Is It Out of Scope? — Web design
Is auditing a competitor's ad account out of scope for a web design project?
Yes. Paid-ad account analysis is a media-buying discipline with no overlap with design deliverables.
This one lands on design engagements rarely, usually when a client is doing broad competitive research and assumes whoever's already looking at the competitor's site can look at their ads too.
Is it out of scope?
Yes. Reviewing a competitor's ad account — spend, targeting, creative performance — is a paid-media discipline, unrelated to design work regardless of what else is on the engagement.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Exclusions clause→ — Paid-ad account analysis is excluded from a design scope as a distinct discipline.
Example contract wording
Example contract wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
Reviewing a competitor's ad account isn't something the design scope covers — that's paid-media analysis, a different specialty. Happy to point you toward the right resource for it.
How MarginFlow flags it
MarginFlow flags competitor ad-account audit requests outside_scope on design contracts, since they fall outside every deliverable category a design SOW typically covers.