If you have any experience working with a creative agency, you’ve likely already familiar with what a monthly analytics report looks like. Some agencies do a great job of hopping on a call, breaking these numbers down, and giving you the bottom line. Others simply dump a bunch of data on you and expect you to sort through it independently. At the end of the day, though, clear data is necessary to measure ROI from month to month. Different companies may give you different responses when it comes to how they calculate ROI. Some focus more on soft metrics such as brand perception, while others are more data-driven. Either way, though, it’s important to ask exactly how the agency will measure ROI from month to month. The right answer to this question is simple: they should measure ROI in whatever way fits best with your business. If your company generates most of its leads online but closes sales over the phone, ROI might involve keeping up with how many “request a quote” forms are submitted each month. For an e-commerce site, ROI could simply increase sales across specific channels (such as organic search, paid traffic, and so on). Before you sign an agreement, make sure you’re confident that the agency understands which metrics are most important to your business. You’ll need them to follow those metrics closely over the coming months to ensure you get the return on investment you’re looking for.