Every year, thousands of companies spend tens of thousands of euros on digital projects that go nowhere. The deliverable doesn't match the brief, the timeline doubles, the team you met during the pitch disappears, and suddenly you're negotiating scope with a junior PM who joined last month.
The painful truth: most of these failures were predictable. They started with a selection process that focused on the wrong signals — portfolio aesthetics, agency size, or simply whoever responded fastest to the brief.
We've worked with clients who came to us after exactly this experience. And we've built a framework that helps companies avoid it.
The 7 questions that matter
Who specifically will work on my project — and can I meet them?
Agencies pitch with their best people and then hand you off to whoever is available. Before signing, ask to meet the actual designer, developer, and project manager. Review their specific work, not the agency portfolio. If they won't introduce you to the team, that's your answer.
What does your process look like between brief and delivery?
A serious agency should be able to walk you through their exact process: discovery → wireframes → design review → development sprints → QA → handover. Vague answers like "we're agile and flexible" usually mean "we make it up as we go." What you want is structure with flexibility, not chaos rebranded as creativity.
How do you handle scope changes — and what does it cost?
Every project changes. The question is whether change requests become a revenue stream or a collaborative adjustment. Ask for a concrete example from a past project: what changed, how was it handled, what was the final cost vs. estimate? The answer will tell you everything about how they run projects.
Can I speak with a past client who had a difficult project?
Any agency can share happy references. Ask specifically for a project that had challenges — a missed deadline, a scope dispute, a technical problem. How did they respond? References who describe a rough patch that was handled well are more valuable than glowing testimonials from uncomplicated projects.
What do you own after the project ends?
Intellectual property, source code, design files, third-party licenses — where do they go? Some agencies retain rights to templates or components as standard practice. Make sure every deliverable, license, and login credential transfers to you on handover day. Get it in writing before you sign.
What happens if I'm not satisfied with a deliverable?
The revision policy should be explicit: how many rounds are included, what constitutes a revision vs. a new requirement, and what the escalation path looks like if there's a fundamental disagreement. Agencies that struggle to answer this clearly tend to also struggle to handle feedback professionally.
What's the handover process — and what support do you offer after launch?
A website or app is not done at launch. Ask what documentation you'll receive, whether there's a support retainer available, how bugs discovered post-launch are handled, and what it costs to add a new feature six months later. Good agencies treat launch as the beginning of a relationship, not the end of a contract.
Red flags to watch for
- Price is significantly lower than competitors — usually means junior teams, templates, or work outsourced to lower-cost markets without your knowledge.
- Portfolio is all visual, no results — beautiful screenshots with no data, no metrics, no context about the business problem solved.
- They agree with everything in the pitch — a good agency pushes back on bad ideas. If they're nodding along to everything, they're selling, not consulting.
- Unclear about technology choices — "we use whatever you need" is not a strategy. They should have a point of view on stack, tools, and architecture — and be able to explain why.
- No discovery phase in the proposal — jumping straight to design without research and alignment is a sign of an agency optimized for starting projects, not finishing them well.
One last thing
The best agency for your project is rarely the biggest or most awarded one. It's the team that understands your business problem deeply, communicates with clarity, and has a track record of delivering on time in your specific category.
Choose an agency the way you'd hire a senior employee: check their references rigorously, understand how they think, and make sure they'll tell you when you're wrong.
If you're evaluating us right now — ask us all seven. We'll answer every one of them.