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For app teams buying growth in Canada and the US
App marketing agency RFP & scorecard.
Start with one request for proposal (RFP). Compare the evidence behind each proposal, the work your team must supply and the full cost of the first 90 days.
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Start with the decision
A proposal should name what changes.
“More installs” leaves too much unresolved. Name the user action the business needs, the market and platform, and the constraint the agency must help remove. A subscription app might need more paying users within an agreed payback window. A marketplace might need activated users in one city. Those are different briefs.
This is Strataigize's suggested buying framework. We sell app marketing services, so we have a commercial interest in this category. Use the same questions for us and every other provider. We have not rated any agency in this worksheet.
- Write one brief. Include your baseline, budget, countries, platforms and implementation capacity. Mark unknowns explicitly.
- Request evidence with each answer. A sample report, a relevant case or a live walkthrough is more useful than another promise.
- Resolve gaps before choosing. Use the scorecard to organize discussion. A high total does not resolve an unacceptable contract term or a missing capability.
The RFP
Give each team the same inputs.
- Product and markets
- App links, business model, iOS/Android split, Canada/US priority, launch languages and any market-specific constraints.
- Baseline and success
- Current spend, installs, activation, paying users, retention and revenue. Include the date range, attribution window, cohort age and source for each number. Define which event counts as acquisition.
- Budget and currency
- List media, agency fees, production, measurement tools and internal work separately. State CAD or USD for every amount and who carries any conversion cost.
- Scope and dependencies
- Specify user acquisition, app store optimization (ASO), creative and measurement responsibilities. Name who can change the app, onboarding, store assets and paywall, and how quickly.
- Proposal and evidence
- Request a scoped 90-day plan, named roles, sample reporting, relevant results, access requirements, commercial terms and an exit handover.
The downloadable RFP includes blanks to fill, a proposal response outline and an interview agenda. Remove questions outside your scope before sending it.
Evidence worksheet
Compare what you can verify.
Score each proposal after reviewing its supporting material. The suggested weights prioritize relevant results and measurement. They are our editorial choices, not industry benchmarks. For an ASO-only or creative-only brief, adapt the downloaded worksheet before comparing providers.
0: no evidence provided after you asked. 1: general claim. 2: written plan. 3: relevant sample or demonstration. 4: sample plus verification against source data or a reference. Leave an item blank if you have not reviewed it.
For each criterion, request the evidence below. The weighted total is the sum of each rating divided by four, multiplied by its weight. A total appears only when all seven criteria have been reviewed. It is not a forecast of results.
Relevant results 25%
A comparable app, its starting point, spend, dates, measurement window and the work this team actually owned.
Measurement plan 20%
A named conversion event, attribution windows, cohort maturity, reporting currency and a plan for discrepancies between systems.
Creative testing 15%
Concepts and variants per cycle, production ownership, approval turnaround, rights and the decision rule for the next test.
Store and product fit 10%
The store-page hypothesis, localization scope and who implements the app, paywall or onboarding changes the plan depends on.
Account and asset ownership 10%
An access map, billing owner, reporting access and a handover list for campaigns, source files and experiment history.
Delivery team 10%
Named day-to-day roles, senior review, meeting rhythm, client dependencies and an example of the weekly decision report.
Commercial clarity 10%
Currency, media spend, service and production fees, tool costs, minimum term, notice period and out-of-scope work.
Before signing
Read the plan in three passes.
1. Can you trust the measurement?
Ask the agency to show how an install becomes an activated or paying user in its report. Agree on the conversion event, source of truth, click/view attribution windows, cohort maturity and reporting currency. A lower cost per install (CPI) is not enough if the new users do not activate or pay. Do not compare a mature cohort with one that has had only a few days to convert.
AppsFlyer documents how partner settings and attribution windows affect reporting, including the risk of duplicated cost data in some advertiser/agency setups. Have the proposal identify who owns that configuration and how discrepancies will be reconciled.
2. Can the proposed team deliver the scope?
Request a first-month experiment backlog with a hypothesis, owner, required asset or product change, budget and review date for each test. For days 31 to 60, ask how the team will decide what to iterate. For days 61 to 90, agree on a review of mature cohorts, delivered work and the next scope. This is a planning structure, not a promise that every app can prove payback in 90 days.
Separate creative concepts from resized variants. Separate store-page work from product changes. Ask what happens when an app release or internal approval arrives late, and which fees continue during that delay.
3. What will you own and pay for?
Write down the owner of each ad account, app-store account, measurement workspace, billing relationship and creative source file. Specify the permissions needed for the work. Apple provides account and campaign-group roles; AppsFlyer has separate data-access permissions. “We have access” is not a complete handover plan.
Compare the same period and currency. Add setup fees, retainers, media, production, software and agreed extras. Record minimum terms, notice periods and asset handover alongside the total. A low monthly fee can describe a smaller scope.
A short interview agenda
- Walk through one comparable result. What did you change, what did the client change and what cannot be attributed to your work?
- Show the first report we would receive. Which numbers will still be immature or unavailable?
- Show one test that failed and the decision it changed.
- Explain the first 30 days of work our own team must complete.
- Walk through the cost and handover if we stop after the initial term.
Framework published September 20, 2026. Linked platform documentation checked on that date. Platform roles can change; confirm the current settings for your own accounts.
Bring us the same brief.
See our scope and published prices, then decide whether Strataigize belongs on your shortlist.
Still building a shortlist? Read our disclosed comparisons for Canada and North America.