How to Evaluate an AI Agent Before You Buy

Why Most AI Agent Reviews Are Useless

Most "reviews" of AI agents test them on toy problems. They ask a chatbot to write a poem or summarize an article. That's not how you evaluate an agent that's supposed to run your lead pipeline.

Here's the checklist we actually use.

Question 1: Does It Connect to My Existing Tools?

An agent that can't connect to your CRM, inbox, or calendar is a chatbot, not an agent. Before you buy, verify it integrates with the specific tools you use — not just "supports Zapier" generically.

Question 2: What Happens When It Gets Stuck?

Every agent will encounter situations it can't handle. The question is: what does it do? Good agents know when to escalate. Bad agents either guess or go silent. Look for: escalation workflows, confidence thresholds, human-in-the-loop options.

Question 3: Can You See What It's Doing?

Visibility is non-negotiable. You should be able to see: every decision it made, every source it used, every action it took. If you can't audit it, you can't improve it or catch errors.

Question 4: How Long Does Setup Actually Take?

Vendors love to say "set up in minutes!" The real question: set up to do what, exactly? A basic chatbot can be configured in 5 minutes. A lead qualification agent that's properly trained on your specific business might take 2-4 hours to get right. Both are fine — just make sure you know which one you're signing up for.

Question 5: Is There a Free Trial or Proof of Concept?

Any serious vendor will let you test on real tasks before committing. If they won't, that's a red flag. A 14-day POC on your actual use case tells you more than any review.

Question 6: What Does Success Look Like?

Ask the vendor: "What metrics should improve, and by how much, after 30 days?" If they can't answer quantitatively, they're guessing too.