9 Signs You Should Switch Your Formerly Best Email Marketing Agency

You’re almost sure it’s going to be the final benefit of the doubt you’ll give your email marketing agency. 

You’re almost sure you don’t want these guys any longer. You’ve got reasons, and you’re almost confident you can share them with the agency representatives. 

As an email marketing agency ourselves, we’ve sat at those awkward, ahem-filled meetings and Zoom calls quite a number of times. We’ve been let go as well. We’re not perfect after all. But our goal has been to learn from our mistakes. 

Yes, it’s easier said than done. Ultimately, if you, the client, are not getting any value from your current agency, it’s time to move on!

So we’re going to share nine signs you should switch your email marketing agency. 

Our purpose is not exactly to enlighten you, but to reinforce what you may already feel to be true. You want to verify whether you’re on the right track; well, if you’ve been seeing these signs together of late, you are. 

• Poor, strained collaboration
  
• Communication Breakdown
  
• Yet Another Subtle Wave-off
  
• Poor Grasp of Your Industry
  
• High Staff Turnover Rate
  
• Lack of Honest Reporting
  
• Mission Creep, Budget Bloat
  
• Retarded Martech Adoption
  
• Inadequate Business Success

1. Poor, Strained Collaboration

Collaboration is the main health indicator of a business relationship. 

You may not always be on the same page about everything, but it’s crucial that both parties agree on the fundamental plan of action, strategy, and vision. 

It’s one thing to be in disagreement, quite another to be in misalignment. The latter leads to goal confusion, unclear responsibilities, and unforeseen requirements.

As Hannah Woods writes, “Poor collaboration is like two people in the same boat rowing in opposite directions. Each person thinks they’re doing something, but in reality, they are going absolutely nowhere.”

2. Communication Breakdown

Part of the collaboration bucket, lack of communication and frequent communication gaps indicate a souring relationship. 

Understand that lack of communication and communication gaps are different. 

The former includes a lack of willingness to engage and silent assumptions. 

The latter includes unclear/non-contextual/untimely/staggered communication, leading to misunderstandings. For instance, is your agency listening to your problems or simply selling their own ideas? 

But here’s what drives the final nail in the communication coffin: Engaging is increasingly becoming frustrating, so much so that one feels justified in not giving a damn.

3. Yet Another Subtle Wave-off

Co-existing with a dinosaur might be easier than co-existing with a paleontologist. 

Your agency is, all things being equal, an expert in email marketing. And YOU are not. While the difference is critical, it shouldn’t be pushed to an extreme. 

So the question is: Does your agency pay attention to your inputs? Or do they subtly ignore your suggestions/feedback completely all the time? 

Equally, are you sure you’re not raising your hands too often?

4. Poor Grasp of Your Industry

Does your email marketing agency identify with your industry/niche? 

Do they know your customers as well as you do, if not better?

Don’t trust them if they say they do. Ask for proof in the form of customer and market analysis, competitor analysis, survey documentation, etc. 

If they don’t seem to be speaking your language, if you find they’re wholly unaware of the latest trends, if they’re not consistently analyzing your CRM to offer market-aligned recommendations, then you know you’ve got gum under your shoe.

The sign of signs? They could never tell you what your industry looked like in the past. 

Read More: Why You Should Hire a White Label Email Agency

5. High Staff Turnover Rate

Are you frequently having to meet new people at the agency, leading you re–initiate the rapport-building process much too often? 

If yes, it means the agency suffers from a high staff turnover.

The turnover rate varies from industry to industry and from niche to niche. But usually, the government sector and marketing/advertising agencies almost always occupy the polar ends of the employee attrition spectrum. In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded a 47.2% annual employee turnover rate in the marketing sector. 

But that’s generally speaking. If you see that you’re having to meet and connect with new contacts too often, it’s time to bring it to the agency’s attention. 

6. Lack of Honest Reporting

If your agency doesn’t reveal/seems to hide/is defensive about reporting, confront the relevant stakeholders.

Are they honoring your preferred reporting frequency? 

Do you know what your unsubscribe rate looks like? 

Are you aware of any delivery and deliverability issues? 

Are they giving you at least limited access to reporting dashboards? Better still, do you currently have a self-serve dashboard? 

Are they potentially abusing your lack of expertise in email marketing by reporting on surface metrics only? For instance, do they emphasize how good your open rates are but rarely talk about the conversion rate? 

Are they willing to remind or (re)explain what these metrics mean? If you’re unfamiliar with the core email marketing metrics, look them up in our post on email marketing KPIs. 

7. Mission Creep, Budget Bloat

The phrase ‘mission creep’ comes from the military. It means a gradual shift in objectives in a military campaign, often resulting in unplanned long-term goals.

So, here’s the test: Does your agency constantly seem to push you to try the more advanced price tiers? 

Usually, email marketing agencies are also digital marketing agencies. If you hired your agency for email only, and they try to push SEO, social media marketing, PPC advertising, etc., without any solid reason, it’s a big red flag. 

Are they offering a sneak peek into “ultra-detailed” data analytics to justify campaign underperformance? A see-it-for-yourself bait? 

Beware of upgrades offered without good, data-driven arguments to back them up. These require additional setup fees, ongoing subscriptions, consultant hours, etc. 

8. Retarded Martech Adoption

Martech is integral to modern email marketing. Even generally, there’s been a 100% increase in martech adoption from 2019. 

Greater marketing efficiency, deeper analytics, actionable insights, faster data processing, cross-channel optimization — these are some of the benefits of integration.

Email is no longer just a broadcast channel. With segmentation, hyper-personalization, automation, and real-time reporting part of the fabric of email, underutilizing the channel is not an option. 

Your agency knows this. To be fair to them, martech adoption is complex, resource-intensive, and data privacy/security is still a hot button. As posited by Scott Brinker, vice president of platform ecosystem at HubSpot, the so-called Martec’s Law states: Technology changes exponentially, but organizations change logarithmically.

Brinker argues, “Changes in behavior and culture take time. There are only so many changes in people, processes, and technology that an organization can productively absorb at once — at least without a major disruption.”

But these challenges also belong in the matrix of knowledge and skill. If your agency harps on the challenges, they’re signaling their incompetence as well as unwillingness. 

9. Inadequate Business Success

When you were considering how to choose an email marketing agency, your primary motivation was likely to address stalled business growth. 

Obviously! But here’s the thing: Poor email marketers tend to overestimate email marketing to the point of isolating it from its real objective, which is driving sales. 

In his book, Email Marketing Rules, Chad S. White devotes an entire chapter to press home the difference between email marketing success and business success. In his eminent opinion, email marketers must focus on business metrics as well as on email metrics. 

As a business owner, you should monitor which metrics your agency is most passionately discussing. To begin with, watch for the following metrics as recommended by White:

• Customer lifetime value
  
• Customer RFM (Recency, frequency, monetary)
  
• Length of customer inactivity
  
• Email marketing revenue
  
• Revenue per email
  
• Revenue per subscriber
  
• Sales conversions and conversion rate
  
• Email marketing profit
  
• Email marketing ROI
  
• Lead generation
  
• Incremental lift across all channels from email 

Those are some of the business metrics you need to follow up on with your email marketing agency. Do not let them get away with email marketing metrics only. 

After all, if the agency has consistently failed to generate revenue, what’s the point? If you find they’re hesitating to talk about the above KPIs, don’t wait for another sign.

Still on The Fence? Maybe That’s Good!

Because you don’t want to hurry. 

Choosing an email marketing agency and letting one go are both considerable tasks. Make sure you’re actually seeing those signs for some time now. Make sure you’ve escalated your concerns with the agency before. 

Be open-minded, respectful, and mindful of the legal considerations. 

There will be many soundwaves, but let them resonate in the presence of the right stakeholders. For all the talk about email, do NOT initiate the process over email. 

Looking to boost sales and revenue through email marketing? Our services have helped over 5,000 clients in 52 countries. Let us help you too—reach out today!