Comparing Performance Marketing Agencies in Slovakia: 5 Verifiable Criteria

Why comparing agencies in Slovakia is such a mess

Search for a comparison of performance agencies today and you'll get directories, one news piece about some new agency, and the odd automatically generated list of alternatives. What's missing is the essential part: criteria you can use to judge an agency before you hand over your budget.

A guide from the agency [Space Ads](https://www.spaceads.agency/blog/how-to-choose-a-performance-marketing-agency) puts it plainly: choosing a performance agency "is not a beauty contest of presentations". It's a decision about who will control your acquisition budget, your measurement, and your customer data.

That's why we decided to write this comparison from the client's point of view. No league table of logos. Just criteria you can check for yourself, without needing us at all.

Criterion 1: Access to your own data and accounts

The first thing to ask for isn't a price list. It's where your ad accounts, Google Analytics 4, Merchant Center, and product feed will actually live. According to the Space Ads guide mentioned above, key accounts should belong to the client's own legal entity, with at least two internal administrators, and the agency should receive role-level access, not ownership.

This isn't a formality. We've taken over an account from another agency where there was no link whatsoever between advertising data and category margins, and the campaigns were full of manual exclusions nobody could explain. Migrating to a new agency in that state takes weeks, not days, precisely because the data and access simply aren't there.

If an agency can't clearly tell you, at your first meeting, who will own the data once the collaboration ends, they've already settled that question in their own favour.

Criterion 2: Platform access and certifications

The Google Partner badge is a verifiable signal, not a guarantee of quality. According to [WebFX](https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/google-premier-partner-guidelines/), earning it only requires one certified team member and a minimum "spend at least $10,000 on ads in a 90-day period". That means even an agency with average results can earn the badge, as long as it manages enough budget.

Premier Partner status is tougher, requiring two certified people and a higher volume of managed spend. But neither badge says anything about whether an agency optimises for revenue or for profit. You can check status yourself through the official Google Partners directory, not by trusting a badge image on an agency's website.

Google, Meta, and TikTok are all excellent at media buying, nobody needs convincing of that. Certification confirms an agency can operate these platforms technically. It says nothing about whether it can tell you which product in your catalogue is actually keeping the business alive.

Criterion 3: The AI tools almost every agency promises

Nearly every agency mentions AI in its pitch these days. But the question you should be asking isn't which bidding model or which tool they use. The gap between the platforms' own automated strategies is smaller today than the gap in the quality of the input data a business feeds into them.

That's exactly what an interview on the [Optmyzr](https://www.optmyzr.com/blog/ppc-town-hall-17-how-to-look-beyond-roas-to-optimize-ppc/) blog gets at, where a consultant describes the need to calculate "the real gross profit on every single order" before any optimisation begins. Without that step, even the most sophisticated algorithm is just a bet on the average.

Our AI engine works precisely in that gap, functioning as a transparent layer over Google, Meta, and TikTok that feeds them a signal about actual margin, not just order value. You can read more about how this works in practice on our [services page](/sluzby).

Criterion 4: Pricing and remuneration models

The market essentially runs on three models: a percentage of ad spend, a fixed retainer, and pay linked to results. According to an overview by [Stackmatix](https://www.stackmatix.com/blog/marketing-agency-pricing-models), the percentage-of-spend fee typically runs between 10 and 20 percent of managed budget, a structure that historically comes from the classic media commission also described in [WARC](https://www.warc.com/en/article/observations%3A-agency-theory-as-a-framework-for-advertising-agency-compensation-decisions-e7d1fb13d5f64335a8b18a2dc5918524)'s overview of agency compensation.

The problem with the percentage model is simple. The agency earns more the more it spends, regardless of whether that actually grows your profit. WARC's analysis of agency theory names this conflict of interest as the classic principal agent risk, where both sides hold different appetites for risk.

For e-commerce, we prefer a model tied to results. It isn't the universally cheapest option, and it requires a clearly defined metric agreed in advance, that's the price of it. But it removes the incentive to spend more purely to earn a bigger commission.

Criterion 5: References with numbers, not just logos

A well-known brand's logo on an agency's website says nothing about what actually happened to its budget. According to [Hinge Marketing](https://hingemarketing.com/blog/story/5-criteria-for-selecting-a-professional-services-marketing-firm), a solid case study should include a specific starting situation, the approach taken, and the result, not just a photo of a happy client.

Here's what that looks like for us: on the Zlatá Putňa project we delivered a 45.8% increase in revenue and a 574% rise in visibility, for Jankiv Siblings engagement grew by 583%, and for Domintell traffic rose by 272%. You can see the full story of the Zlatá Putňa collaboration on our [case study page](/referencie/zlata-putna).

When an agency asks you what number you want to see, that's a good sign. When it only offers you a list of logos, ask what number stands behind them, and over what period it was measured.

Our position: where common advice gets it wrong

Most guides, including the ones we've cited here, put reporting transparency at the very top of the criteria list. Based on data from dozens of accounts we've taken over, we'd say a transparent report built on the wrong metric is just a more nicely wrapped problem. An agency can honestly show you revenue based ROAS every single week while your budget quietly drains towards high revenue, low margin products. Across the catalogues we've reviewed, gross margin between categories routinely differed threefold.

The metric that should steer an e-commerce business therefore isn't revenue based ROAS, but profit per order after returns and shipping. The plus 300% ROAS figure that several agencies, including us, like to boast about is the upper limit achievable with a catalogue backed by solid margin data, not an average. Anyone presenting it as a typical average is promising something they can't back up.

The second point where we part ways with common market practice is the remuneration model. The consensus says a percentage of spend is standard and clients have grown used to it. We'd argue that this exact model most often motivates an agency to spend more rather than more effectively, which is why for e-commerce we prefer pay tied to results, even though that demands more upfront work from the client in defining the metric.

How to build your own comparison in 30 minutes

You don't need a consultant to run a first round filter. Just five questions, asked to every agency in the same order, with the answers compared side by side.

First, who will own the ad accounts and data once the collaboration ends. Second, which metric the agency reports as the primary one, revenue, ROAS, or profit after costs. Third, what their certification status actually is and whether you can verify it in the official partner directory. Fourth, what remuneration model they propose and what happens when the budget stagnates. Fifth, which specific reference they can give you, complete with a number and the period it was measured over.

If you'd like to run this filter with someone who knows the questions and the answers from the other side of the table, you can book a [free, no obligation 30 minute consultation](/rezervacia).

When this comparison doesn't apply

With a small volume of data, sophisticated optimisation is pointless. Below a certain number of conversions per month, no model has enough to learn from, and more precise measurement just means more precise noise. In that case, it's smarter to invest in the product, the feed, and the creative, not in sophisticated profit measurement.

Neither certifications nor references guarantee an agency will perform well in your specific category. Experience with a fashion e-commerce store says nothing about the ability to run B2B lead generation. A reference call, as Space Ads also recommends, is worthwhile precisely when you ask about a similar margin structure and data complexity, not when you're chasing an identical competitor logo.

A results based pay model doesn't work everywhere. When building a new brand with no sales history, an agency has nothing solid to build a clear metric on, and forcing a results based model at this stage harms both sides. Likewise, a geo test to verify the real impact of advertising costs time and part of the market, which is a fair price for certainty, not a pleasant free bonus.

Frequently asked questions