How to Get the Most from Your Ecommerce Agency: Govern, Own, and Exit Playbooks for B2B Magento/Adobe Commerce
Introduction
Hiring an ecommerce agency for B2B development is a big step toward scaling your online business. But signing a contract with a team of Magento ecommerce experts or Adobe Commerce development specialists is not the finish line – it’s the starting point. Too often, companies treat the contract as a victory and then go on autopilot. In reality, to truly drive growth on your B2B ecommerce platform, you need to actively manage the partnership. Otherwise, you risk “vendor drift” – a gradual decline in performance where progress slows and costs creep up. You can avoid these pitfalls by following three simple playbooks: Govern, Own, and Exit.
In this guide, we’ll break down how to get the most from your ecommerce agency after the ink is dry on the contract. You’ll learn how to govern the relationship with clear communication and performance metrics. We’ll also explain how to own your technology stack and data. Finally, we cover how to exit gracefully and plan an agency transition, just in case things ever go south. These strategies form a practical ecommerce growth strategy for any B2B company using Magento or Adobe Commerce. Let’s dive into each playbook.
Playbook 1: Govern Your Agency Relationship for Success
The first playbook is about governance – keeping your agency relationship on track. If you don’t actively manage the partnership, even a great agency can start to drift off-course. Regular, structured check-ins will ensure your Magento/Adobe Commerce agency stays aligned with your goals.
Hold Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs)
Don’t wait for a crisis to talk about your e-commerce progress. Schedule Quarterly Business Review meetings with your agency to review progress and plan ahead. Each QBR should cover four key areas:
Finance: How is the project tracking against the budget? Review the burn rate (actual spending) versus the plan. Check for any “license creep” – paying for software or services you no longer use or that got double-purchased. Also look at change orders: are there frequent scope changes or surprise costs? Discussing these financial points openly each quarter prevents nasty budget surprises and keeps both sides accountable.
Delivery: Evaluate the agency’s output and quality. How many new features or improvements were delivered last quarter? If you use agile methods, check story points completed or tasks closed. Also look at cycle time – the turnaround from a new idea to a live feature. Review the defect rate: how many bugs slipped into production and needed fixing. Tracking these delivery metrics helps you spot if development is slowing or quality is dropping.
Roadmap: Align on what’s coming next. Discuss the features and improvements planned for the upcoming quarter. Identify any technical debt or known issues that need attention, and note any risks (for example, an upcoming Magento version update or security patch) that the agency should be ready to handle. This roadmap review ensures both you and the agency agree on next quarter’s priorities and expectations.
Growth: Finally, connect the agency’s work to real business outcomes. Review key e-commerce metrics like conversion rate, average order value (AOV), and repeat purchase rate to see if performance is trending up, flat, or down. This isn’t about blaming the agency for every number, but making sure both sides are transparent. If growth is off target, brainstorm how to improve it. If it’s strong, discuss how to maintain the momentum.
Use a KPI Scorecard to Track Performance
To make your quarterly reviews even more effective, set up a simple KPI scorecard for the agency’s performance. Pick a handful of key metrics—like development speed, quality (bug counts), budget vs. actual, and support response time. Define what “green,” “yellow,” and “red” mean for each (for example, staying within 5% of budget is green, while going over 10% is red). Have someone on your team (not the agency) own the tracking of each KPI. In a sense, each QBR is like an agency performance review – a chance to ensure your partner is meeting expectations and to recalibrate if needed. Review these at each QBR and discuss any yellow or red results openly. This scorecard approach gives you an objective, at-a-glance read on how well the partnership is doing, so you can address small issues before they become big problems.
Playbook 2: Own Your Ecommerce Tech Stack and Assets
The second playbook is about ownership – own your ecommerce tech stack and all the assets that go with it. In a healthy agency partnership, you let the experts “drive the car” day-to-day, but you keep the keys. Too many companies hand over control of critical systems or accounts to their agency and then feel trapped or helpless if the relationship sours. You can avoid that by setting things up correctly from the start:
Buy and Manage Your Own Licenses: Always purchase software licenses, extensions, and subscriptions under your company’s name and account. Whether it’s a Magento/Adobe Commerce platform license, a theme or extension, a SaaS tool, or a hosting service – use your company’s credit card and email for the purchase. Some agencies offer to handle licensing to “make it easier” or bundle it into their fees, but that convenience can cost you later. If you ever switch agencies, you don’t want to discover that your site’s add-ons or tools are registered under the old agency’s account. (We’ve seen companies pay tens of thousands of dollars to re-buy software they already had, all because they weren’t listed as the license owner.) Save yourself that headache by owning all licenses from the outset.
Host on Your Turf: Ensure your website hosting or cloud infrastructure is set up under an account you control. It’s fine to let the agency manage day-to-day operations or optimizations, but the hosting contract or cloud account (whether on AWS, Azure, Adobe Commerce Cloud, etc.) should be in your company’s name. You should have the highest-level admin access. Even if you use a cloud platform like Adobe Commerce Cloud, the account should be in your company’s name and you should have direct access. If you self-host on your own server, insist on having the root admin login credentials. Never let your site live in an environment where you’d be locked out if the agency relationship ended. If an agency refuses to give you admin access to your own environment, that’s a huge red flag – you’re effectively being held hostage.
Control Your Code Repository: If possible, set up the code repository (e.g. a GitHub or GitLab repo) under an account your business owns, and grant access to the agency’s developers. This way, all the history of code changes stays with you. If you part ways with the agency, you can simply revoke their access, and your codebase remains intact for the next team. If your team can’t host the repo, at least insist on getting regular code backups. Likewise, ensure you have access to the project tracking board (Jira, Trello, etc.) that the agency uses. Full transparency in the development process is key.
Own Your Data and Accounts: Make sure you have ownership of all the critical data and accounts related to your e-commerce operations. This includes analytics accounts (Google Analytics, etc.), advertising accounts (like Google Ads), email marketing platforms, your domain name, SSL certificate, and any other third-party services. Use your company email for all registrations and keep a secure record of these accounts. In your contract, include a data ownership clause that clearly states all assets, data, and intellectual property created during the project belong to your company. For example, any code or content the agency produces for you should be your property (or at least you should have a perpetual license to use it). You don’t want an agency pulling the plug on your site or content because of an ownership dispute. Making sure everything is in your name guarantees a smoother ride and an easy handoff if you ever need to change providers.
By taking these ownership steps, you maintain full control over your e-commerce platform and digital assets. Your agency will still handle the heavy lifting day-to-day – that’s what you hired them for – but you’ll never be completely dependent on them for access. Think of it like owning the house and giving the agency a set of keys, rather than the agency owning the house and just letting you visit. Owning your stack protects your business if things ever go awry, and even when things are going well, it keeps the relationship balanced.
Playbook 3: Plan for a Smooth Exit (Know When to Change Agencies)
No one likes to imagine ending a partnership right after it begins. But having an exit plan is like insurance – you hope you never need it, but you’ll be glad it’s there if you do. This final playbook covers when to change ecommerce agency and how to do it smoothly, with minimal disruption.
Recognize the Warning Signs
How do you know it might be time to part ways? Here are four clear warning signs that it’s time to re-evaluate your agency partnership:
Repeated Missed Roadmap Goals: If your planned features or upgrades slip for two quarters in a row, it’s a major red flag that something is seriously off.
Persistent Poor Performance Scores: If your vendor scorecard has several reds for three consecutive QBRs, it shows things aren’t getting better. One bad quarter can be a fluke, but three in a row is a pattern that likely won’t reverse without a major change.
Surprise Invoices and Overruns: An occasional small over-budget issue isn’t unusual. But if you keep getting surprise invoices that are significant (like more than ~10% over your monthly retainer), the partnership lacks financial transparency and control. You should never be blindsided by unexpected bills.
Security Neglect: In e-commerce, security is non-negotiable. If critical security patches aren’t applied within about a week of release, the agency is putting your site at risk. A lax attitude toward security updates is a serious warning sign of an underperforming agency.
Any one of these issues alone might not be cause to fire your agency on the spot, but they are red flags to watch closely. If several of these problems are happening together, it’s probably time to consider other options. Remember, an agency should reduce your workload and help your business grow. If dealing with them has become more stressful than doing it in-house, that defeats the purpose of hiring an ecommerce agency for B2B support in the first place.
Execute a Graceful Transition Plan
Once you’ve decided to change agencies (or even if you’re just preparing “in case”), having a clear exit plan will make the change far less painful:
Communicate and Plan a Transition: Plan a brief overlap period (for example, a month or two) where the old agency and the new one work together. Keep the old agency onboard (paid) during this time to help transfer knowledge. Also agree on a firm cutover date when the new agency will fully take over and the old agency steps back (having two agencies making changes at once can cause confusion). Open communication and a short, defined transition window ensure continuity instead of chaos.
Knowledge Transfer Sessions: Schedule hand-off meetings where the outgoing agency walks the new team (or your internal team) through the codebase, infrastructure, and any tricky system details. Document the important stuff — how to deploy the site, key account credentials, architectural notes, etc. It’s much easier to get these explanations now than to have the new team guess later.
Access Audit: Make a checklist of all the access points for your e-commerce operations — code repositories, hosting accounts, admin logins, third-party services, domain registrar, SSL certificates, and so on. Work with your agency to make sure your company (and your new agency, if you have one lined up) has the keys to everything. Remove any access that the old agency’s staff no longer needs. Don’t let any credential “fall through the cracks” during the switch.
With a solid transition plan in place, you can exit one agency and onboard another with minimal disruption. Planning ahead means you won’t have to scramble or improvise under pressure. Ideally, you’ll never need to use your exit plan because your agency partnership will thrive. But if things do go sideways, you’ll be prepared to protect your business and keep moving forward.
Conclusion & Call to Action
An ecommerce agency partnership is like any important business relationship – it requires communication, clear expectations, and a bit of foresight. By following the Govern, Own, and Exit playbooks, you set your B2B ecommerce venture up for ongoing success. You’ll keep your Magento or Adobe Commerce agency accountable with regular reviews and metrics. You’ll maintain control of your tech stack and data, ensuring you’re never at anyone’s mercy. And you’ll know when (and how) to move on if necessary, which keeps your business resilient and ready to grow.
If you’re looking to optimize your e-commerce operations or just want an expert second opinion on your ecommerce growth strategy, our team is here to help. Creatuity specializes in Magento and Adobe Commerce solutions for B2B companies, and we’re passionate about helping you grow. Schedule a free ecommerce brainstorming session with us – just click the “Let’s Talk” button on the Creatuity website to get started. Let’s discuss how to take your B2B ecommerce platform to the next level and ensure you’re getting the absolute most from your agency partnership.
