40-Point Web Development Agency Evaluation Checklist
Score web development agencies on technical depth, project management discipline, integration testing, and post-launch support. Surface hidden change-order risk before you sign.
Scoring Framework
Rate each answer 1 to 5 based on specificity and depth. Agencies that consistently score below the midpoint tend to overrun on either timeline or budget, usually because the gaps in technical depth, project management discipline, or change-order language compound over the engagement.
Evaluation Criteria
Technical Competency and Code Quality
30% weightEvaluates real development depth, code documentation practices, and the architectural decisions behind their builds. Weak technical foundations are the most common upstream cause of post-launch performance and security issues.
Sample Questions
- Can they walk through Git commit history from a recent project and explain three specific technical decisions?
- Do they commit in writing to specific Lighthouse mobile and Core Web Vitals targets, with a named remediation process if missed?
- Can they show their staging-to-production update workflow for WordPress core, plugins, or framework upgrades, including rollback steps?
- Do they enforce code documentation standards (READMEs, ADRs, in-code comments) that allow continuity if the lead developer rolls off?
- Can they describe their caching strategy, CDN configuration, and database optimization approach for sites at your expected traffic level?
Project Management and Communication
25% weightMeasures their ability to deliver on time and on budget with clear visibility into work in progress. Weak project management is the most common upstream cause of timeline slip and scope creep.
Sample Questions
- Do they provide staging environment access by week two or three with weekly progress demos?
- Is their change-request policy defined in writing, with named caps and a clear bug versus addition distinction?
- Can they share specific examples of how they've handled past project delays and the client communication around them?
- Do they coordinate launch timing with your marketing calendar and dependent campaigns?
- Is there a named escalation path when the primary project manager is unavailable or rolls off?
Integration and Data Management
20% weightEvaluates their experience with CRM, email, and payment integrations, and their migration discipline. Integration and migration failures are responsible for a large share of post-launch operational pain.
Sample Questions
- Can they walk through staging-environment testing of Salesforce or HubSpot integrations against realistic data volumes?
- Do they have documented content migration procedures with explicit verification and a tested rollback path?
- Can they show examples of integration load testing against representative record counts rather than handful-of-rows demos?
- Do they generate automated content audit reports comparing source and destination after migration?
- Is there a defined process for testing payment processing under realistic transaction volumes and edge cases?
Support and Maintenance Capabilities
15% weightMeasures post-launch support quality, incident response, and ongoing maintenance discipline. Weak support exposes you to extended outages and security incidents that an SLA-backed partner would absorb.
Sample Questions
- Do they offer a written SLA for site-down and functional incidents, with 24/7 escalation contacts?
- Can they walk through their backup and disaster recovery process, including frequency, retention, and a defined restoration time objective?
- Is security monitoring included, with documented malware response procedures and named response windows?
- Do they list maintenance retainer scope explicitly and publish hourly rates for out-of-scope work, rather than leaving it informal?
- Can they share examples of how they've handled security incidents or compromises for past clients?
Business Understanding and Results
10% weightMeasures their understanding of your business goals and their track record of delivering measurable outcomes. Agencies without a business orientation tend to ship visually polished sites with no defensible ROI story.
Sample Questions
- Can they cite specific conversion or lead-generation outcomes from comparable client projects, with named baselines and measurement windows?
- Do they ask substantive questions about your sales process, customer journey, and revenue model during discovery?
- Can they provide references from clients in similar industries with quantified business results?
- Do they recommend specific analytics and conversion tracking aligned with the goals discussed during discovery?
- Is there a defined process for post-launch performance analysis and ongoing optimization recommendations?
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