Client-agency performance evaluations: 2022 update

Agencies are increasingly comfortable with being honest with their advertiser clients when it comes to performance evaluation, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers and strategic partner Decideware.Our latest research on global client-agency performance evaluations finds that 68% of agencies are now comfortable telling their clients the majority of the time what needs changing at their end, compared to just 45% two years ago.

Agencies also reported a slight uptick in qualitative performance being evaluated (56% compared to 54% in 2020), again at least a majority of the time. While this was not a significant increase, holding steady might be viewed as a win and the vast majority of agencies now receive some level of performance feedback.

Nevertheless, the current mix of KPIs is causing dissatisfaction among both clients and agencies. While the top KPI for clients – client satisfaction – aligns with agency desires, advertisers also added that the lack of “measurable or objective” KPIs is their No. 1 concern. Agencies indicate the wrong things are often being measured. 

The result is that agencies do not always find it appropriate to be paid based on their performance. Mirroring the previous study in 2020, less than half of agencies think their compensation should be linked to the results of their evaluation.

The findings are based on more than 90 respondents from 82 multinational organisations (49 clients and 33 agencies), with advertiser respondents responsible for more than $69 billion in global ad spend.

WFA members can download the full report below.