How long does an engagement last?

As one-off projects, such as an online store build or redesign, or as ongoing engagements of three or six months for marketing, content and growth.

How do we measure progress?

We agree the measures of success and the starting baseline before work begins, then report against them weekly or monthly, depending on the service.

Do you work only on e-commerce?

Yes. We work on online stores and e-commerce brands in Qatar and the GCC, on Shopify and WooCommerce.

Does it matter if I choose an agency that works on one platform only?

It can. The right agency is the one that knows your platform and your market. If you are still choosing a platform, our guide to Shopify or WooCommerce in Qatar covers that decision first.

How to Choose an E-commerce Agency in Qatar

Q: What do you need from us to start?

Access to your online store, analytics and ad accounts; historical sales and traffic data; any previous reports; and your business economics, such as margins, average order value and target cost per order.

What should an e-commerce agency prove before you sign?

Four things, in this order.

Results you can check. Look for a named client, a figure and a time basis. "Sales up 573%" tells you little. "Gross sales up 573% six months after launch, compared with the baseline before the work, with no increase in ad spend" tells you what was measured and when. That sentence describes our work with The Garden Centre, and it is the standard to hold any agency to, ours included.

A method, not only deliverables. Ask how the agency decides what to do first. A good answer starts with finding where buyers are being lost. A weak answer starts with a list of services.

Experience of your kind of online store. Platform matters. Ask which platforms they build and run campaigns on, and what they have done in your market. In our case that is Shopify and WooCommerce, for brands in Qatar and the GCC, and we work only on e-commerce.

Plain reporting. Ask to see a sample report. You should be able to read it and know whether the work is paying off.

Which questions separate a growth partner from a reporting service?

A reporting service tells you what happened. A growth partner tells you why, and what to do next. These questions bring out the difference.

Ask	A good answer sounds like	A warning sign sounds like
What would you look at first in our online store?	Tracking, then where buyers leave: homepage, product pages, cart, payment.	"We would start with a new campaign."
How will we know it is working?	We agree the measures and the starting baseline before work begins, then report against them weekly or monthly.	"You will see results quickly."
Whose accounts are these?	Yours. You keep ownership of the online store, analytics and ad accounts, and the agency works inside them.	The agency holds the accounts, or reports from its own.
What do you need from us?	Access, historical sales and traffic data, previous reports, and your numbers: margins, average order value, target cost per order.	Nothing, or only a budget.
What will you not do?	A clear list. We work only on e-commerce and do not sell standalone SEO or email services.	Everything, for everyone.
Can we speak to a client?	Yes, with a named contact, or a published case study with its figures.	Logos only.

What are the red flags in a proposal?

Guaranteed results. Nobody controls your market. A proposal that promises an outcome is either careless or a sales line.
More traffic as the first move. If sales are low, extra traffic is the most expensive way to find that out. Overdrive Watches is the clearest example we have. In a two-week test, buyers added watches worth $382K to their carts and $8.45K was bought. More advertising would not have helped. The cause was a payment fault in the card step, run through a well-known international payment processor, and it only became visible once tracking was fixed. That is the sort of finding a proposal should be able to explain it would look for.
No baseline. Without a starting measure, any later number is a story.
Vague scope. "Digital marketing" is not a scope. Look for named work, an owner for each piece and a stated period.
Lock-in. Be careful with long minimum terms before you have seen a first result.
Hidden reporting. If you cannot see the raw numbers, ask why.

Not sure what to ask for?

How do you check results and references?

Read case studies for three things: the client is named, the figures carry a time basis, and the work described matches what you need. Then ask one question that is hard to prepare for: "What did not work?" An agency that can describe a failed test and what it changed has actually measured its work.

Be wary of results that arrive without context. A large percentage on a small base, or revenue without the spend beside it, can both be true and still tell you nothing.

How should the work be scoped and measured?

Agree three things in writing before the first invoice.

The measure. One or two numbers that matter to your business: for example conversion rate, orders, or cost per order. Not a long list.
The baseline. Where each number stands today, and how it was taken.
The reporting rhythm. Who reports, how often and in what form. Weekly or monthly, depending on the work.

Then check what the agency needs from you, and give it quickly. The usual list is access to your online store, analytics and ad accounts; historical sales and traffic data; any previous reports; and your business economics, such as margins and average order value. Delays on your side are the most common reason a start slips.

Should you start with a project or an ongoing engagement?

If you are not sure what is wrong, start with a defined project. A one-off project, such as a diagnosis and a set of fixes, has a clear end and a result you can judge. Ongoing engagements of three or six months suit work that compounds, such as marketing, content and growth, once the foundations are right.

The Garden Centre is a good example of the sequence. The first job was finding where buyers were leaving. Only then did the question of more spend arise, and it turned out not to be needed: gross sales rose 573% six months after launch, with no increase in ad spend.

Where this leaves you

Use the table above as a checklist when you read proposals. If an agency answers the questions clearly, you can compare them fairly. If you would like our answers to those questions for your online store, tell us about it.