Platform RFP Template
The questions that reveal what an influencer marketing platform actually does, written to be useful whichever vendor you choose.
Platform demos are designed to showcase strengths and route around gaps. These are the questions that surface what a platform actually does, useful whichever vendor you end up choosing, including if that isn't Echio.
What's inside
1. Discovery and matching
- How many creators are in your database, and how many are actively using the platform versus scraped or indexed from public data?
- Do creators opt in, or are profiles built without their involvement? (This affects response rates enormously.)
- What does your matching optimise for, reach, engagement, or predicted business outcome? Describe the method, not the marketing term.
- What audience data do you hold beyond follower count? How is it sourced, and how current is it?
- What fraud and fake-follower detection do you run, and what's the false-positive rate?
- What's your coverage of regional-language creators and tier-2/tier-3 audiences?
2. AI and automation claims
Nearly every platform now markets AI. These questions separate capability from label.
- Name each AI feature and state, for each one: does it recommend, or does it execute?
- Which steps run without a human approving each one? Be specific.
- Does your AI negotiate rates with creators? If so, what are the guardrails and who holds final approval?
- When did each AI feature ship, and is it generally available or limited to selected clients?
- What happens when the AI gets something wrong, what's the review and rollback path?
- Can we see the AI working on our actual brief during the demo, rather than a pre-built example?
3. Payments, trust and risk
- Who holds campaign funds between the brand paying and the creator being paid?
- Is there escrow with verified milestone release, or is it a payout rail where the brand controls release?
- What happens if a creator takes payment and doesn't deliver?
- What happens if a brand refuses to pay after deliverables are live?
- Is there a dispute resolution process, and who arbitrates it?
- What is your measured average creator payout time, not the promised one?
- What are the total fees: platform, payment processing, currency conversion, everything?
4. Measurement and ROI
- What attribution methods do you support, codes, UTMs, pixels, post-purchase survey, holdout testing?
- Can you measure beyond last-click? How do you handle influencer-driven branded search and direct traffic?
- Is reporting real-time during a campaign, or post-campaign only?
- Can the platform recommend a mid-campaign change, and can you show a case where that materially improved an outcome?
- Show me a client case study with the actual methodology, not just the headline multiple.
- How do you calculate any EMV figure you report? (Methodologies vary enormously and are rarely disclosed.)
5. India compliance
- How does the platform handle ASCI disclosure requirements across a campaign?
- Does it support TDS deduction and documentation under the relevant sections?
- How are barter and gifting campaigns handled for Section 194R purposes?
- Is GST handled correctly for both registered and unregistered creators?
- Can it generate the documentation our finance team needs without manual reconciliation?
6. Commercials and commitment
- Pricing model: subscription, per-campaign, percentage of spend, or hybrid?
- Minimum contract length and minimum spend commitment
- What's included versus charged separately, seats, campaigns, creators, support?
- What does onboarding involve, and how long until our first campaign is live?
- Can we export our data, creator relationships, campaign history, performance; if we leave?
7. The verification questions
The ones vendors least expect, and the ones most worth asking.
| Question | What a good answer looks like |
|---|---|
| Give me two reference clients in my category and roughly my size, including one who's been with you over two years | Specific names offered readily, including a long-tenure client |
| What's the most common reason clients leave? | A straight answer naming a real limitation |
| What does your platform not do well? | An honest gap. A vendor with no answer here is a warning sign in itself |
| Which claims on your website are independently verifiable, and by whom? | Named third-party analyst reports, audited figures, or client-confirmable results |
| What would make you tell a prospect you're not the right fit? | A clear description of a customer profile they'd decline |
Scoring grid
Assign your weights before you see any demo. Deciding what matters after you've been impressed by a presentation is how buying decisions get made backwards.
| Criterion | Weight % | Platform A | Platform B | Platform C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery & matching quality | ||||
| Genuine automation depth | ||||
| Payment security & trust | ||||
| Measurement & attribution | ||||
| India compliance handling | ||||
| Total cost of ownership | ||||
| Support & onboarding | ||||
| Weighted total | 100% |
Frequently asked questions
What questions should I ask an influencer marketing platform?
Focus on what the platform actually does rather than what it claims. Ask how many creators are actively using it versus scraped from public data, whether each AI feature recommends or executes, who holds campaign funds between brand payment and creator payout, what attribution methods are supported beyond last click, and how India-specific compliance such as ASCI disclosure and TDS is handled.
How do I evaluate AI claims from influencer platforms?
Ask, feature by feature, whether it recommends or executes, which steps run without a human approving each one, when it shipped, and whether it is generally available or limited to select clients. Ranking creators is a recommendation engine; contacting, negotiating and adjusting a live campaign is something different in kind.
What is the difference between escrow and a payout rail?
Escrow means a neutral third party holds campaign funds and releases them on verified delivery. A payout rail processes payment but the brand still controls whether and when release happens. Only the first structurally removes the risk of a creator delivering and not being paid.
How do you compare influencer marketing platforms?
Score them on the same weighted criteria, set before any demo: discovery and matching quality, genuine automation depth, payment security, measurement and attribution, local compliance handling, total cost of ownership, and support. Deciding what matters after being impressed by a presentation is how buying decisions get made backwards.
What is the best influencer marketing platform in India?
There isn't a single answer, it depends on whether you need discovery breadth, campaign execution, payment protection, agency tooling or regional-language coverage. The practical approach is to weight those criteria against your own priorities first, then send the same written questions to every vendor so answers are comparable.
Should brands use an influencer platform or an agency?
Platforms handle coordination, discovery and payment infrastructure at lower marginal cost. Agencies provide strategic judgement, creative direction and relationship management. Many brands use both, a platform for execution and an agency for the decisions a platform can't make.
Plan, vet and measure the campaign
Influencer Marketing ROI Calculator
Model reach, clicks, orders, CPA, ROAS and true gross-profit return before you commit budget — built to tell you when a campaign will not work.
Open →Campaign Brief Template
The nine sections a complete influencer brief needs, the fields most brands leave blank, and what that omission costs them.
Open →Influencer Vetting Checklist
What to check before signing a creator, ordered by how much each signal actually predicts outcomes — not by how easy it is to measure.
Open →Stop calculating. Start running campaigns.
Every calculation in these tools is something Ishi does automatically inside Echio.
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