Most brands lose four to six weeks of performance when they switch agencies. Not because the new agency is worse — because nobody planned the handover, the pixel history got orphaned, and the new team spent a month rebuilding context that already existed.
You've decided to leave. Here's the sequence that keeps the account running while you move.
The 30-day sequence
| When | Do this |
|---|---|
| Before you give notice | Confirm you own Business Manager, ad accounts, pixel and GA4 |
| Day 1 | Give notice in writing. Request the asset list with a 14-day deadline |
| Days 1–7 | Collect creative files, audience definitions, campaign docs, 12 months of reporting |
| Days 7–14 | Onboard the new agency with *read* access while the old one still runs it |
| Days 14–21 | New agency audits and presents findings. Nothing changes yet |
| Day 21 | Access switches. Old agency to read-only |
| Days 21–30 | New agency makes changes in one planned batch, not continuously |
The important part is the overlap in days 7–21. Most brands cut access on the last day of the month and hand a cold account to a new team. That's where the four to six weeks goes.
Before you give notice: check ownership
Do this first, while the relationship is still good.
Open Meta Business Manager → Settings, and Google Ads → Admin. Check whether your name or the agency's is on the ownership row.
If they own the container, your pixel's conversion history and your Google conversion data are theirs. Losing that means Smart Bidding and Meta's optimisation start learning from scratch — typically a six to eight week performance dip that has nothing to do with skill.
Ask for the transfer before you give notice. It's an easy conversation now and a hostile one later. The full contract checklist covers the other four clauses worth checking.
What to actually collect
Ask for these by name, with a deadline. "Send us everything" produces nothing.
- Raw creative files — not just the published ads. The editable source, all variants
- Audience definitions — every custom and lookalike audience, and the logic behind each
- Campaign structure documentation — what's running, why it's structured that way, what's been tested
- 12 months of reporting — exported, not a dashboard link that dies with your access
- Test history — what they tried that failed. This is the most valuable and least-given item
That last one saves the new agency from repeating three months of tests you already paid for.
Don't let the new agency rebuild on day one
The most common transition mistake is enthusiasm. A new agency arrives, sees things they'd do differently, and restructures the account in week one.
Now you have two variables changing at once — new team and new structure — and no way to attribute the result. If performance drops, nobody knows whether it was the restructure or the transition.
Insist on a diagnostic-first month. Weeks one and two: audit and findings, no changes. Week three: a written plan with expected impact. Week four: changes in one batch.
That's also a competence test. An agency willing to look before rebuilding is one that reads accounts rather than applying a template. If they resist, you've learned something early.
Set the 90-day number now
Before the new agency starts, agree one specific metric and target. Not "improve ROAS" — a number.
Something like: *ROAS from 2.4 to 3.1 within 90 days at current spend.* Write it down. Both parties sign off.
Without it you're back to reading monthly reports that always look vaguely positive, which is how most brands end up staying six months too long. A supplement brand we worked with went from unprofitable to profitable in 45 days — the reason we could tell it was working by week three was that the target was defined on day one.
What good looks like in month one
- Week 1: access confirmed, historical data received, audit started
- Week 2: findings presented — what's broken, ranked
- Week 3: written plan with a 90-day number
- Week 4: first batch of changes shipped
If week four arrives and you've had four onboarding calls and no findings, that's the same pattern that made you leave the last agency. Name it immediately.
Expect a small dip anyway
Even done well, expect one to two weeks of slight underperformance. New people learning an account is real, and any structural change resets some algorithmic learning.
What you should not accept is a six-week decline with no explanation. That's an orphaned pixel or a rebuild done without a plan — both preventable with the sequence above.
If you haven't finally decided yet, when to fire your agency covers the three metrics that make the call clearer.
What to do today
Open Meta Business Manager → Settings and check the ownership row. That single check decides whether your next transition costs you a fortnight or a quarter.
If your agency's name is there, email them today and ask to be made owner. Do it before you give notice, not after.
If you're choosing who's next, our pricing is published — $2,000/month — and we run diagnostic-first by default. Book a 20-minute call and we'll tell you what we'd fix first, before you pay anything.