How to Know If Your Web Developer Is Wasting Your Money

You're paying someone to handle your website, your ads, your online presence. You assume they're tracking what works, optimizing for results, and making decisions based on data.

But are they?

Most business owners trust their web developer, agency, or "digital person" by default. They see reports with charts and metrics, hear reassuring updates about "traffic" and "engagement," and figure everything must be working.

Then they ask a simple question like, "What's our conversion rate?" and get a vague answer. Or worse, watch their web person scramble to look it up.

Meanwhile, industry studies show a persistent gap between confidence and reality: many marketers say they're confident in measuring ROI, but far fewer can measure it holistically across channels or tie it cleanly to revenue. And because marketing ROI is one of the main ways companies justify and allocate budgets, teams that can actually compute it are in a much stronger position to win larger budgets.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: a lot of web developers and agencies don't really track business results. They track activity—hours worked, pages built, posts published, ads run. But activity isn't results.

If they can't show you, with data, that their work is driving your business forward, you're paying for expensive guesswork.

This post gives you the questions that reveal whether your web person knows what they're doing—or whether they're wasting your money.

The Three Types of "Web People"

Before you start interrogating dashboards, understand who you might be dealing with.

Type 1: Competent but Not Communicating

These folks actually know what they're doing. They've set up conversion tracking, defined events in GA4, wired in pixels, and can analyze funnels and A/B test results.

The data exists. You just never see it.

Maybe they think you don't care about the details. Maybe they're not great communicators. Either way, you're in the dark about your own numbers.

Good news: this is fixable. Once you ask the right questions and make it clear you care about results, they can start reporting on what actually matters.

Type 2: Incompetent but Confident

They can design pages, tweak templates, run ad campaigns, and post on social media—but they've never properly set up conversion tracking or tied results back to revenue.

They aren't hiding data. The data doesn't exist.

So they talk about the only things they know how to measure: traffic, impressions, clicks, rankings. They sound confident because they sincerely believe those metrics equal success.

This is worse than Type 1—but still fixable if they're willing to learn, adopt GA4 properly, and wire up end-to-end tracking.

Type 3: Intentionally Hiding Results

This is the dangerous one.

They know how to track. They know the results. And they know the results are bad.

So they deflect, bury you in vanity metrics, and avoid any number that would expose poor performance—especially cost per acquisition and ROI.

They'll talk about "brand awareness," "engagement," and "long-term strategy"—anything except "Here's how much revenue this drove."

This isn't a communication issue. It's a trust issue. You need someone new.

The questions below will help you figure out which type you've got.

The Questions That Reveal the Truth

Don't send these in an email.

Book a 30-minute call and ask for a screen-share. You want to see them pull up live data and navigate it in real time. Competent people live in these tools—they can get to the right numbers fast. Everyone else will scramble, deflect, or stall.

Basic Tracking Questions (Table Stakes)

These are non-negotiable. Anyone handling your website or marketing should be able to answer them quickly and specifically.

1. "What's our conversion rate?"

Not "pretty good" or "about average." You want a specific number, ideally broken down by traffic source, landing page, or campaign.

For context: across industries, average landing page conversion rates often sit around 2–3%, with variation by vertical and channel. So if they can't even tell you your own number, they're not really watching performance.

Good answer:

"Overall site conversion is 3.2%. Google Ads converts at 4.1%, Facebook at 2.3%, and organic search at 5.7%. Here's the breakdown."

Bad answer:

"Let me pull that up…" (after a long pause)

"Around 3%, I think."

"Better than last month."

Red flag:

"We don't really track that."

"Conversion rate is subjective—what matters is engagement."

"I'd have to dig into the analytics for that."

If they can't tell you your conversion rate by source without a major fishing expedition, they're not looking at the data—and you can't optimize what you're not looking at.

2. "Show me our Google Analytics dashboard right now."

This isn't theoretical. Ask them to share their screen and open GA4.

Watch how they move:

• Do they go straight to the right property and reports?
• Can they pull up conversions, traffic sources, and key events quickly?
• Or are they hunting through menus, clearly unfamiliar with where anything lives?

GA4 is now the default analytics platform, and tracking meaningful events requires deliberate configuration—not just pasting a snippet.

Good answer:

They share their screen, open GA4, and confidently navigate to conversions, top pages, and acquisition by channel.

Bad answer:

"I don't have access on this device."

"I'll send you a report later."

"The admin has the login."

Red flag:

"You can see everything you need in the client portal"

(…that portal shows only vanity metrics, not raw analytics access.)

If they don't have direct access to your analytics—or clearly don't know their way around—they're not actively monitoring performance. They're guessing.

3. "What's our cost per acquisition (CPA) by channel?"

You should know roughly what it costs to acquire a customer from each major channel: paid search, paid social, organic, referrals, etc. Without this, budget allocation is just opinion.

Good answer:

"Google Ads CPA is $180, Facebook is $340, organic search is about $90, and referrals are $45. Here's the report."

Bad answer:

"About $100 overall, I think."

"It varies a lot."

"Let me check the ad dashboards."

Red flag:

"We focus on brand awareness and engagement, not direct attribution."

If they can't show you CPA by channel, they don't actually know which parts of your marketing are profitable.

4. "Where do our actual customers come from?"

Not visitors. Not clicks. Customers—people who bought, booked, or signed a contract.

Good answer:

"Roughly 42% of new customers originate from organic search, 28% from Google Ads, 18% from referrals, and 12% from Facebook. Here's how GA4 and the CRM tie that together…"

Bad answer:

"Mostly from the website."

"A mix of things."

"It's hard to say exactly."

Red flag:

"Traffic is up 50% month-over-month, so the marketing is working."

Traffic ≠ customers. If they can't connect traffic sources to new business, they're optimizing for the wrong thing.

Attribution & Tracking Setup Questions

These questions expose whether they've actually built a tracking system—or just installed a few tools and hoped for the best.

5. "How are you tracking conversions?"

You're listening for a clear description of events, pixels, UTMs, and CRM integration—not "we installed Google Analytics."

Good answer:

"We've set up GA4 events for form submissions, phone clicks, and purchases. We're using Google and Meta pixels on key pages. All campaigns use UTM parameters, and we push conversions into your CRM so we can see which leads become customers and what revenue each channel drives."

Bad answer:

"Through the contact form."

"Google Analytics tracks that automatically."

"We can see when people convert."

Red flag:

"We mainly look at page views and sessions—those tell us if people are engaging."

Event-based conversion tracking (form submits, phone calls, purchases, etc.) has to be deliberately configured in GA4 and validated; it does not happen by default. If they can't describe the setup in detail, it's probably not implemented correctly.

6. "Can you show me which keywords or ads drive actual sales?"

Not just clicks or impressions—sales or qualified leads.

Good answer:

They open Google Ads (or your ad platform), filter by conversion or revenue, and show which keywords and creatives generate customers at a profitable CPA.

Bad answer:

"We optimize for clicks and impressions."

"I'd have to pull a custom report for that."

Red flag:

"Our rankings are up for our main keywords, that's what matters."

Rankings, clicks, and impressions are only useful if they lead to measurable conversions and revenue. CRO case studies consistently show that small changes to landing pages and funnels can dramatically improve conversion rates and revenue from the same traffic. If they never talk about conversions by keyword or ad creative, they're optimizing for the wrong scoreboard.

7. "What happens when someone fills out our contact form?"

Walk through the entire journey:

1. User fills out form
2. Where does that data go?
3. How is it tracked as a conversion?
4. How is it followed through to a sale?

Good answer:

"Form submits trigger a GA4 event and are marked as conversions. The lead goes into your CRM tagged as 'Web – Contact Form,' and we track opportunities and wins from that source so we can calculate close rate and revenue by channel."

Bad answer:

"It goes to your email."

"It's stored in the website database."

"You get a notification."

Red flag:

"I'm not sure what happens after they submit—that's on your sales side."

If they don't understand (or care about) what happens after the form, they can't meaningfully improve your funnel.

Optimization & Results Questions

These questions reveal whether they're actively improving performance or just maintaining the status quo.

8. "What have you tested in the last month—and what were the results?"

Real optimization = running experiments, measuring outcomes, and rolling out what wins.

Good answer:

"Last month we tested three hero headlines and two CTA variants on your main landing page. 'Book a Call' beat 'Get Started' and 'Learn More,' lifting conversion rate from 3.9% to 5.4%. We rolled that out site-wide and are now testing form length."

Bad answer:

"We're always optimizing."

"We follow best practices."

"No major tests recently."

Red flag:

"The design is proven—we don't need to test it."

Research and real-world CRO case studies show that companies investing in experimentation can see double- or even triple-digit lifts from optimization efforts over time. "Best practices" without testing is still guessing.

9. "Which page is our worst converter—and what are we doing about it?"

Every site has weak spots: slow pages, confusing layouts, unclear offers. These pages bleed revenue.

Good answer:

"Your services page has a 62% bounce rate and only a 1.1% conversion rate—lowest on the site. We're testing a simplified layout, clearer copy, and a more prominent CTA this week."

Bad answer:

"All of our pages are optimized."

"I'd have to look at the data first."

"Nothing stands out as problematic."

Red flag:

"We just need more traffic—then we can think about conversion rate."

If they can't name your worst-performing pages, they're not digging into the numbers.

10. "What's our LTV to CAC ratio?"

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) divided by Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) tells you whether your growth is sustainable. A common rule of thumb in many subscription and service models is to aim for an LTV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1—meaning each customer generates about three times what you spent to acquire them.

Good answer:

"Based on your CRM and revenue data, LTV is around $2,400 and average CAC is $320, so you're about 7.5:1. That's very healthy; we could justify more aggressive acquisition spend."

Bad answer:

"What's that?"

"We don't track LTV for web leads."

"I'm not sure how to calculate that."

Red flag:

"That's more of a SaaS thing; it doesn't really apply to you."

If they don't understand LTV:CAC, they're not thinking about your marketing in terms of actual business economics.

Red Flags vs. Green Flags

As you go through these questions, ignore the polish and pay attention to patterns.

Red Flags

• Can't answer basic questions without "pulling a report" for everything
• Talks mostly about vanity metrics (traffic, impressions, followers, rankings)
• Doesn't have direct access to your analytics—or clearly can't use them
• Gets defensive when asked about results ("We just need more budget," "These things take time")
• Asks you to "trust the process" without showing data
• Only reports good news; never talks about what's not working
• Reports are just data dumps—no context, insights, or next steps

Green Flags

• Answers with specific numbers quickly, not vague approximations
• Proactively shares what isn't working—and what they're doing about it
• Gives you full access to analytics, ad accounts, and dashboards
• Can explain your tracking setup in plain language and technical detail
• Shows you both wins and losses, without sugarcoating
• Recommends killing under-performing channels or campaigns
• Talks about business outcomes (revenue, customers, ROI), not just marketing metrics
• Has strong opinions—but can back every one with data

How to Use These Questions

Here's a simple action plan.

1. Schedule a 30-minute call

Don't do this over email. You don't want polished, prepared answers. You want to see how quickly they can get to the truth.

2. Ask for a screen-share

Watch them work:

• Can they open GA4 and your ad accounts without hunting for logins?
• Do they know exactly where to find conversion and acquisition data?
• Or are they lost in menus and tabs?

3. Push for specifics

Don't settle for:

• "Pretty good"
• "It varies"
• "We're optimizing"

Ask:

• "What's the number?"
• "Show me where you're seeing that."
• "What changed after we ran that test?"

4. Note their response time

Competent people monitor key metrics regularly. They can answer core questions without a long scavenger hunt.

If they have to "look everything up" in real time, it usually means they aren't checking these metrics on a regular basis.

5. Watch for deflection

Lines like:

• "That's not how we measure success."
• "Those metrics don't matter for your industry."
• "It's more about the long game / awareness / branding."

…are often cover for "We aren't tracking this properly" or "The numbers are bad."

What Their Answers Tell You

If they ace every question

Great—you have a capable partner.

But then ask: why did you have to drag this information out of them? If they already have clear data on conversions, CPA, LTV, and test results, they should be proactively bringing you insights, not just answering when pressed.

Fix:

Spell out exactly what you want in a monthly report:

• Conversions by channel
• CPA and ROAS by campaign
• LTV:CAC trends
• Tests run, results, and next tests

Make it clear that business results trump activity metrics.

If they struggle but seem honest

They might be technically strong (designing, building, or running campaigns) but not business-minded. They see their job as "launching things," not "driving profitable growth."

Fix:

Share this article.

Explain the metrics you expect to see regularly.

Give them 30 days to get proper tracking in place and come back with baseline numbers.

If they're willing to learn and improve—and you see progress—this relationship may be worth salvaging.

If they deflect, make excuses, or get defensive

You're likely paying for work that isn't delivering results. They either don't know how to track performance or are intentionally avoiding the numbers.

Fix:

Set a clear ultimatum:

"In the next two weeks, I want full conversion tracking set up and a basic performance dashboard in place. If that's not feasible, we'll move to someone who can do it."

If they react badly to that level of accountability, they've just made your decision easier.

If they can't answer any of these questions

Fire them.

You're paying someone to "handle your web stuff" who has no idea whether it's working. That's not a service provider—that's an expensive hobby.

Every month you wait is more wasted budget.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most web developers and many agencies still don't truly track business outcomes.

They track:

• Hours billed
• Pages designed
• Blog posts published
• Campaigns launched
• Reports generated

But you can spend 40 hours on a redesign that lowers your conversion rate. You can publish 20 blog posts that never move the needle. You can run ads that rack up thousands of impressions and zero sales.

They're not always scamming you. Often:

• They never learned modern analytics (especially GA4's event-based model).
• They think "building the site" and "measuring results" are separate jobs.
• Or they're simply overwhelmed and sticking to easy vanity metrics.

But intent doesn't change impact. If they can't answer these questions, you're making critical decisions about your marketing budget, website strategy, and growth—and doing it blind.

That's expensive.

The Bottom Line

Your web developer or marketing agency should be able to answer every question on this list quickly, with specific numbers, on a screen-share.

If they can't, you have one of three problems:

1. They're competent but not communicating (fixable).
2. They're incompetent but willing to learn (maybe fixable).
3. They're competent and hiding poor results (not fixable—you need someone new).

Most business owners never ask these questions. They accept vague answers and activity reports because they don't know what to demand.

Now you do.

Ask these questions. Watch how they respond. And if they fail even half of them, start looking for someone who treats your marketing like an investment that must earn a return—not just a list of tasks to complete.

If your current web person couldn't answer these questions—or if you want someone who proactively tracks conversions, optimizes for ROI, and can show you exactly what's working and what isn't—let's talk.

I've spent years setting up proper conversion tracking for businesses and watching them move from "we think it's working" to "we know exactly what's working and what's not."

The difference is data.

And data demands someone who knows how to track it.

Stop paying for guesswork. Start demanding results.