Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team
Put a $49 ticket in an ad, add a $6 booking fee at checkout, and a Massachusetts rule in force since September 2, 2025 has something to say about it. A marketing agency in Boston needs that rule close at hand, because Chapter 93A turns a misleading claim into a legal exposure. This page sets out six common claims in one grid: fee, price, free offer, comparison, testimonial and sale, each with the test it must pass. It is for owners and marketing leads selling to Massachusetts consumers. Progression is a New York marketing agency serving Boston clients remotely, with on-site sessions on request.
On this page · 11 sections
- The fee line on a Boston checkout
- A marketing agency in Boston works under Chapter 93A
- The claim grid, six rows
- Boston marketing agency fees for a claim review
- The fee row in detail: 940 CMR 38.00
- Free, was and now, and the five-star quote
- What a claim can cost in Massachusetts
- A Boston marketing company reviews checkout pages first
- Digital marketing agencies in Boston, read against the grid
- A first week review, step by step
- Related services and guides
The short answer Six kinds of claim cause most of the trouble in consumer advertising: a fee, a price, a free offer, a comparison, a testimonial and a sale. The grid below gives each one a test and a line for the page. It is a guide to questions and not legal advice. Ask counsel about your own ads, and never read this page as saying a particular ad complies.
Chapter 93A is quoted from the Massachusetts General Court’s published text and the federal rules from the Code of Federal Regulations, as of November 2026. The state fee rule is described as the law firms named below summarized it. Nothing here is legal advice, and Progression does not review ads for legal compliance. The receipts and the testimonial card are invented examples.
The fee line on a Boston checkout
Two checkout screens for the same invented ticket sit below.
Screen A shows $49 and adds a $6 booking fee at the last step. Screen B shows $55 from the first screen on. The sections that follow explain why the second page is the safer one, and what else in an ad deserves the same attention.
A marketing agency in Boston works under Chapter 93A
Any marketing agency in Boston, MA, whether it sits in the Back Bay or sells from elsewhere to Massachusetts buyers, works under Chapter 93A, Section 2. Subsection (a) declares unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce unlawful. Subsection (b) says that in construing it, courts are to be guided by the interpretations of the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts under section 5(a)(1) of the FTC Act. That is why the grid below leans on FTC rules. Subsection (c) lets the attorney general make rules interpreting it.
None of this is advice. If you want a view of your own ads, ask counsel. For the general question of working with a local team, see our page on a marketing agency near you.
A Boston digital marketing company needs the same review
A paid ad, an email and a landing page are all claims, and a digital buy reaches Massachusetts consumers whether the seller is in Boston or not. Digital marketing in Boston is reviewed the way print always was, with more places for a claim to slip through.
Boston marketing firms and who signs off the copy
The client signs off. An agency drafts and flags; the business owns the claim and counsel reviews anything in the grid that touches money. A firm that says it clears copy for you is promising more than it can. Health app teams sorting features before launch can use the triage sheet on our page about app developers in Boston.
Does the same review apply to a business selling to other businesses?
Chapter 93A has a separate path for business plaintiffs, covered further down. The claim types differ in a B2B ad, but a misleading price is a misleading price.
The claim grid, six rows
Each row names a claim, where its test comes from and what belongs on the page. The state fee rule is described as the two law firms cited in that row describe it.
| Claim | Where the test comes from | The test | What belongs on the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | The Massachusetts fee regulation, 940 CMR 38.00, as summarized by BakerHostetler and Sheppard Mullin | The total price is displayed more prominently than any other price and before personal details are requested; each fee is explained | The all-in price from the first screen, and each fee named with its purpose and amount |
| Price | Chapter 93A Section 2(a) and (b), with FTC interpretations | A price statement must not mislead; the charge the buyer meets at the end has to match what the ad led them to expect | The price a buyer will actually pay, without surprises at the final step. Ask counsel about wording |
| Free | 16 CFR 251.1 | The regular price is one openly and actively charged for about thirty days; terms are stated at the outset, not in a footnote | The condition next to the word free, and a regular price you really charge |
| Comparison | 16 CFR 233.1 | A former price must be the actual, bona fide price offered on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period | What the comparison is against, and proof that the other price was real |
| Testimonial | 16 CFR 255.2 | One customer’s result reads as typical unless the ad says otherwise, and a generic disclaimer does not cure it | The generally expected result stated beside the quote, backed by records |
| Sale | 16 CFR 233.1 | A “was” price needs a real history of being offered, and the reduction cannot be so small it means nothing | A “was” price you charged, and a discount large enough to matter |
Where the ad ends and the checkout begins
A shopper does not see an ad and a checkout; they see one journey. The grid applies from the first ad to the final screen, and a claim that is clean in the ad can fail at the last step when the number changes.
Which claim should be fixed first?
The one closest to the payment screen. A fee that surprises a buyer at checkout does more harm than a stale testimonial on the homepage.
- Any fee that first appears after the price was shown.
- Any free offer with conditions hidden below the fold.
- Any “was” price without a record behind it.
- Any testimonial that reads as a promise.
- Any sale with no end date.
Boston marketing agency fees for a claim review
A claim review can sit inside a retainer or run as a one-off project. A Boston marketing agency that bundles it into monthly work is charging for the hours; one that runs it as a project is charging for the audit. Either way, a marketing company in Boston should quote it after a written scope. No Boston premium is claimed here.
Published retainer and project bands
The bands below are market figures for marketing work in general. They are not Progression rates and none is a Boston figure.
| What you are buying | Published US band |
|---|---|
| Single channel retainer | $1,000 to $12,000 a month |
| Full service retainer | $5,000 to $50,000 a month |
| Fixed scope project | $10,000 to $50,000 |
| Google Ads management, excluding ad spend | $1,000 to $10,000 a month, or 10% to 20% of ad spend |
| Fractional CMO | $5,000 to $25,000 a month |
Costs the agency will not know until the audit
Ad volume, the number of landing pages and how many offers run at once set the size of a claim review. Our marketing agency pricing page shows how ranges like these work.
Get a free proposal
Send us one ad and its checkout page. You get a free proposal for marketing in Boston, with the grid applied to what you already run and counsel’s role marked plainly.
The fee row in detail: 940 CMR 38.00
Two law firms have written up Massachusetts’s fee regulation. Sheppard Mullin’s December 4, 2025 article says the regulation took effect September 2, 2025, applies across industries and covers advertising and solicitation aimed at Massachusetts consumers. BakerHostetler’s March 17, 2025 summary says it excludes government charges and shipping from the total price. Ask counsel for the regulation’s own text before relying on either summary.
Total price, and where it has to appear
BakerHostetler says the total price is the maximum price for a product including all mandatory fees and charges, that it must be shown every time a price is shown, more prominently than any other price, and before the buyer must give personal information. It also notes narrow exemptions, such as information needed to determine availability. Our marketing agency contract page covers the fee side of agency agreements.
Does an optional fee still need to be shown?
Both law firm summaries say fees are explained by nature, purpose and amount, and that where a fee is optional or waivable the buyer is told how to avoid it. So an optional fee is still part of the page, with its escape route stated.
- Name the fee in plain words.
- State the amount.
- Say what it pays for.
- Say how a buyer avoids it, if they can.
- Do not describe it as required by law unless it is.
Trials and renewals that bill again
Sheppard Mullin’s article says that before a consumer accepts a trial offer the seller must outline any financial obligation, specify the products affected and give clear cancellation instructions with deadlines, and that recurring charges must stop on cancellation. The exact timing is a question for counsel.
A Boston seller and a seller from elsewhere
Sheppard Mullin says companies promoting products through websites, apps, text messages, radio or television are covered even if they are outside Massachusetts, when they target Massachusetts consumers. Where the seller sits is not the test.
Running an ad with a fee at checkout?Send us one ad and its checkout page. You get a free proposal for marketing in Boston, with the grid applied to what you already run and counsel’s role marked plainly.
Free, was and now, and the five-star quote
These three rows fail most often because the wording is so familiar that nobody reads it.
A free consultation with a catch
The FTC’s guide says that offers of free merchandise or service must be made with extreme care. The conditions belong beside the word, not in a footnote marked by an asterisk, and a regular price is one at which the product was openly and actively sold for a reasonably substantial period, taken as a thirty day period.
A was price that nobody ever paid
The FTC’s former price rule gives a plain example: a retailer sets an inflated price for a few days, cuts it to the usual level and advertises the cut as a bargain. The rule calls that a false claim. A permanent sale is the same problem, stretched out.
What should a was price record show?
The record is the defense. Keep it where the person who writes the ad can find it.
- The former price and the dates it was charged.
- Evidence that the price was offered openly to the public.
- How many units or customers paid it, if you have the figure.
- The date the sale began and when it ends.
A review that sells a result
The endorsements rule says an ad that relates a customer’s experience with a key attribute is read as showing what customers generally get, and that a line such as results not typical does not fix it. The card shows the safer pattern. Our page on marketing agency red flags covers promises that deserve the same suspicion.
What does a stated typical result need behind it?
The endorsements rule asks the advertiser to hold adequate substantiation for the representation. A typical figure with no records behind it is just another claim.
- The data that produced the figure.
- The period and the customers it covers.
- A person who can explain how it was calculated.
- A note of the date, so it can be refreshed.
What a claim can cost in Massachusetts
Chapter 93A gives two routes. Consumers sue under Section 9, and businesses under Section 11. Neither section is a forecast about any ad.
| Section | Who may bring a claim | Before filing | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 9 | A person injured by an unlawful practice, other than someone who can sue under Section 11 | A written demand for relief at least thirty days earlier, and a written tender of settlement within thirty days can limit recovery | Actual damages or twenty-five dollars, whichever is greater; up to three but not less than two times that for a willful or knowing violation |
| Section 11 | A person who engages in trade or commerce and suffers a loss of money or property from another’s unfair or deceptive act | Section 11 has no written demand step like the one in Section 9 | Actual damages, or up to three but not less than two times for a willful or knowing violation |
Ask counsel what any of this means for a specific ad. A demand letter is a call to review the claim, not a verdict.
A Boston marketing company reviews checkout pages first
Any marketing company in Boston can order a review by exposure, and the order below puts money first. A list of the top Boston marketing agencies will not tell you who reads the fee rule.
Marketing companies in Boston differ most in how they handle this ordering. Ask each how many checkout pages it has reviewed against a list of claims, without naming a client.
Digital marketing agencies in Boston, read against the grid
A digital marketing agency in Boston can be tested by handing it the grid. Ask a digital marketing company in Boston what it does with each row. A digital marketing agency Boston buyers shortlist should be able to say. If you want the best marketing agency in Boston for your claims, start with the one that asks for your checkout page.
| Grid row | Ask to see | A weak answer |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | A checkout flow with the total price on the first screen | A fee that appears only at the last step |
| Price | An ad next to its final charge | Ads reviewed without the checkout |
| Free | Conditions printed beside the word free | An asterisk and a footnote |
| Comparison | Records of the former price | A was price with no history |
| Testimonial | The typical result beside the quote | A generic disclaimer |
| Sale | A date range and a real discount | A sale that never ends |
No firm is named here, and none is ranked. Our guide on what a marketing agency does covers the general scope of the work.
A first week review, step by step
A review does not need a long engagement. This is a sequence a small team can run in a week, with counsel brought in at the marked steps.
- List every price, fee, free offer, comparison, testimonial and sale you run.
- Screenshot the checkout from the first screen to the last.
- Mark every place where the number changes.
- Compare each ad’s wording with the grid row for it.
- Gather the records behind any was price, regular price or typical result.
- Take the marked list to counsel.
- Change the copy counsel flags.
- File the approved wording with a date.
Who keeps the approval record?
The business. The agency can store a copy, but the owner of the ad is the owner of the file.
Related services and guides
Pages that sit beside this one:
- Marketing agency near you
- Marketing agency pricing
- Marketing agency contract
- Marketing agency red flags
- What a marketing agency does
- SEO company in Massachusetts
- AI SEO agency in Boston
- Video production in Boston
- Digital advertising agency
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Paid media and lead generation
Websites and design
Choosing and working with an agency
Software and app development
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Web development, platforms and hosting
Social, content and brand
By industry and by situation
Frequently asked questions
What should a marketing agency in Boston know about Massachusetts advertising law?
What is Chapter 93A?
Does the Massachusetts fee rule apply to out-of-state sellers?
What is the total price under the Massachusetts fee rule?
Can I show a price and add a fee at checkout in Massachusetts?
Can I call something free in Massachusetts?
How long must a regular price have been charged before a free offer?
Are “results not typical” disclaimers enough?
How are Boston marketing fees quoted for a claim review?
What happens if a customer sends a 93A demand letter?
Can a business sue another business under Chapter 93A?
Do Boston marketing firms give legal advice on ads?
What should a Boston digital marketing company check first?
Does a Boston marketing company have to be based in Massachusetts?
What does a claim review involve?
Does the grid cover B2B ads?
Why does an agency need to look at the checkout page?
Is a sale price always a problem?
Can an agency guarantee that ads comply?
What should I send to start a review?
Running an ad with a fee at checkout?Send us one ad and its checkout page. You get a free proposal for marketing in Boston, with the grid applied to what you already run and counsel’s role marked plainly.
Get a free marketing proposal
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