Should you hire one agency for ads and email or two?
For most Shopify brands under $10M, one coordinated team for ads and email beats two separate agencies. Coordination means acquisition and retention share data and a goal, so nobody points fingers when a number drops. Hire two only if each is clearly the best at its channel and someone on your side owns the overall result.
This is the follow-up to our roundup of 9 Shopify agencies for ads and email worth hiring in 2026. That post covered who's out there. This one covers how to actually choose.
What should you look at first?
Start with your bottleneck. If new customer growth is stuck, weight the decision toward ads skill. If you have traffic but weak repeat purchase, weight it toward email. Don't hire for the channel that's already working. Hire for the one that's holding you back.
I made the opposite mistake once, pouring money into the channel I understood instead of the one that needed help. Cost me time I didn't get back.
How do you judge an ads agency?
Look at how they talk about margin. A good ads team asks about your product costs and profit targets, not just your revenue goal. They should buy traffic to a profit number, not a vanity ROAS.
Ask who runs your account day to day. Some shops sell you the founder and hand the work to a junior. Get the name of the person actually in your ad account.
How do you judge an email agency?
Ask to see the flows they build, not just campaign screenshots. Strong email teams build welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, and win-back flows that run on their own. Klaviyo shows owned channels drive a big share of DTC revenue, so flow quality matters more than clever one-off sends.
Check whether they segment. Blasting your whole list is easy and lazy. Segmented sends protect your sender reputation and your margin.
Why does coordination between ads and email matter?
When ads and email share data, they get smarter together. Paid can suppress recent buyers to stop wasting spend. Email can catch the leads paid brings in and convert them cheaply. Run them in silos and you pay twice to reach the same person.
Here's the bottom line. One team with one number usually wins for brands your size. WRKNG Digital coordinates ads, email, and AI visibility this way for Shopify brands under $10M.
What contract terms should you push for?
Favor month-to-month while you test. It forces the agency to earn the next invoice. Long lock-ins protect them, not you. Ask why their contract is shaped the way it is, and watch how they answer.
What's the final gut check?
Ask what they won't promise. Anyone guaranteeing a specific ROAS or a revenue jump is guessing or lying. Honest limits are a green flag. We don't promise specific results. We promise what our team will actually do.
Frequently asked questions
Is one agency for ads and email better than two?
For most brands under $10M, yes. One coordinated team shares data and a goal, which beats refereeing two vendors.
How do I judge an ads agency?
See if they buy traffic to profit targets, not just ROAS, and confirm who actually runs your account day to day.
How do I judge an email agency?
Ask to see the automated flows they build and whether they segment, not just one-off campaign results.
What contract length should I choose?
Month-to-month is safer while testing an agency, since it forces them to keep earning the work.
What's a red flag when choosing?
Any agency guaranteeing a specific ROAS or revenue jump. Honest agencies tell you what they'll do, not what they'll magically deliver.
Want to know if your Shopify store is visible to AI shopping assistants? WRKNG Digital runs the audit and shows you exactly where you stand. See how agentic commerce optimization works.
By Steve Merrill, founder of WRKNG Digital. Published 2026-08-24.
