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Red flags to watch out for when hiring a landing page design agency

6 Red Flags to Watch Out for When Hiring A Landing Page Design Agency

Looking for a landing page design agency? Look beyond best deals and turnaround times. Watch out for these red flags when hiring one. Read on. ...

Your landing page is more than just a digital touchpoint. It’s one of the most critical assets your company owns. Think of it as your virtual storefront. It’s often the very first place potential customers interact with your brand, and as we all know, first impressions stick. In fact, 94% of first impressions are shaped by design.

A well-designed landing page can capture attention, build trust, and drive conversions. That’s why every element—from the headline to the CTA—needs to be intentional and optimized. In short, your landing page needs to tick all the right boxes: visually appealing, fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and strategically structured for action.

But here’s the catch. Getting there isn’t just about good design. It’s also about partnering with the right people. So, if you’re thinking about hiring a landing page design agency, be vigilant. Not all agencies are created equal, and there are a few red flags you’ll want to watch out for when scouting landing page design services.

1. Low Pricing Models

Don’t fall for cheap when hiring a landing page design agency. While a low price tag might seem appealing upfront, it often comes at the cost of quality, strategy, or long-term performance. A poorly designed landing page can hurt your brand’s credibility, drive visitors away, and cost you conversions.

Many budget agencies cut corners—using recycled templates, ignoring mobile responsiveness, or skipping essential user experience elements. Worse, some may outsource work without transparency or fail to understand the business goals behind your page.

In the end, what seems like a cost-saving decision can turn into a costly mistake. Instead of chasing the lowest quote, focus on value, expertise, and results. A great landing page should pay for itself through better engagement and higher ROI.

At Email Mavlers, for instance, we offer competitively priced landing page services tailored for performance and flexibility. 

Our responsive landing page design services start at $498 per page with a standard turnaround of 6 to 7 business days. If you need a faster option, we offer expedited delivery in 4 to 5 days at $627 per page. We also provide clear, upfront pricing so there are no surprises. 

All our work is backed by a 100% money-back guarantee if the final result doesn’t meet your expectations.

2. You Never Get to Meet the Designers

If the agency shields you from the core design team and only communicates through a sales rep or project manager, that’s a red flag. While having a point of contact is normal, you should also be looped in with the people actually crafting your landing page.

Direct communication with the landing page designers allows you to clarify creative direction, provide feedback in context, and ensure that your brand vision isn’t getting lost in translation.

An agency that avoids putting you in touch with its designers may be outsourcing the work, relying on inexperienced freelancers, or simply not confident in their team. 

In any case, transparency is key. If you’re kept at arm’s length from the creative process, it’s worth asking why.

3. Zero Pushback

Who doesn’t like a bunch of agreeable faces on a Zoom call? But, if an agency agrees to everything without asking questions or offering suggestions, it could mean they’re either inexperienced, overly passive, or simply more focused on keeping the project moving than on delivering real results.

According to a study published in the Journal of Personality, people who score high in agreeableness may actually be more likely to cause harm in certain situations compared to those who are less congenial.

You’re not hiring order-takers—you’re hiring experts. 

Because a truly experienced team should bring their strategic and creative insights to the table. 

That means the landing page designers respectfully push back on ideas that won’t serve your goals, explain why a particular layout might hurt conversions, or recommend a user experience tweak you hadn’t considered.

4. Their Own Website Is Buggy

If the agency’s own website is outdated, buggy, slow to load, or poorly designed, that’s a major warning sign. Their site is essentially their portfolio—it’s what showcases their design skills, attention to detail, and understanding of user experience.

A broken contact form, inconsistent branding, clunky navigation, or non-responsive design suggests one of two things: they either don’t prioritize their own brand, or they lack the capabilities they claim to offer. Either way, it reflects a disconnect between what they promise and what they practice.

Before you hire, take time to explore their website. 

Does it inspire confidence? Does it feel current and intuitive? Or are you clicking through a site that looks like it was last updated in 2015? If it’s the latter, well, you may want to keep looking for better landing page design services. 

5. Mum on Maintenance

A landing page isn’t a “set it and forget it” asset. It needs ongoing updates. If the agency doesn’t bring up maintenance or post-launch support during the conversation, that’s a red flag.

Landing page designers who only focus on the build phase and go silent after launch may leave you stranded when something breaks or needs to be optimized. Worse, they may charge hefty fees later for even the smallest tweaks—costs you could’ve avoided with a proper maintenance agreement upfront.

Just so you have an idea of website maintenance costs, refer to this breakdown by Hostinger. 

Source: Hostinger

A reliable agency should talk about long-term performance and support. That includes things like A/B testing, speed optimization, analytics tracking, accessibility updates, and even ongoing UX improvements. If maintenance isn’t part of the discussion, it’s a sign the so-called landing page expert isn’t actually one.


6. Non-aligned CMS Platform

If the agency pushes a CMS that doesn’t align with your business needs, technical comfort, or future scalability, that’s a red flag. Choosing the wrong content management system can lock you into unnecessary complexity, higher costs, or a frustrating user experience.

For instance, if you just need a simple, high-converting landing page and they suggest a bloated enterprise CMS—or worse, a proprietary platform that only they can manage—you may end up completely dependent on them for every small change. That’s not sustainable.

A good agency should assess your technical resources, budget, and content strategy before recommending a CMS. Whether it’s Webflow, WordPress, HubSpot, or a fully custom solution, the platform should empower your team—not hold them hostage.

Our team delivers end-to-end design and coding for a wide range of platforms, including Unbounce, Instapage, Leadpages, Marketo, Pardot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and marketing-friendly CMS platforms like WordPress, Drupal, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and Magento.

Wrapping Up

So, if an agency is cutting corners, hiding their team, avoiding tough conversations, or treating your project like a one-off task, it’s worth pausing. Your landing page plays a critical role in your customer journey, and the people behind it matter just as much as the design itself.

Therefore, take your time, ask the right questions, and look beyond the portfolio of landing page design services. 

Need your landing page designed and coded? Get in touch with our landing page designer, and let’s get started already!

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Susmit Panda - Content writer

A realist at heart and an idealist at head, Susmit is a content writer at Email Mavlers. He has been in the digital marketing industry for half a decade. When not writing, he can be seen squinting at his Kindle, awestruck.

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