Across India, a growing number of founders, startups, and SMEs assume performance marketing means “zero monthly fees” and that the digital marketing agency will invest its own money—ads, manpower, tools—and charge only after sales happen.
This belief is not entirely false.
But it is “true only in certain structured business models” where the agency has a:
In most other scenarios, a pure “pay after sale” model is risky, unsustainable, and nearly impossible to execute without compromising results.
This blog explains the “complete truth”, the “real models”, and “when performance marketing can genuinely be free from retainers”.
Many businesses believe:
- Agencies will run ads from their own pockets,
- Agencies will hire their own team for the project,
- Agencies will take payment only after the client receives sales.
Running ads, generating leads, filtering prospects, and nurturing customers requires “consistent cash flow”, “professional manpower”, and “expensive tools”.
Agencies cannot sustainably fund this unless they have “skin in the game” or “assured high commissions”.
There are very specific conditions under which a performance marketing agency like ARE InfoTech may run campaigns entirely on a performance basis:
If the agency is a part-owner or has a legally signed revenue-sharing contract, it may invest upfront.
Example industries:
Agencies can recover their investment only if your margins are strong enough.
For example:
The agency must be able to track every:
This requires advanced CRM, analytics tools, and complete access—not half-visibility.
A few hundred rupees commission cannot fund ad expenses.
But high-ticket services can.
Example:
Most businesses in India fail to qualify for a no-retainer model because:
- Their margins are low.
- They don’t share real-time sales data.
- They want the agency to fund ad spend.
- They don’t have trackable systems.
- They have long sales cycles with uncertainty.
This makes performance-only models extremely high-risk.
Agencies cannot spend ₹1 lakh hoping to maybe recover it later.
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Here are the “three models” that work ethically and transparently:
Model 1 - Hybrid Model (Retainer + Performance Bonus)
Most trusted and sustainable.
Businesses pay a base fee + additional incentive per sale.
Model 2 - Commission Model (If Margins Are High)
Commission per sale works only for:
- High-ticket items
- Products with consistent demand
- Businesses with proven conversion rate
Model 3 - Risk-Sharing Model (Both Agency & Client Invest)
Both parties split the advertising budget and share the revenue.
This is the fairest and most transparent model.
Because “ad spend is not refundable”—whether a sale happens or not.
Google, Meta, and Instagram do not give refunds.
So agencies cannot burn their own cash without guaranteed returns.
ARE InfoTech provides a “structured performance-based approach”, including:
- No-obligation audit worth ₹5000
- Full website, competitor & conversion-rate analysis
- Transparent performance KPIs
- High ROI-driven strategies
- Lead quality improvement
- Sales funnel optimization
- Budget forecasting
- CRM & tracking setup
- Medical tourism + international lead generation expertise
- Doctors
- Clinics
- Physiotherapists
- Medical tourism companies
- Hospitality & tourism businesses
- Local service providers
- D2C brands
We offer pure performance marketing “only when”:
- Your margins support high commissions
- Tracking is 100% transparent
- Product is high-demand
- Conversions are measurable
- Sales cycle is predictable
Otherwise, we build a hybrid or performance-plus-retainer model.
Businesses who expect agencies to fund their marketing often:
- Waste months searching for an agency
- Lose valuable seasons (festivals, wedding season, tourism peak)
- Miss opportunities to scale
- Fall behind competitors
- Get stuck with unqualified freelancers promising unreal results
Marketing delay = revenue loss.
Performance marketing is not about free service.
It is about **reward-based accountability, measurable results, and transparent ROI**.
The right question is not:
“Can you work without retainer?”
The right questions are:
- “Do we have the margins for performance marketing?”
- “Can we share transparent tracking?”
- “Are we ready to scale with a data-driven system?”
If yes — agencies like ARE InfoTech can build a strong performance partnership.
Get a “free business audit worth ₹5000” and a conversion strategy for your brand.
ARE InfoTech — One of India’s Most Trusted Performance Marketing & SEO Companies
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