# What is a normal satisfaction score with an agency?

**Short answer.** Across 137 COLLAB measurements where the brand rated its agency, the median is 7.33 out of 10. Attitude scores highest (7.68) and expertise lowest (7.30), and that has held for six years.

7.33 out of 10. That is the median across 137 COLLAB measurements where a brand rated its agency, collected by IKAg since December 2019.

## What that number means

A 7.33 feels like "good but not exceptional", and that is exactly what it is. In practice this scale runs from 6 to 8.5: below 6 a relationship usually ends by itself, and almost nobody gets above 8.5. So a 7 is not a bad report and an 8 is exceptionally good.

If you measure your own agency and land on 6.5, you are below the middle but not in the red. The question then becomes: on which axis?

## The three axes, because that is where the difference sits

- **Attitude: 7.68.** The highest of the three, year after year.
- **Process: 7.47.**
- **Expertise: 7.30.** The lowest, and the most striking finding from six years of measuring.

Agencies are therefore judged best on how they are and least on what they know. At question level it is sharper still: across 166 measurements agencies score high on reachability (8.36), trust (7.91) and enthusiasm (7.82), and low on using data (6.49), steering timing (6.76), "we learn from the agency" (6.81) and value for money (6.85).

Six of the ten lowest-scoring questions sit in the Expertise axis, while "is an expert in their field" tops that same axis. Clients do consider their agency skilled; what they miss is that skill reaching them.

## What to do with it

Do not use the number as a report card but as a starting point. Below 7 on **process** is usually fixable in a quarter with agreements. Below 7 on **expertise** is a conversation about the team and about seniority, and that takes longer.

And measure both sides. The other way round, when the agency rates its client, the median is 7.57: agencies are slightly more positive about their clients than the reverse.

See also: [how to evaluate your agency](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-evalueer-ik-mijn-bureau) and [does my agency think things are going better than I do](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/zelfbeeldkloof-bureau).

## Related questions

- [How do I evaluate my agency?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/hoe-evalueer-ik-mijn-bureau): On three axes that move independently: expertise, process and attitude. Have both sides answer the same questions, because the gap between those answers is what the conversation should be about.
- [Does my agency think things are going better than I do?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/zelfbeeldkloof-bureau): Almost certainly. In nine COLLAB measurements where an agency rated both itself and its client, the agency scored itself higher nine times out of nine, by 1.4 points out of ten on average.
- [Why is the collaboration grinding?](https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq/waarom-loopt-de-samenwerking-stroef): Usually over something small nobody said out loud: too many decision makers, briefings that start verbally, or feedback that changes direction every round. Agencies score lowest on using data and on steering timing.

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IKAg is the business consultant for marketing and agencies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Market figures come from the Agency Barometer, calculated on the annual accounts agencies filed with the National Bank themselves. Figures on pitches and satisfaction come from IKAg-guided processes, and are always presented as such.

- All questions: https://www.ikag.be/en/factsheets/faq
- Last updated: 2026-08-19