Questions before you sign.

Send us an email or WhatsApp message with three things: your website, what you're trying to grow, and where you currently feel stuck. That's enough for us to come prepared to the first call (we call it the discovery call).

From there, the steps are: we check whether we're a good fit → if needed, we do a short discovery phase or review your account access → we send a written scope and quote → we confirm a start date once the agreement is signed, access and approvals are in place, and the first payment terms are met.

A typical intro call lasts 30 minutes. We ask how your business makes money, who your customers are, which marketing channels you use today, how you track results, what is holding you back, who needs to approve decisions, and what decision you need to make. Please share sensitive information only through a secure method we agree on together.

After the call, the next step may be a proposal, a few follow-up questions, a paid discovery phase (a short paid project to understand your setup properly), or a clear "no" if we're not the right fit.

Your website or product link and a clear goal are usually enough for a first review. These extras help, but they're optional:

• Your current monthly revenue or sales pipeline (the deals or leads you're working on)
• Any ad accounts or marketing tools you already use
• Summaries for a relevant date range from GA4 (Google Analytics 4, Google's website-traffic tool), Search Console (Google's free tool that shows how your site appears in search), your CRM (customer relationship management system, where you track leads and customers), your online store, or your ad platforms. Please remove customer details and passwords first
• Anything you've tried that didn't work. It saves us from repeating it

Your start date depends on several things: our current availability, the size of the work, signed paperwork, your first payment, access to your accounts, the quality of your data, any security review, any compliance (legal or industry rule) approval, and having the right people ready on both sides. We confirm a start date with you in writing instead of quoting one standard turnaround for everyone.

We may share a few quick observations based on what we can see publicly, such as your website. That is not a full audit, so please don't treat it as one.

A proper audit needs agreed access to your accounts, real data, a defined scope and paid time from a specialist. This applies to audits of technical SEO (how well search engines can read your site), ads, tracking, email deliverability (whether your emails reach the inbox), accessibility, security, CRO (conversion rate optimization, turning more visitors into customers), website moves, and data.

We only share work that we have permission to show. Any results example should tell you the time period, the starting point, what work was done, what the numbers are measured against, anything important that affected the result, and whether that result is typical. We will not share confidential client details in conversation as a way around an NDA (non-disclosure agreement, a contract to keep information private).

Access and baseline: we confirm your accounts, customer consent settings, tracking, who owns what, how up to date your data is, what we depend on from you, and any existing risks. The baseline is your starting numbers, so later results can be compared fairly.

Plan and approvals: we put the work in priority order, name who is responsible for each task, agree how each piece will be checked and signed off, and collect any brand or legal approvals you need.

Build and validation: we create the approved work or changes, test them, and keep a record showing they worked at launch.

Measurement: we only review results once there is enough reliable data to learn from. How long that takes depends on the service and platform.

Depending on the work, pricing may be a monthly fee, staged by phases, a one-off project price, or based on how much you use. The proposal spells out what's included, the fee, the assumptions behind it, how many review rounds you get, how changes are handled, taxes, and any outside costs (such as ad spend or software).

Any work outside that scope starts only after you approve its cost and its effect on the timeline in writing.

A retainer is the regular monthly fee for ongoing work. It covers only what's listed in your signed work plan: the deliverables, who is responsible, the number of review rounds, how often we communicate, the tools, how work is checked and signed off, and what we need from you. If you see vague phrases such as “ongoing optimization” or “reasonable limits”, ask for them to be turned into clear numbers before you sign.

Your quote should list every cost that applies to you, such as taxes, ad spend, software, domains, hosting, data, stock images or creator licenses, printing, travel, production, payment fees, and specialist costs. Any work that wasn't planned goes through a written change request first. If an invoice line doesn't match your agreement or something you approved, question it.

Unless your signed statement of work (the document that lists exactly what we'll do) says otherwise, ad spend (the money paid to Google, Meta and other platforms to show your ads) is separate from our management fee. It should be paid from a billing account that you control. Owning your ad accounts, audiences and data also depends on having the right business-manager and platform permissions set up, not just on whose card pays.

We don't publish a minimum, because a number without context can be misleading. For small jobs (one channel, light hands-on work) we can propose a simple, stripped-down plan. For larger jobs (several channels plus creative and website work) the retainer (monthly fee) grows with the work required.

If your budget can't support work we'd be comfortable doing properly, we'll explain the gap. We may suggest a smaller audit, a step-by-step plan your own team can follow, or a different kind of provider.

Yes. Common one-off projects include:

• A full SEO (search engine optimization) / ads / tracking / CRO (conversion rate optimization) audit
• Klaviyo (an email and SMS marketing platform) setup and the 7 core ecommerce email flows (automatic email series, such as welcome or abandoned cart)
• WhatsApp Business API setup (the business version of WhatsApp for sending messages at scale) + your first broadcast
• Landing page sprint (3–5 pages built in one short, focused project)
• Shopify or WordPress migration (moving your site to a new platform)
• GA4 + server-side GTM rebuild (rebuilding your Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager tracking so data is collected more reliably)

These are usually quoted as a fixed fee with a delivery timeline, confirmed in your proposal.

Usually, yes. Any change to the scope needs a short written review of its impact first. That covers our available capacity, what depends on what, the minimum work needed to keep things running, the learning period ad platforms go through after changes, commitments already made, cost, and timing.

Any discount or payment plan tied to a longer commitment is quoted case by case. When you compare options, look at the real fee over the whole term, what's included, your rights to cancel, any clauses that allow price changes, and how much of our time is reserved for you. A lower monthly fee can come with a bigger commitment.

The contract length and notice period depend on the work. Monthly retainers (ongoing monthly work), website moves, builds, ad budget commitments, and reserved team time may each need different terms. Your signed proposal and agreement are what count.

Give notice in the way and within the time set out in your agreement. A handover plan should then list work still in progress, the final bill, the assets you own, licensed items, source files, account access, whether data is kept or deleted, open risks, and any optional help with the transition.

Possibly. Pausing can have side effects: we may lose the team time reserved for you, ad platforms may need to re-learn, search rankings may slip, data can go stale, and licenses, automations, seasonal sales windows and the effort to restart can all be affected. We write down what stops, what must keep running for safety, what a pause costs, and what's needed to restart.

Your accounts should stay under your own business's ownership, with us given only the access our role needs. Who owns the creative, code, source files, data, licenses, templates, third-party assets and anything that existed before we started follows your agreement and the original license terms. When we offboard, we remove our access and record what was handed over.

We don't offer a standard free trial. A small paid audit, sprint (a short, focused project) or discovery phase can be a better way to test whether we work well together, as long as it has a clear output and doesn't disrupt an account that is already running. We quote the terms for that work separately.

The currencies we can invoice in, and who pays exchange-rate or bank fees, are confirmed in your quote. Please don't assume every payment method or currency is available for every company you might contract with.

Your invoice lists the payment methods we accept and our bank details. If you ever receive a change to our banking details, check it through a separate contact method you already know before paying. This protects you from payment fraud.

Your proposal and invoice set out when you're billed: payment milestones, deposits, due dates, partial-month charges (proration), what happens if a payment is late, and when work can be paused for non-payment.

Yes. Our invoices show both companies' details, billing details, a unique reference number, the service period, line items, the currency, and how tax has been applied. If your business needs a purchase order, vendor registration or specific fields on the invoice, tell us before you sign.

How tax applies depends on which companies are signing, where and what kind of service is supplied, tax registrations, paperwork, and current law. Your quote or invoice shows how Softscotch applies tax. You should confirm your own obligations with a qualified tax adviser, including GST (goods and services tax), VAT (value-added tax), withholding tax, reverse charge (where you account for the tax yourself), and any reporting.

Softscotch offers SEO (search engine optimization, helping you show up in Google) and visibility in AI search tools, ads on selected platforms, lifecycle messaging (emails and texts that keep customers coming back), outreach, automation and CRM (customer relationship management) setup, WordPress and Shopify website work, landing pages and CRO (conversion rate optimization, turning more visitors into customers), analytics and tracking that respects customer consent, and creative production. Whether a service is available for you, which platforms fit, any legal or industry rules, specialist availability, and the exact deliverables are checked for each project.

Yes, through a written change request. Before adding or removing a workstream (one area of work, such as SEO or ads), we review what depends on it, the risks, our capacity, cost, timeline, how results will be measured, and what existing work needs to pause.

We bring specialist skills to each channel we take on, and the team works together rather than in separate boxes. Ads, SEO (search engine optimization), email, CRO (conversion rate optimization) and automation make more sense when they're planned together. Joining them up yourself after the fact rarely works as well as it sounds. Your proposal names who will work on each part of your project.

Yes. You can hire us for a single channel, such as SEO only, ads only, or email only. This usually suits businesses that already have an in-house team handling the rest, or that want to test working with us before adding more.

We don't do: PR (press coverage) or media buying outside paid ad channels, influencer talent management, ICO/crypto promotion, gambling or adult content, MLM (multi-level marketing), or anything illegal where your business operates. We also won't use gray-hat SEO (risky shortcuts that break search engine rules) or shady cold email tactics that could damage your reputation.

Potentially. Working in other countries can require local-language review, local rules about advertising claims and privacy, tax and product-feed setup, currency and delivery checks, hreflang (code that tells Google which language or country a page is for), regional landing pages, access to the right platforms, and local legal approval. We only take on the markets and channels we can support properly.

We check for conflicts and any exclusivity you need before signing. If you want protection, such as us not working for a competitor, the agreement must spell out the audience, product, area, service, time period, exceptions and remedy. This page does not promise exclusivity on its own.

SEO (search engine optimization) means helping your business show up in search results. We cover technical SEO (making your site easy for Google to read), on-page SEO (improving the words and layout of each page), content SEO (writing useful pages people search for), local SEO (showing up in nearby searches and on Google Maps), ecommerce SEO (Shopify / Woo / Magento), B2B SaaS SEO (for software companies selling to businesses), international and multi-language SEO, AI/GEO optimization (helping AI tools like ChatGPT find and mention you), programmatic SEO at scale (building many similar pages from data), SEO migrations (protecting rankings when you move or rebuild a site), and penalty recovery (fixing a drop caused by Google action).

Yes. This includes GBP optimization (improving your Google Business Profile, the listing that shows on Google Maps), geo-grid rank tracking (checking where you appear in map results across your area), citation building (listing your business on trusted directories), NAP consistency (making sure your name, address and phone number match everywhere), review management, local schema (code that helps Google understand your business, such as LocalBusiness, Service and FAQ), and location-page templates for businesses with several locations.

Technical SEO means making sure search engines can find, read and load your site properly. Our work includes a crawl audit (scanning your whole site the way Google does, using Screaming Frog + Sitebulb), Core Web Vitals (Google's page speed and stability scores: LCP, INP and CLS), indexation hygiene (making sure the right pages appear in Google and the wrong ones don't), log-file analysis where useful (checking how Google actually visits your site), structured data (code that describes your content to search engines), internal-linking structure, JavaScript rendering checks, hreflang (code for language and country versions), canonical strategy (telling Google which version of a page is the main one), and server response checks. Fixes are prioritized by impact and delivered through your developers or ours.

Backlinks are links to your site from other websites. Where relevant, we earn them through digital PR based on real sources (getting covered by journalists and publishers), expert contributions, original research, partnership outreach, promoting useful resources, and genuine local or industry listings.

We do not promise placements, pay for hidden paid links, use private blog networks (fake sites built only to create links), send automated spam outreach, or treat the number of links as the goal.

Yes. An SEO migration is a website move or rebuild planned to protect your search rankings as much as possible. Some ups and downs after a move are normal, and no one can promise rankings stay the same. We handle platform moves (Shopify ↔ WooCommerce, WordPress to headless (a setup where the website front end is built separately), etc.), domain changes, moving a subdomain into a subfolder, HTTPS rollouts (moving your site to a secure address), and IA restructures (reorganizing how your pages are grouped and linked). This includes full URL mapping (matching every old page address to its new one), redirect rules (sending visitors and Google from old pages to new ones), ranking monitoring after the move, and a rollback plan (a way to undo the change) if needed.

We find out what caused the drop. That could be a manual action (a penalty applied by a Google reviewer), technical problems or a site move that went wrong, pages dropping out of Google's index, harmful spam links, content-quality problems, or wider changes in how Google ranks sites. We cannot promise when or how fully you will recover. That depends on Google re-checking your pages, what competitors do, and what caused the loss in the first place.

AI answers (such as Google's AI Overviews or ChatGPT) can change how people search, which sources get shown, how visitors reach your site, and what needs to be reported. The effect varies by what people are looking for, your market, their device, the search tool, and the answer format. So we measure your starting point in both normal search results and any visits or mentions we can see coming from AI tools.

Our approach starts with useful original content, a site search engines can easily read, clear information about who you are and what you offer, credit to sources, a logical page structure, correct structured data (code that describes your content to search engines), and consistent information across your site and trusted outside sources. We test the questions that matter most to your business, but no format guarantees that an AI tool will mention you. See the AI/GEO category below for more.

We can scope work on Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Microsoft (Bing), LinkedIn, TikTok, Amazon, Pinterest, Reddit, X, and YouTube. We recommend a platform only where your audience is reachable, the platform's ad rules allow it, the numbers make sense, there's enough creative, your landing pages are ready, results can be tracked, and our team has capacity. Having a service page doesn't mean every platform is right for you or available at the same time.

Yes. We produce static images, motion graphics, UGC-style video edits (videos that look like real customers made them), AI-generated variations, and advertorial landing pages (pages written like an article to support an ad). The number of pieces is set in your plan (for example, a set number of creative ideas per month).

Since Apple's iOS 14 update, phones share less data with ad platforms, so ads are harder to track. We first map what data you can legally collect, how customer consent works, how to collect only the data you need, which actions you count as results, how people are identified, how long data is kept, who can access it, and the rules in each region. Where it makes sense, we set up tracking in the browser and on your server (server-side tracking, which sends data directly from your systems), Google's enhanced conversions, or the platforms' own connections (APIs), with checks so nothing is counted twice. Server-side tracking does not get around customer consent, and it does not make tracking perfectly accurate.

Yes. We first review how your account is set up, what it has already learned, your audiences, and your existing ads. Then we improve it step by step instead of wiping its history. Past data and audience information are valuable, not clutter.

You should own your business-manager account (the main account that controls your ad accounts), billing, domain, analytics, and main ad accounts. Softscotch gets only the access our role needs. We write down emergency controls and who can approve budget changes. We check platform roles and anything our agency creates rather than assuming they're set up correctly.

We combine what each ad platform reports with your analytics, your CRM (customer relationship management system) or store results, the profit each sale actually makes, attribution windows (how long after an ad a sale is credited to it), and data quality. Where it's possible, we also run tests that show whether ads truly caused extra sales, such as holdouts (keeping some people from seeing ads), geo tests (comparing regions), or lift studies. Budget changes follow the approval rules we agree with you and wait for enough reliable data. They don't follow an automatic weekly rule.

Potentially. Each region needs its own readiness check covering language, currency, advertising claims, product feeds, delivery, privacy rules, whether the platform is available there, creative, landing pages, exclusions, and local approval.

Email: Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, AWeber, MailerLite, Constant Contact, Shopify Email, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, SendGrid, Customer.io.

SMS: Klaviyo SMS, Attentive, Postscript, Twilio.

WhatsApp: WhatsApp Business API (the business version of WhatsApp for sending messages at scale) via Twilio, Wati, AiSensy, Interakt, 360Dialog.

Flows are automatic messages that go out when a customer does something, such as signing up or leaving items in their cart.

For ecommerce: welcome, abandoned cart, abandoned checkout, browse abandonment (someone viewed products but didn't add them), post-purchase, review request, win-back (bringing back past customers), VIP, replenishment (reminders to reorder), and seasonal campaigns.

For B2B/SaaS (businesses selling to other businesses, or software sold by subscription): trial onboarding, activation drips (a series of emails that help new users get value), expansion (upgrades), renewal, churn save (keeping customers who might cancel), and re-engagement.

Deliverability means whether your emails reach the inbox instead of spam. We review SPF, DKIM and DMARC (three email security settings that prove your emails really come from you), your sending domains, complaint and bounce rates, consent records, where your list came from, how unsubscribes and blocked addresses are handled, how you split your list, how often you send, your content, and reports from email providers like Gmail. These security settings are necessary, but they don't guarantee inbox placement. We also check your setup against the current rules for bulk senders and one-click unsubscribe.

Yes. To grow your list, we use pop-ups, forms on your pages, lead magnets (free guides or offers in exchange for an email), exit-intent capture (a pop-up shown when someone is about to leave), and back-in-stock sign-ups. To make the list work harder, we use RFM segmentation (grouping customers by how recently, how often, and how much they buy), behavior-based groups, predictive scoring (estimating who is likely to buy), and groups based on where each customer is in their journey.

The WhatsApp Business API (the business version of WhatsApp, not the normal app on your phone) lets you send pre-approved message templates to people who have agreed to hear from you, have two-way conversations through a chatbot or a real person, and handle chats that start from click-to-WhatsApp ads. Meta (WhatsApp's owner) must approve each template, and sending limits depend on your quality rating.

It works best for cart recovery, order updates, customer support, and checking whether leads are a good fit. It is not for cold blasts to people who haven't opted in.

Yes, we can scope the full setup of the WhatsApp Business API (the business version of WhatsApp for sending messages at scale). This includes business verification, setting up the phone number and provider, message templates, collecting customer consent, message categories, handing chats over to a real person, connecting to your CRM (customer relationship management system) or online store, and launch testing. Meta and the provider decide how long approvals take. Fixing connections or consent issues may add extra steps.

We look beyond opens and clicks. We measure attributed revenue (sales linked to each message, split by automatic flow, campaign, and broadcast), placed-order rate (the share of people who bought), RPR (revenue per recipient), inbox-placement rate (how many messages reach the inbox rather than spam), deliverability score, unsubscribe trends, and net list growth (new subscribers minus those who left).

Deliverability means whether your emails reach the inbox. With cold email (emails to people who haven't contacted you before), we start with your legal basis for contacting them, whether the audience is relevant, where the contact data came from, your do-not-contact lists, who the email is from, how people can opt out, email-provider rules, and the risk to your brand and domains. We then design the setup from that review: domains and inboxes, email authentication, how slowly to ramp up sending, volume, and monitoring. A separate sending domain limits damage to your main domain, but it does not make unwanted email safe or legal.

We only consider data sources and enrichment methods (ways of adding details such as job titles) where there's a documented right to use the data for this kind of outreach. We record where each contact came from, their location, why they're relevant to your business, do-not-contact lists, when the address was last checked, and the data vendor's terms. Scraping data from platforms or verifying an email address is not the same as consent or legal permission, and it does not guarantee a low bounce rate.

There's no one right number that suits everyone. How much you can send is limited by the quality of your audience, your legal basis for contacting them, where the list came from, email-provider rules, the history of your domains, complaint and bounce rates, how replies are handled, do-not-contact lists, how many leads your sales team can handle, and the value of each message. We don't add more domains and inboxes to get around warning signs from email providers.

It depends on several things: where you and the people you email are located, whether the address identifies a specific person, where the data came from and what it's used for, rules in your industry, consent or another legal basis, whether you already have a relationship, required notices, do-not-contact lists, and email-provider terms. Emailing businesses (B2B) is not automatically exempt everywhere. You must get qualified legal advice for the regions you target before launch.

No honest agency can promise a reply rate before there's a baseline (your starting numbers). We track delivery and bounces, complaints, opt-outs, positive and negative replies, qualified meetings, the quality of resulting sales opportunities, your sales team's capacity, and the results further down the line. We treat small samples and open-rate tracking with caution, because both can be misleading.

Make.com (formerly Integromat), Zapier, n8n, GoHighLevel, Pipedream, and custom Python/Node scripts (custom code) for anything no-code tools can't handle. We use whatever fits your workflow, not whatever we'd like to upsell.

Potentially. Before choosing a tool, we map what starts the workflow, which system holds the correct data, who has permission to do what, how to use only the data needed, what can go wrong, how failed steps retry, how to avoid the same action running twice, where a person must approve, logging, alerts, how to undo changes, limits set by your software vendors, and who owns the workflow. An API (a connection that lets two pieces of software talk to each other) alone does not make a workflow safe or easy to maintain.

Yes. A CRM (customer relationship management system) is where you track leads, deals and customers. We set up HubSpot, Pipedrive, GoHighLevel, Zoho, Salesforce, and Close. This includes designing your sales pipeline (the stages a deal moves through), lead scoring (ranking leads by how likely they are to buy), automation, connections to your ads, website and forms, and training for your team.

We check whether your tools offer documented APIs or webhooks (ways for software to share data), how logins and permissions work, usage limits, where data must be stored, what access is allowed, whether there's a safe test environment, vendor terms, how errors are handled, who owns the connection, and ongoing upkeep. Some platforms or older systems need middleware (a connector tool in between), custom development, or a different workflow, and some may not be suitable at all.

We can scope chat or voice assistants for suitable situations where customers contact you first or have agreed to be contacted. The design must cover telling people they're talking to AI, consent for recording, topics the assistant must avoid, testing how it answers and finds information, handing over to a real person, identity and access checks, how long data is kept, removing sensitive details, reviewing problems, and local rules for calls and messages. Using it to contact people first (outbound) needs a separate legal and platform review.

GEO (generative engine optimization) is an industry term for work that helps AI search tools, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers, find, understand and correctly mention your business and its information. It builds on useful content, a site that's technically easy to read, clear information about who you are and what you offer, evidence, and your reputation. It cannot guarantee that an AI tool will include you in an answer.

First, check that the AI tool's search crawler (the bot that reads websites) can access your important public pages. The bots that train AI models and the bots that search for answers may be controlled separately. Then improve how factual and useful your pages are, keep page addresses stable, make clear who you are and what you offer, credit your sources, add original evidence, make each section clear on its own, link your pages together, use valid schema (code that describes your content to search engines), and keep your information consistent across trusted sources. We track a written set of test questions over time, because AI answers and the sources they mention change.

Yes. AI Overviews are the AI-written summaries Google shows at the top of some search results. We follow the same basics Google recommends for search and its AI features: helpful original content, a site Google can easily read, links between your pages, clear text, supported images and video, a good page experience, and structured data (code that describes your content) that matches what's visible on the page. We also test how well Google picks up clear facts and short passages from your pages. We remove unsupported statistics, FAQ code added only for show, and structured data types the page doesn't qualify for.

llms.txt is a proposed file, suggested by the web community, that gives AI tools a simple guide to your website. It is not required for Google's AI features or for OpenAI's search crawler, and you shouldn't assume AI tools widely use it or that it helps rankings. We may test it as a low-risk guide for a site with lots of content. But robots.txt (the file that tells bots which pages they may visit), sitemaps (a list of your pages for search engines), links search engines can follow, useful pages, and each AI tool's own crawler settings come first.

No. AI-assisted search (tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers) changes where answers appear and how results are measured. But being found still depends heavily on the same basics: pages search tools can reach, useful information, a good reputation, links from other sites, clear structure that machines can understand, and a website that works well technically. We treat AI-search work as an extra layer inside your search plan. It adds evidence and makes your information easier for AI tools to find and use. It is not a shortcut around SEO (search engine optimization, the work of getting found on Google).

We do both. We build Shopify stores, WordPress sites, custom landing pages (single pages built for one offer or campaign) and conversion-focused funnels (step-by-step paths that turn visitors into buyers or leads). Many of our retainers (ongoing monthly agreements) cover web and marketing together, because a slow or broken website is one of the most common reasons marketing budgets get wasted.

Yes. We handle new store builds, theme customization (changing your store's design), app integrations (connecting Shopify apps), headless migrations (moving to a custom front end that runs on Shopify behind the scenes, using Shopify + Hydrogen / Next.js), multi-store and multi-currency setups (selling in several countries or currencies), and post-purchase upsell flows (offers shown right after someone buys).

Yes. We build custom themes and child themes (safe copies of a theme you can change without losing updates), ACF + Gutenberg setups (tools that make WordPress pages easy for your team to edit), WooCommerce stores (WordPress's online shop add-on), LMS sites (online course platforms, such as LearnDash / Tutor LMS), membership sites, and full WP (WordPress) redesigns.

We focus on speed and safety: cache layers (stored copies of pages so they load faster), image optimization, Core Web Vitals tuning (Google's measures of page speed and stability), and security hardening (closing common gaps that hackers use).

Yes. Common moves include WooCommerce ↔ Shopify, Wix/Squarespace → WordPress, Magento → Shopify, and a custom CMS (content management system, the tool you use to edit your site) → a modern stack (a current, well-supported set of website tools).

We do full redirect mapping (making sure every old web address sends visitors and Google to the right new page), work to protect the search value your old pages have built up, and monitor the site after launch. Rankings can still move during any migration, so we track them closely rather than promise they will stay the same.

Yes, maintenance can be scoped (agreed in writing) as a separate service. It can cover software updates, backups, monitoring, incident routing (who gets alerted and who fixes it when something breaks), restore testing (checking backups actually work), compatibility checks, and a set allowance for small changes.

The plan must state how often each task happens, who is responsible for hosting, how quickly the site should be restored after a problem, which older issues are not covered, and any third-party costs (fees paid to other companies).

We help you choose and set up hosting (the service that stores your website and puts it online), such as Cloudways, Kinsta, WP Engine, SiteGround, Vercel or Cloudflare Pages. We also set up DNS (the settings that point your domain name to your site), SSL (the security certificate behind the padlock in the browser), CDN (a network that delivers your site faster around the world), and Cloudflare rules.

The hosting account stays in your name. We don't resell hosting.

Yes. CRO (conversion rate optimization) means getting more of your existing visitors to buy, book or get in touch. A/B testing means showing two versions of a page to different visitors to see which works better.

Our work includes heuristic audits (expert reviews against proven usability rules), heatmap and session-recording analysis (seeing where people click and scroll, using Hotjar / Microsoft Clarity), funnel breakdowns (finding the step where people drop off), and A/B tests built around a clear idea of what should improve, run in VWO / Convert / Optimizely / GA4 experiments. We also run multivariate tests (testing several changes at once) where your traffic is large enough to support them.

Research comes first. We look at the numbers (where people drop off, which pages underperform) and add the right qualitative evidence (what real users say and do, for example from surveys or recordings).

Each test has: a hypothesis (what we expect to happen and why), one main metric to judge it by, guardrails (other numbers that must not get worse), a defined audience, a set duration or stopping rule, a check that tracking works correctly, and a decision rule agreed before the test starts. We report how sure we can be and how big the real-world effect is, rather than relying on one statistical cut-off on its own.

It depends. How many visitors a test needs is driven by your current conversion rate, the smallest improvement worth detecting, how traffic is split between versions, how much your results naturally vary, seasonality, outside factors that could skew results, and how risky the decision is.

We calculate whether a test is realistic before launching it. Sites with lower traffic still get value: we use customer research, usability reviews, tracking fixes and carefully watched changes instead of split tests (A/B tests) that don't have enough visitors to give a reliable answer.

Yes. We build advertorial-style pages (pages that read like an article but promote a product), product launch pages, lead-magnet pages (pages offering a free guide or tool in exchange for an email address), webinar registration pages, and PPC (pay-per-click advertising) landing pages for specific product categories.

We build them on Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, Unbounce, Instapage, or code them directly. CRO (conversion rate optimization) thinking and tracking are built in from day one, so you can see how each page performs.

Yes, when each page has a clear purpose and genuinely useful information. We scope blogs, guides, comparison pages, alternative pages (for people looking for alternatives to a competitor), glossaries, and programmatic collections (larger sets of similar pages built from structured data).

What matters most is the process behind the content: research, input from subject experts, editorial review, source checks, checks to avoid duplicate content, and a named person who keeps each page up to date. That matters more than whether a writing tool helped with the first draft.

Yes. We make static social ads (Figma / Photoshop), motion graphics (After Effects), UGC-style edits (videos in the style of real customer content, edited in CapCut / Premiere), product reels (short vertical videos), and AI-generated variants (extra versions of an ad, so more ideas can be tested at once).

We write the brief, design, edit, create versions for each placement, and deliver the files. You don't need a separate creative agency. How many ads we produce each month is agreed in your plan.

Sometimes, when your brief allows it. AI may help organize research, write drafts, create variations, produce images or video, write accessibility text (descriptions for people using screen readers), and translate.

A human always reviews the output, but that alone is not enough. Each piece also needs checks for facts, usage rights, use of real people's likeness, any required disclosure that AI was used, brand fit, bias, accessibility, ad platform rules, and legal or industry compliance, depending on where it will be used.

Which languages we can support is confirmed for each project. Important marketing, legal, medical, financial, cultural and transcreation work (adapting a message so it feels natural in another culture, not just translating words) needs a qualified reviewer who knows the target language and region. We never treat machine translation alone as approved.

We can scope (agree in writing) practical brand-system work: cleaning up how your logo and brand are used, digital color and font rules, guidance on your brand's voice, and campaign templates.

Naming, trademark checks, in-depth research or a full identity system (a complete new brand from scratch) may need a separate specialist. If so, we name that in the proposal.

Yes. GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is Google's tool for measuring website traffic and actions. GTM (Google Tag Manager) is the tool that installs and manages tracking codes on your site.

We do full GA4 + GTM setup, including event mapping (deciding which actions to track, like sign-ups or purchases), ecommerce tracking (sales, products and order values), custom dimensions (extra details you want to report on), audience builds (groups of visitors you can report on or advertise to), BigQuery export (sending raw data to Google's data warehouse for deeper analysis), and dashboards in Looker Studio (Google's free reporting tool). If your old tracking or reports were built on Universal Analytics (Google's previous tool, which Google shut down in 2024), we can rebuild them in GA4.

Where it is legal and useful, yes. Server-side tracking sends conversion data from your own server rather than only from the visitor's browser. We set up server-side GTM (Google Tag Manager) or platform conversion APIs (direct data connections to ad platforms such as Meta or Google).

This includes respecting each visitor's consent choices, collecting only the data needed, hashing (scrambling personal data such as emails) where it applies, deduplication (making sure the same sale isn't counted twice), checks that values and currencies are correct, access controls, logging and testing.

Server-side tracking can make your data more reliable. It does not make attribution (knowing exactly which ad or channel caused a sale) perfect, and it does not get around browser or privacy restrictions.

Attribution means working out which channels and campaigns led to a sale or lead. We compare data from several sources: your analytics, your CRM (customer relationship management system, where you track leads and customers) or store sales, ad platform reports, checks on how well tracking is working, and optional "How did you hear about us?" answers from customers.

When you have enough spend, history, variation and good-quality data, we may also use lift tests (measuring the extra sales caused by ads), geo experiments (comparing regions with and without ads), holdouts (keeping a group of people who don't see ads), or marketing-mix modeling (statistical analysis of how each channel contributes). For each method, we show you its assumptions and how certain the results are.

Yes, for the platforms in scope. Conversion tracking records the actions that matter to your business, such as purchases, bookings or form fills. We map which conversions matter, how visitors' consent choices are handled, browser and server events (tracking from the visitor's browser and from your server), deduplication keys (so one sale isn't counted twice), values and currencies, tracking across more than one domain, test purchases, ad platform checks, and matching the numbers against your real sales or leads.

A validation report records what was tested and what still can't be measured.

Reports may use Looker Studio (Google's free reporting tool), a shared workspace, spreadsheets, or a paid data connector and BI tool (business intelligence software for dashboards), if agreed.

The scope (the written agreement for the work) states where the data comes from, what each number means, who owns each report, how often it refreshes, any license costs, any limits caused by sampling or attribution (how sales are credited to channels), and who fixes a connector if it breaks.

ROI (return on investment) is what you get back compared with what you spend. We measure it with net contribution margin (the profit left after the direct costs of each sale), not gross ROAS (return on ad spend, revenue divided by ad cost), because revenue alone can hide losses.

We factor in COGS (cost of goods sold, what your products cost you), fulfillment (packing and shipping), returns, payment fees and ad spend. That gives a true CAC (customer acquisition cost, what it costs to win one customer) and LTV/CAC ratio (how much a customer is worth over time compared with the cost of winning them). We share this model in the work plan so we're both measuring the same thing.

The work plan sets how often dashboards update, when you get written updates, when review meetings happen, how urgent problems are ranked and escalated, who to contact, and which time zones are covered.

More frequent reports only help when there is enough data, and enough decisions to make, to justify them.

Typical formats are live dashboards (Looker Studio / Notion), weekly written summaries (by Slack or email), Loom video walkthroughs (short screen-recorded explanations) for weeks that need more context, and monthly slide decks you can share with your board or investors. The exact formats are agreed in your work plan.

Slack, WhatsApp, or email. Your pick. We use whatever channel your team already prefers. Many clients choose a shared Slack channel for quick written updates that don't need everyone online at once, plus a weekly call. We don't insist on a project management tool you'll never log into.

Yes. The proposal names your day-to-day contact and any specialists working on each part of the work. Specialists may reply to you directly or through your main contact, depending on the question, who has access to what, and availability.

Response targets, working days, time zone, which channels we use, how urgent issues are ranked, and any out-of-hours cover are agreed in the work plan.

A general question is handled differently from a confirmed problem with something live, such as your website being down or a campaign overspending. Urgent problems follow a faster route.

The proposal names the lead who is accountable for your work and the skills the work needs. The team can change, but we tell you first, and access, responsibilities, supervision and handover are kept documented.

Softscotch stays accountable for the work. If we need a vetted specialist, contractor, platform partner, or subprocessor (another company that handles data on our behalf), the scope names their role, what access they get, their confidentiality or data terms, who supervises them, any licensing, and whether you need to approve them first.

We never hand your logins to anonymous freelance marketplaces.

India (mainly Bengaluru), with team members in several cities. Our working hours overlap well with mornings in the EU, UK and GCC (Gulf countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia) and evenings on the US East Coast.

We work async-first (mostly through written updates and recorded videos, so we don't all need to be online at the same time). Work keeps moving without needing live meetings.

We show relevant experience through the people, work samples, methods and evidence we put forward for your project. We do not claim a certification, partner level, or credential on this page unless it is current and can be checked independently.

It depends on the work involved, how fast you want to move, the risk, and the expertise needed. The proposal names your accountable lead, the skills needed, the people on your side who own decisions, and any specialist help. We don't use team size as a sign of quality.

Measure the starting point → prioritize → design → build → check → launch → measure → decide. How long each cycle takes and how often we review depends on the channel, how much data there is, approvals, production time, platform reviews, and how risky the decision is.

We start from the single biggest thing holding growth back. Do customers cost too much to win? Do too few customers come back? Are you reaching the wrong audience? Then we plan the channels and tactics most likely to move that one number. We don't run "do everything at once" plans where everything ends up mediocre.

We use ICE-style scoring: each idea is rated for Impact × Confidence × Ease. We combine that with real limits: your team's time, our time, and what has to happen first.

The result is a weekly priority list you can see and challenge. Nothing is hidden in a strategy document that never gets opened.

We use frameworks (simple models for thinking) as tools, not rules. For example: AARRR (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) to map the customer journey, RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) to prioritize, JTBD (Jobs to Be Done, why a customer really buys) for customer insight, RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary value) to group customers by buying behavior, and Bullseye to choose which channels to try.

We use whichever one helps the decision, not whichever sounds smart in a pitch deck.

Yes, and you should. On day one, you know your customers, product and market better than any outside agency. Our job is to add channel and hands-on marketing expertise to your knowledge, not to override it. When we disagree, we say so and explain why.

There is no fixed timeline that applies to every business.

Paid ads can start producing data quickly, but they need enough real conversions (sales, sign-ups or leads) and feedback from your sales team before we can judge them. Lifecycle marketing results (email, SMS and similar messages to existing contacts) depend on the quality of your list, consent, traffic, how often people buy, and how many messages are sent. SEO (search engine optimization) depends on Google finding and indexing (listing) your pages, competition, your site's authority, content and demand. Tests depend on how much traffic you have and how big the change is.

We set a starting point and track early signs of progress, such as pages getting indexed (listed by Google) and moving up. But indexing, rankings, clicks and revenue are controlled by search engines, competitors, demand, your website and your offer, not by us.

Any forecast should be a range of possible outcomes with its assumptions stated, never a promised month or ranking position.

After launch, we first check that ads are showing, that spending limits work, that tracking events (sales, sign-ups, form fills) are recorded, which search terms or placements are triggering your ads, and the quality of creative, landing pages, and the leads or sales coming in.

When we can make the first reliable decision depends on how much data comes in, how long customers take to buy, how sales are credited to ads (attribution), the platform's learning period (the time an ad platform needs to optimize a new campaign), seasonality, and how big the change being tested is.

Early phase: setting up access, measuring the starting point, fixing risks, agreeing priorities, setting up tracking, and producing the first pieces of work.

Learning phase: gathering enough reliable data to drop weak ideas, improve ads and pages, and write down what is still uncertain.

Compounding phase: putting more into what keeps working, but only when capacity, quality, profit and measurement support it. Adding more channels is not an automatic next step.

Common reasons include: too little data or misleading data, long sales cycles, gaps in visitor consent, ad platform reviews and learning periods (the time a platform needs to optimize a new campaign), errors in product feeds or catalogs, time to produce creative, waiting on developers, stock or delivery problems, expert or legal review, slow approvals, seasonality, and changes in the market.

We write down each blocker and who is responsible for clearing it.

No. Results depend on many things outside any agency's control: your product, price, market, demand, competition, website, sales process and delivery, data, approvals, ad platforms, and outside events.

Softscotch commits to the responsibilities, deliverables, evidence, communication and acceptance criteria (the agreed checks that show a piece of work is done) written in the signed agreement. Ending the agreement follows those same terms.

We hold an honest review call and look for the root cause. Is it how the work was done, a shift in the market, a product that doesn't yet match what buyers want (product-market fit), tracking problems, or targets that were unrealistic? Then we agree a clear plan: change tactics, adjust the scope, or part ways cleanly. We never hide poor results behind vanity metrics (numbers that look good but don't affect your business, such as likes or impressions).

Refunds, rework, credits, deposits, sign-off, and milestone payments follow the signed agreement and the law that applies. If you disagree that a deliverable is complete, compare it with its acceptance criteria (the agreed checks for that piece of work) and follow the agreed process for fixing problems.

Raise the issue with your named account owner. Write down the facts and what you'd like done to fix it. If it isn't resolved, follow the escalation, notice, governing-law (which country's or state's law applies) and dispute steps in the signed agreement. This FAQ does not create an arbitration clause (a rule to settle disputes outside court) or a response deadline.

You should. Your business, billing, domain, analytics, online store, CRM (customer relationship management system), messaging and advertising accounts should stay under your control. We get least-privilege access (only the access we need to do the work).

Ownership of deliverables, source files, data, licenses, templates and materials that existed before the project follows the agreement and any third-party terms (rules set by the companies that make the tools or content).

Common requests are: GA4 (Google Analytics 4) + GTM (Google Tag Manager) + Search Console (Google's search performance tool), with admin access; Meta Business Manager (where Facebook and Instagram ads are run), with admin or employee access; Google Ads (admin); Shopify or WordPress (staff or editor access); Klaviyo or your email tool (admin); and any CRM (customer relationship management system) you use.

After the discovery call, we send an exact access checklist with the access level we recommend for each tool.

You get access to every system your business owns and to the deliverables in the contract. Some of our working tools may have limits, because of security, privacy, tool licenses, our internal quality checks, other clients' data, or platform rules. Those limits should be explained to you before work starts.

You receive your own accounts and the handover items listed in the agreement, once the agreed payment and sign-off conditions are met.

Some items may have separate rights and can't always be transferred, such as third-party licenses, our confidential methods, platform items that can't be moved between accounts, fonts, stock images, AI or data models, templates, and materials that existed before the project.

The agreement sets the notice period and the transition support. A responsible handover records: where everything stands, live campaigns and automations, upcoming commitments, open risks, account access, source and licensed files, what happens to data (kept or deleted), billing, and any extra handover help that has been separately agreed.

We prefer delegated platform access (you add us as a user from your own account) over shared passwords. We use least-privilege roles (only the access we need), MFA (multi-factor authentication, a second login check such as a code on your phone), approved tools for sharing secrets safely, access logs where available, and we remove access promptly when it is no longer needed.

The security terms for your project should list the systems involved, who is allowed access, how security incidents are reported, how long data is kept, and any requirements from your side.

Yes, we can review an NDA (non-disclosure agreement, a contract to keep information confidential) before you share sensitive information. It can be one-way or mutual (both sides protect each other's information).

We need to agree the right company names, why information is being shared, what is excluded, how long it lasts, which country's law applies, remedies, and any clash with data or service terms. An NDA does not allow us to share another client's information with you.

GDPR (the EU's data privacy law) and CCPA (California's consumer privacy law) apply differently to every business, so we don't use a blanket “GDPR/CCPA compliant” claim.

Whether they apply, and who is responsible for what, depends on the companies involved, the people whose data is used, the regions, the type of data, the purpose, suppliers, contracts, privacy notices, requests from people about their data, security, and how long data is kept. We can put approved technical and day-to-day requirements in place, but you should get legal advice and approve the compliance plan.

Yes, a DPA (a contract covering how we handle personal data for you) may be needed when Softscotch processes personal data on your behalf.

Before signing, both sides must confirm each side's role, your instructions, the types of data and people involved, the purpose, how long it lasts, subprocessors (other companies that handle the data for us), transfers between countries, security, help we provide, how incidents are reported, audits, returning or deleting data, and any conflict with the main agreement.

No. We use and share your data only for documented purposes. That includes approved providers or subprocessors (companies that handle data on our behalf), security and legal duties, and anything else agreed with you.

Using your work in a case study, sending data to AI providers, AI model training, combining data, how long data is kept and when it is deleted must all follow the contract, your privacy notice, consent where required, and the law.

The agreement separates the different types of material: what you provide, Softscotch materials that existed before your project, custom work made for you, source files, open-source components (free code with its own license rules), fonts, stock images, platform items, AI-generated material, third-party licenses, and general know-how.

Who owns what, any license terms, and the payment conditions for transfer must be written clearly. Even “anonymous” use of your work, for example in a case study, can still need your consent.

Ecommerce (DTC, brands selling direct to consumers, and B2B, selling to other businesses), SaaS (software sold by subscription), healthcare clinics, education and edtech, real estate, professional services (legal, accounting, consulting), home services, hospitality, fintech (financial technology), and B2B services.

We adapt a proven approach to each industry instead of inventing a new method every time. Ask us about relevant experience in your industry before you sign.

Only with a written compliance process. You or your qualified legal adviser identify the rules that apply, who must review the work, claims you can't make, records to keep, consent, and limits on data use.

Tracking on healthcare websites may involve HIPAA (the US health privacy law) or other health-privacy duties. Advertising rules for finance and legal services vary by product, license, audience and location. Softscotch does not certify that your business is legally compliant.

We confirm which markets we can support for each project. Each region may need local language, legal and tax review, access to ad platforms and payment methods there, delivery arrangements, product feed and currency changes, checks on moving data between countries, customer support, and approval from local experts.

Which languages we can support, and who reviews the work, is confirmed for each project. Translation is not the same as localization (adapting content for a local audience). Regulated claims, cultural context, what people actually search for, dialect, accessibility and transcreation (rewriting a message so it feels natural in another culture) may need a specialist reviewer.

Yes.

B2B (selling to businesses) / SaaS (subscription software): long-cycle nurture (staying in touch over a long buying process), ABM (account-based marketing, targeting specific named companies), LinkedIn ads plus intent data (signs a company is researching a purchase), cold email, and demand-gen content (content that creates interest in your product).

B2C (selling to consumers) / DTC (brands selling direct): lifecycle email (automated emails across the customer journey), paid social ads, creative testing, and CRO (conversion rate optimization, getting more visitors to buy).

Hybrid: for example, PLG SaaS (product-led growth, where people can sign up themselves) that also has a sales team. We use both approaches.

First, review your current contract: who owns what, the notice period, access, data, live commitments, billing, and your rights during the transition. With your permission, we can review your accounts while your current agency is still working and build a cutover checklist (a step-by-step plan for the switch).

No agency can promise zero disruption until access, platform dependencies and the outgoing agency's handover are known.

Yes, we can work alongside your team. We fit in as a specialist layer (SEO-only, paid ads-only, creative-only, or technical-only) next to an in-house generalist or marketing director. Ways of working can include weekly stand-ups (short check-in meetings), shared written documents that people can read in their own time, and a shared Slack channel.

Fit depends on whether the scope and budget match, not on company size. We take on early-stage founders running their first paid ad campaign as well as established brands rebuilding their marketing setup. We also turn down work, at any size, when the fit isn't right. That check works both ways.

A founder or marketing owner who has a real offer, a clear decision to make, access to their current numbers, realistic economics (prices and margins that can support marketing costs), someone inside the business who can approve work, and the capacity to handle what comes next: leads, sales, delivery, product, technical, legal and compliance needs.

How long it takes to judge results depends on the channel chosen and how long your customers take to buy.

Yes, if your product is validated (people already pay for it) and you have budget for a serious growth investment. We're happy to work with solo founders in that position.

If you are still before product-market fit (you haven't yet proven that enough people want and will pay for your product) and hoping marketing will fix sales, honestly, no. It's better to keep that money in your runway (the cash that keeps your business going) and prove demand first.