How to read an ASO agency proposal: the twelve lines that tell you everything

The anatomy of a proposal

Almost every ASO proposal has the same six sections in the same order: an executive summary that restates your problem, a methodology section with a framework diagram, a scope of work broken into phases, a team page, a pricing page, and case studies. The order is designed to build confidence before you reach the price. Read it backwards.

Start with the pricing page

Multiply the monthly fee by the minimum term. Note whether there is a discovery or setup fee. Note whether any line is a percentage of ad spend. Note whether a software subscription is required. That is the number and the shape of what you are agreeing to, and everything before it in the document exists to make it feel reasonable.

Then the scope of work

Look for dates. A good scope says what ships and when: the teardown by this date, the rewrite by that one, the first test live by the third. A weak scope says ‘ongoing optimisation’, ‘continuous monitoring’ and ‘monthly keyword updates’. Those are the words that let the invoice continue after the work stops.

Then the team page

Find the person who will write your title and subtitle. Not the partner, not the account director, not the ‘strategy lead’. The person. If that person is not named, or is named with a title like ‘ASO specialist’ and no surname, you do not know who is doing the work, and neither, in a sense, does the agency.

Then the case studies

Compare the case-study clients to your app. If they are ten times your size with ten times your budget, the results were produced by conditions you do not have. Ask for a case study from your weight class. If none exists, that is the answer.

Finally the methodology

The framework diagram is real and often intelligent. It describes what could be done to your store. It does not tell you which three changes will earn installs this quarter. Treat it as a table of contents, not a plan.

The twelve red flags

• A discovery or strategy phase billed at the full monthly rate before any change ships to the listing.
• ‘Ongoing optimisation’ or ‘continuous monitoring’ listed as a deliverable with no dated milestones.
• A minimum term longer than three months before the first metadata change is scheduled.
• No named person responsible for the title, subtitle and keyword field.
• The team on the proposal is not the team that was on the sales call.
• Apple Search Ads bundled in and billed as a percentage of spend.
• A software subscription required as a condition of the managed service.
• Reporting, dashboards or a ‘quarterly business review’ counted as deliverables.
• Case studies exclusively from brands far larger than yours.
• A 3,000-character App Store description in the sample work, when Apple does not index it.
• Localisation into many storefronts proposed before the primary listing has been tested.
• Guaranteed rankings, ‘boost’ campaigns, or rating and review targets with delivery dates.

Three or more of these and the proposal is describing a retainer designed to outlast the work. The last one is different in kind: it describes ranking manipulation the stores prohibit, and the account at risk is yours.

What a good proposal looks like

It is short. It names the person doing the work. It has a teardown in week one, a rewrite in week two or three, a first test by week four, and a handover with a date. It says what your team will be able to do on its own afterward. It has a fixed price, or at least a fixed term that matches the stores’ response time. It does not include a framework diagram, because the teardown is the strategy.

Questions to send back

• What ships to our listing in month five, specifically, and what did it do to search installs on your last three accounts?
• Who, by name, writes our title and subtitle, and how many other accounts do they hold this month?
• Which of these case studies did the team on our proposal actually work on?
• What happens to the fee in a month where nothing ships?
• Can we buy the listing work without the media, the platform and the discovery phase?
• When the contract ends, what does our team know how to do on its own?

Or send the proposal to me. I will mark it line by line: what is work, what is overhead, what the stores would police, and what the work costs once.

This guide is part of a set: the honest case against hiring an ASO agency, a plain explanation of what ASO services really are, reviews of every named agency, and the country-by-country guide.