff manage everything and 5-person shops that outperform because of deep specialization. Ultimately, size doesn’t indicate whether they’ll actually move the needle.

Not defining success metrics upfront leads to misaligned expectations. If you’re measuring success by total sales growth and they’re focused on ACoS reduction, you’ll both think the other party isn’t holding up their end.

The 8-Step Framework for Choosing an Amazon Agency

Step 1: Define Your Specific Needs First

Before you talk to a single agency, get clear on what you actually need. Are you struggling with profitability because your advertising costs are out of control? Can’t rank for important keywords? Drowning in operational issues?

Map your pain points to specific services. Write down what’s not working, what you’ve tried, and what needs to be different six months from now. When an agency tells you what they do, you can immediately assess if it matches what you need.

Full-service agencies handle everything from advertising to SEO to operations. Specialist agencies focus on one area. Neither approach is inherently better. What matters is matching your needs to their strengths.

Step 2: Evaluate Their Specialization and Track Record

Amazon expertise requires deep platform knowledge that generalist digital marketing agencies rarely possess. The agencies that have invested years specifically in Amazon develop insights that part-time practitioners can’t match.

That said, Amazon doesn’t exist in isolation from your broader marketing strategy. Brands running advertising on Meta, Google, and Amazon need agencies that understand how these channels work together, not just how to optimize each independently.

When an agency shows you case studies, dig into the details. Ask:

• What was the starting point and timeline?
• What specific actions did they take in the first 90 days?
• How much growth was organic versus paid?

Step 3: Assess Their Strategic Approach

Great agencies ask questions before they pitch. They want to understand your business model, margins, growth goals, and current challenges.

Ask them to explain their methodology for improving account performance. They should articulate a clear process for auditing accounts, prioritizing opportunities, testing, and measuring success. If they can’t explain this in plain language, they either don’t have a real methodology or they’re hiding behind jargon.

The best full service Amazon agencies should offer to audit your account before proposing anything. Agencies that skip this step are planning to run the same playbook for everyone, regardless of whether it fits your situation.

Step 4: Understand Their Pricing Structure

Amazon agency pricing typically follows three models: percentage of sales (usually 8% to 15%), flat monthly fee ($2,000 to $15,000+), or a hybrid combining both.

Percentage models align incentives but scale costs directly with success. Flat fees provide budget predictability. Hybrid models balance both approaches.

Beyond the base fee, understand what’s actually included. Does it cover listing optimization, A+ Content, new launches? Get this in writing. Watch for hidden fees like setup charges, ad spend minimums that don’t match your margins, or surprise bills for “rush projects.”

Step 5: Review Their Technology and Tools

Agencies should be using platforms like Helium 10 or Jungle Scout for keyword research, sophisticated bid management technology, and analytics that go deeper than Amazon’s native reporting.

More importantly, you should have access to your own data. Some agencies restrict access to platforms or dashboards, forcing you to rely entirely on their reports. You’re paying them for expertise and execution, not for holding your data hostage.

Ask what real-time visibility you’ll have. Can you log in and see the current ACoS? Review targeted keywords? See campaign structure? Great agencies provide dashboard access because they’re confident in their work.

Step 6: Evaluate Communication and Transparency

Great Amazon agencies provide weekly or bi-weekly updates on optimization activities, monthly strategic reviews, and immediate communication when something significant changes.

Monthly reports are table stakes, but they shouldn’t be your only window into performance. If you’re waiting 30 days between updates, you’re essentially managing blind.

Red flags include agencies that only provide monthly reports with no real-time access, take days to respond to questions, send templated reports, or can’t explain specific decisions.

Establish meeting cadence expectations upfront. At minimum, monthly strategic calls. For brands spending $20,000+ monthly on advertising, bi-weekly or weekly check-ins make sense.

Step 7: Check Contract Terms and Flexibility

Typical contracts run 3, 6, or 12 months. Three-month contracts give you flexibility but don’t give agencies much time to prove themselves. Six-month contracts balance commitment with flexibility. Twelve-month contracts should come with better pricing.

Pay attention to cancellation policies. Some agencies require 30 days notice, which is reasonable. Others lock you into the full term with no exit regardless of performance.

Ask what happens to your account if you leave. Do they provide transition documentation? Do you keep access to tools they’ve built? This reveals whether they view you as a partner or a revenue stream.

Step 8: Trust Your Gut (But Verify)

Cultural fit matters more than most brands realize. You’re going to work closely with these people and share sensitive business information. If the relationship feels transactional, that’s data that you can use to inform your decision.

Apply the partnership versus vendor test. Does the agency act invested in your long-term success, or are they trying to close a deal? Do they challenge your assumptions constructively, or just agree with everything?

Before signing, ask yourself:

• Do I believe they understand my business and category?
• Have they clearly explained how they’ll improve performance?
• Am I confident in their expertise?
• Do their pricing and terms feel fair?
• Do I trust them to act in my best interest?

If you can’t answer yes to most of these, keep looking.

Red Flags That Scream “Walk Away”

• Guaranteed first-page rankings for competitive keywords
• No clear reporting structure or reluctance to explain tracking
• Can’t explain their process in plain language
• Locked into 12+ month contracts with no performance outs
• Pattern of bad reviews across multiple platforms

Green Flags of a Great Amazon Agency Partner

• Transparent pricing with clear breakdowns from day one
• Detailed onboarding process with comprehensive audit
• Regular strategic reviews beyond just reporting numbers
• Proactive recommendations about opportunities and risks
• Industry certifications like Amazon Ads Verified Partner status
• Strong retention rate (clients who stay year after year)

Questions to Ask Every Agency

Strategic questions:

• How do you approach account audits?
• What’s your philosophy on balancing short-term performance with long-term growth?
• How do you determine which optimization opportunities to prioritize?
• What’s your approach when advertising performance plateaus?

Tactical questions:

• What’s your typical campaign structure, and why?
• How often do you optimize bids and budgets?
• What tools do you use for bid management?
• What reports do you provide, and how often?

Business questions:

• Who will actually manage my account day-to-day?
• What’s your average client retention rate?
• What’s included in your fee, and what costs extra?

The Canopy Management Difference

Agencies often treat brands like account numbers instead of partners. They deliver template reports with no real strategic guidance and can’t explain why certain decisions were made.

Our onboarding starts with a comprehensive audit examining your advertising structure, listing optimization, keyword targeting, competitive positioning, and inventory management. We map this against your specific business goals, margins, and growth timeline, then build a strategic roadmap that prioritizes opportunities based on expected impact.

You get real-time dashboard access, weekly optimization summaries, and monthly strategic reviews. We measure ourselves on metrics that actually matter to your business: total sales growth, organic ranking improvements, advertising efficiency, and profitability.

Our recent acquisition of a Meta and Google advertising agency reflects our understanding that Amazon success increasingly depends on coordinated multi-platform strategy, not just isolated marketplace optimization.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to see results after hiring an Amazon agency?

Most accounts show meaningful improvements within the first 2 to 3 months, but the timeline depends on your starting point. If your main issue is wasted ad spend on poor keyword targeting, you’ll see efficiency gains within the first few weeks as campaigns get restructured. 

Organic ranking improvements through listing optimization typically take 2 to 3 months because you’re building momentum with Amazon’s algorithm. Expect the first month to focus on auditing and foundational fixes, the second month on implementing core optimizations, and months three and beyond on scaling what works.

What’s a reasonable ACoS to expect with a good agency?

Target ACoS varies dramatically by category, margins, and growth goals, so blanket benchmarks are misleading. A good agency should help you calculate your break-even ACoS (unit margin divided by selling price times 100) and then work toward an efficient ACoS below that threshold while maintaining or growing total sales.

In competitive categories like supplements or electronics, effective ACoS might be 25% to 35%. In less competitive categories with higher margins, you might sustain 15% to 25% ACoS. The right metric isn’t the ACoS itself but whether your total advertising is profitable and supporting your growth goals.

Should I hire a full-service agency or a PPC specialist?

Choose based on where your business needs the most help and how much you can handle in-house. If you have strong operations and listing optimization but your advertising is underperforming, a PPC specialist makes sense.

If you’re a growing brand that needs comprehensive support across advertising, SEO, inventory management, and compliance, full-service is more appropriate. Consider your internal bandwidth too. Managing multiple specialist agencies creates coordination overhead that many brands underestimate.

How much should I budget for agency fees plus ad spend?

A common framework is allocating 10% to 15% of revenue to total Amazon advertising costs (agency fee plus ad spend). Within that, agency fees typically represent 20% to 40% of total advertising budget depending on your pricing structure. 

A brand targeting $500,000 in annual Amazon sales might budget $50,000 to $75,000 total for advertising, with $15,000 to $25,000 going to agency fees and $35,000 to $50,000 to direct ad spend. New product launches or highly competitive categories often require higher percentages initially, scaling down as organic ranking improves.

What happens if I want to switch agencies mid-contract?

This depends entirely on your contract terms, which is why reviewing cancellation policies before signing matters. Some agencies allow 30-day notice cancellations even mid-contract, especially if performance benchmarks aren’t being met. Others enforce the full contract term regardless of performance. 

Before canceling, document the specific performance issues and have a conversation about whether they’re fixable. If you do switch, request a detailed transition document explaining campaign structure, what’s been tested, what’s working, and what’s not.

How do I know if an agency is actually optimizing my account?

Require transparency into what they’re doing and when. You should receive regular updates showing specific optimization actions: bid adjustments made, keywords added or removed, budget reallocations between campaigns, listing improvements implemented, and tests being run. 

If your reports only show results without explaining what actions drove those results, that’s a red flag. Ask for access to your advertising account or the bid management platform they use and review change history. An actively managed account shows frequent, systematic changes across multiple dimensions.

How Canopy Management Can Help

Choosing the right Amazon agency is one of the most important growth decisions you’ll make. This eight-step framework gives you a systematic approach to evaluate options instead of just hoping you pick right.

The right agency isn’t just someone who takes your money and runs some ads. It’s a partner who understands your business goals, communicates transparently about what’s working and what isn’t, and stays focused on driving profitable growth for your specific situation.

Take the time to work through this evaluation process. Ask the hard questions. Review contracts carefully. The few weeks you invest in making the right choice will save you months of poor performance and the expensive process of switching agencies after realizing you picked wrong.

Ready to talk about how we approach Amazon agency partnerships? 

Schedule a free strategy call where we’ll audit your current performance, discuss your specific goals, and show you exactly how we’d approach growing your Amazon business.

Canopy Management is a full-service marketing agency for Amazon and Walmart sellers. Our team of omni-channel entrepreneurs and award-winning experts has generated over $3.3 billion in revenue for partners, handling everything from marketplace optimization to paid advertising across Meta and Google.