Media buying or full funnel?
A media buying agency runs your ad accounts: campaigns, audiences and budgets. A full-funnel agency also changes what the ads lead to: the creative, the product page, the offer and the emails after the first order, all measured on Shopify sales. If clicks arrive but orders don’t, media buying alone can’t reach the leak.
The ad account, or the whole path.
| The question | Media buying agency | Full-funnel agency |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | Campaigns, audiences, budgets | Those, plus creative, pages, offer and email |
| Depth in the ad account | It’s the whole job | Shared with three other stages |
| Measured on | Often the platform’s ROAS | Shopify sales, platform numbers beside them |
| New ads | Often supplied by you | Made and tested on a schedule |
| After the click | Out of scope | Product pages, offer, checkout |
| After the first order | Out of scope | Email and SMS flows |
| Vendors you manage | One per job | One |
When media buying alone is enough.
Media buying is right when
- Your store already converts the clicks
- Email and SMS already bring reorders
- Strong creative arrives every week
- Another team owns the site
Full funnel is right when
- Spend is up and sales aren’t
- Clicks come in, orders don’t
- Four vendors send four different reports
What changed at each stage.
Creative
Wholesale Fashion Trends: creator videos and statics tested on a rhythm, from link click-through near 1%.
Paid ads
Wholesale Fashion Trends: cost per purchase $37.10 to $21.19, Meta-reported, Jun 1–Sep 26, 2026 vs 2025.
Conversion
Wholesale Fashion Trends: offer, product pages and homepage reworked. American Football IQ: the offer and bundles.
Retention
Both brands: email flows that bring the second order.
84% more purchases on 5% more ad spend.
Store sales count every channel, so not all of the growth is from ads. The full case study, every number sourced.
