How to leave a supplier without losing your accounts

Find out what you actually own

Domain registration, hosting, the website files, the Google Ads account, the Meta business account and ad account, the Google Business Profile, analytics, and any email attached to the domain.

Each of these can be held by an agency or a designer, and each is painful to recover afterwards. Check all of them before you say anything.

• —Domain — registered in your name, on your account
• —Hosting — in your name
• —Google Ads account — yours, with you as owner
• —Meta Business Manager — your business owns the assets
• —Google Business Profile — you have primary ownership
• —Analytics — your account, not theirs
• —The website files and any custom code

Secure ownership before giving notice

Ask to be made owner rather than manager on each account. This is a normal request and a reluctance to grant it tells you a great deal.

Do it as routine housekeeping rather than as a prelude to leaving, and it is usually straightforward.

Ad account history is worth real money

Google and Meta accounts accumulate learning and history that make campaigns cheaper to run. Starting a fresh account throws that away and the first months cost more.

This is the most commonly overlooked asset in an agency change and it is frequently worth more than the website.

Leave properly

Give the notice in the contract, in writing, and ask for a handover list. Most of it is professional courtesy and most agencies will oblige.

If they will not, having already secured ownership means it costs you a fortnight of awkwardness rather than your accounts.