Hiring an agency to design or develop a custom web project can be a daunting task. If you are currently in the middle of such a selection process, we don't envy you. There are many elements to compare between agencies before making a final decision. You have to be good at forecasting how things will play out with each one.

There are the obvious questions to ask: Who have they worked with? What have they produced in their portfolio? How big is their team? How long have they been in business? Where are they located? What is their workflow? How much will it cost to work with them? What technology stacks do they use?

But there are also highly subjective aspects you should take into consideration: Will I enjoy working with them? Do they truly understand my corporate project? Do I trust them? We know you will make a calculated business decision, but your gut instinct will carry a tremendous amount of weight.

I'd like to share a few essential questions I believe you should ask when looking to hire a web agency:

1. Why do you exist?
If they reply, "What do you mean?", push them a little: "There are plenty of other digital agencies offering the exact same web development services as you. Why did your agency decide to enter this field? What makes you different from your competitors?"
They might try to dodge the question, but you will easily notice if they are genuinely convinced they have an original value proposition and a real edge. If everyone approaches projects the exact same way, how will you make a decision? If you are bored by their answer, it might indicate a severe lack of imagination on their part.

2. Who inspires the agency?
Everyone has mentors and people they admire. A structured agency should be confident enough to mention its inspirations (whether artistic, technological, or business-related). If they don't have an answer, they are probably living in a bubble.

3. How do you measure and present progress during a project?
As a client, you will have varying degrees of visibility into the process during the phases of your web project. It shouldn't be difficult for an agency to explain and provide a concrete example of what a standard progress report or status update looks like.

4. What tools do I need to learn to work with you?
Unless they rely solely on email to communicate (a massive red flag indicating you should run away quickly!), or you have already used their specific project management tools in the past, you will need to make a small time investment in learning some of their processes and software. Do they have any teaching methods or an onboarding phase to make this task easier for the client?

5. Can you describe your approach to testing?
If their first answer is "Sure, we test on Internet Explorer!", it is highly unlikely they have a cohesive Quality Assurance (QA) and testing process. Can they provide regular access so you can see if those tests are passing successfully? Do they test the platform across different browsers and operating systems? How much user acceptance testing would you like to run yourself, as a client, before going live?

6. Could you tell me about some of your former clients?
The testimonials and reviews on their website are undoubtedly great, but if you are about to invest a large amount of money in a digital project, you will want as much reassurance as possible. Ask the agency to introduce you to someone they no longer work with. Companies have an infinite variety of reasons for ending a partnership with an agency.
When speaking with former clients, let them know you are genuinely interested in working with the agency but want to feel reassured. Ask them questions about the past. Does the way they describe their experience align with how the agency currently presents itself? If there are discrepancies, go back to the agency and ask for clarification. It is entirely possible they have changed their approach for the better over time: "That's true, we used to do X and Y that way... but we realized there were some weak points, so we evolved our process."

Good luck! As you continue your search, make sure to gather enough information to be fully confident about the decision you are about to make. Open-ended questions like these can work wonders in helping you narrow down your shortlist of candidates.

(Article entirely adapted from blog.planetargon.com and translated by Studio Up)