Call Bidding Setup Guide

🎯 CallGrid's Call Bidding Advantage

CallGrid's Call Bidding system provides two key differentiators that set us apart from other platforms:

🚀 Advanced Bidding Rules

Our advanced bidding rules allow you to make campaign overrides based on any tag filters you want - meaning you can change bidding behavior based on:

• Buyer or destination characteristics
• Source or vendor performance
• Custom tags and parameters
• Sub IDs for granular optimization

This allows you to centralize your campaign management under a single campaign because of the flexible rule bidding system, with all settings accessible in the same view.

🎯 Call Source Priorities

Our call source priorities feature allows you to set the priority of your sources so that when multiple sources send bid requests for the same caller ID (duplicate bids), you get to choose which sources take priority. Priority sources are selected while lower ones are rejected - this is our solution to the duplicate bid problem and allows buyers to optimize delivery by choosing which sources they value and trust most.

🚀 Accessing Call Bidding Settings

Navigate to: Campaigns → Select Campaign → Bidding tab

💰 Core Bidding Configuration

Caller ID Requirements

Require Caller ID

• Toggle ON to reject anonymous calls
• Reduces spam and improves call quality
• Required by most buyers in the marketplace
• Impact: ~5-10% call volume reduction

Passthrough Enabled

• Allows original caller ID to pass through to buyers
• Required for caller verification and compliance
• Significantly improves buyer answer rates
• Essential for premium buyers and higher payouts

Cost Plus Enabled

• Transparent pricing model for trusted partnerships
• Shows your markup percentage to strategic partners
• Builds long-term buyer confidence and relationships
• Use for: Volume commitments and preferred partnerships

Base Bidding Parameters

Base Bid

• Starting bid amount for all calls entering auctions
• Format: Dollar amount (e.g., "26")
• Sets the minimum acceptable price floor
• Strategy: Start conservative, optimize based on performance

Min Bid

• Absolute floor price - protects against unprofitable calls
• Prevents accepting bids below your cost threshold
• Format: Dollar amount (e.g., "14")
• Calculate: Your acquisition cost + minimum profit margin

Max Bid

• Ceiling for bid amounts to prevent runaway auctions
• Controls maximum payout expectations
• Format: Dollar amount (e.g., "35")
• Strategy: Set 20-30% above your average target price

Payout Configuration

Payout Type

• Duration: Pay after X seconds of connected time
• Connect: Pay immediately on call answer
• Conversion: Pay only on confirmed conversion/sale
• Industry recommendation: Duration for most verticals

Duration Start Type

• Connect: Timer starts when buyer answers
• Dial: Timer starts when dialing begins
• Impact: Typically 10-15 second difference in payout timing

Payout Call Length

• Minimum connected duration required for payout
• Industry standards by vertical:
• • Insurance: 90-120 seconds
  • Solar: 120-180 seconds
  • Home Services: 60-90 seconds
• Format: Seconds (e.g., "90")

Margin Management

Cost Plus Margin Type

• Percentage: Markup as percentage of your cost
• Fixed Amount: Dollar markup per call
• Recommendation: Percentage for scalability and flexibility

Cost Plus Margin

• Your markup amount above costs
• Percentage format: Whole number (e.g., "15" = 15%)
• Fixed format: Dollar amount per call
• Industry standard: 10-20% margins depending on vertical

Duplicate Handling

Expired Bid Action

• Reject: Don't accept bids that arrive after timeout
• Accept at Base: Accept late bids at base bid price
• Accept at Last: Honor the last valid bid price
• Strategy: "Reject" for quality control, "Accept at Base" for volume

Bid Expiration

• Seconds before bid requests expire
• Default: 60 seconds
• Longer timeouts for complex sales processes
• Shorter timeouts for high-volume operations

Pay On Duplicates

• Toggle ON to pay for repeat callers within window
• Consider your duplicate prevention strategy
• Industry variations:
• • Insurance: Usually disabled (NO)
  • Home Services: Often enabled (YES)

Duplicate Interval

• Days before a caller is considered "new" again
• Range: 1-365 days based on sales cycle
• Common settings by vertical:
• • Insurance: 30-90 days
  • Home Services: 7-14 days
  • Finance/Lending: 90-180 days

Request Limits

Max Requests Per Minute

• Rate limiting per individual buyer
• Prevents system abuse and ensures fair access
• Default: 100 requests
• Increase for high-volume, trusted buyers

Max Requests

• Total daily request limit per buyer
• Protects against unexpected cost spikes
• Default: 100 requests
• Calculate: Expected daily calls × safety factor of 2

Time Limit Days

• How long to remember and enforce limits
• Default: 60 days
• Impacts duplicate tracking accuracy
• Longer periods = more accurate duplicate prevention

📊 Advanced Bidding Rules - CallGrid's Key Advantage

This is our biggest differentiator - advanced bidding rules enable dynamic campaign management through tag-based overrides, allowing centralized control under a single campaign.

Understanding Advanced Bidding Rules

CallGrid's advanced bidding rules allow campaign overrides based on any tag filters, meaning you can modify bidding behavior based on:

Tag Filter Categories

• Buyer/Destination Tags: BuyerName, BuyerCategory, BuyerRegion
• Source/Vendor Tags: SourceName, VendorName, SourceCategory
• Custom Tags: Any custom parameters you've defined
• Sub ID Tags: Granular campaign tracking identifiers
• Geographic Tags: InboundStateCode, InboundZipCode, InboundCity
• Time Tags: Hour, DayOfWeek, CallDate
• Quality Tags: CallDuration, SourceQuality, LeadScore

Creating Advanced Bid Rules

1. Click "Add Rule" in the Bid Rules section
2. Name your rule descriptively
3. Set conditions using ANY available tag
4. Define adjustments to apply
5. Set priority order for multiple rules

Strategic Bidding Rule Examples

Buyer-Based Optimization

• • Name: "Premium Buyer Discount"
  • Condition: BuyerCategory Equals "Preferred"
  • Adjustment: Base Bid -$2
  • Use Case: Volume partnership rates

Source Performance Rewards

• • Name: "Google Traffic Premium"
  • Condition: SourceName Contains "Google"
  • Adjustment: Margin -3%
  • Use Case: Reward high-converting traffic sources

Custom Tag Routing

• • Name: "High-Value Sub ID"
  • Condition: SubID Equals "premium-landing"
  • Adjustment: Cost Plus Margin +10%
  • Use Case: Premium traffic monetization

Multi-Tag Combinations

• • Name: "CA Google Premium Hours"
  • Condition: InboundStateCode Equals "CA" AND SourceName Contains "Google" AND Hour Between 9-17
  • Adjustment: Base Bid +$5
  • Use Case: Stack multiple premium conditions

Centralized Campaign Management

Key Benefit: Because bidding rules can override based on any tag filters, you can:

✅ Manage multiple buyer relationships under one campaign ✅ Handle different source types with different pricing ✅ Customize vendor payouts without separate campaigns
✅ Apply complex logic all in the same interface ✅ View all rules in a compact, easy-to-scan format

This eliminates the need for multiple campaigns and complex routing setups.

🎯 Call Source Priorities - Duplicate Solution

CallGrid's Call Source Priorities feature solves the duplicate bid problem by allowing you to set priority rankings for your sources.

How Source Priorities Work

When multiple sources send bid requests for the same caller ID:

1. CallGrid compares source priorities
2. Highest priority source wins automatically
3. Lower priority sources are rejected
4. You control which sources you value most

Setting Up Source Priorities

Navigate to: Sources → Priority Settings

Priority Configuration

Priority 1: Google Ads Traffic

Priority 2: Facebook Direct 

Priority 3: Native Network

Priority 4: Affiliate Traffic

Strategic Benefits

• Quality Control: Ensure best traffic sources get preference
• Revenue Optimization: Higher-converting sources win duplicates
• Relationship Management: Reward top-performing partners
• Delivery Optimization: Media buyers can ensure better buyer delivery

Advanced Priority Strategies

Performance-Based Tiers

Tier 1: Conversion rate >15%

Tier 2: Conversion rate 10-15%  

Tier 3: Conversion rate 5-10%

Tier 4: Conversion rate <5%

Geographic Prioritization

Priority 1: Local/Direct traffic

Priority 2: Regional networks

Priority 3: National networks

Priority 4: General traffic

🎯 Advanced Bid Adjustments

Fine-tune bidding strategies based on any available tag characteristics.

Adjustment Operations

Mathematical Operations

• Add: Increase bid by specific amount (+$3)
• Subtract: Decrease bid by amount (-$2)
• Multiply: Percentage adjustment (×1.15)
• Set: Override to specific amount (=$25)

Tag-Based Adjustment Examples

State Performance Optimization

InboundStateCode Equals "FL,TX,CA" → +$4

InboundStateCode Equals "WY,MT,ND" → -$3

Source Quality Scoring

SourceCategory Equals "Premium" → +$5

SourceName Contains "Google" → ×1.2

Buyer Relationship Management

BuyerCategory Equals "Preferred" → -$1

BuyerRegion Equals "West Coast" → +$2

Custom Tag Optimization

CustomTag_LeadScore > 8.5 → +$6

SubID Contains "premium" → ×1.25

💡 Best Practices & Optimization

Starting Configuration Strategy

Week 1: Conservative Foundation

• Set conservative base bid (market average -10%)
• Wide min/max bid spread (40-60% range)
• Simple duration-based payout (90 seconds)
• Start with 2-3 simple rules maximum
• Focus on geographic or time-based rules first

Week 2-3: Source Priority Setup

• Configure source priorities based on known performance
• Add buyer-based bid rules for key relationships
• Implement basic custom tag filtering
• Monitor rule hit rates and performance

Month 2+: Advanced Optimization

• Complex multi-tag rules with stacked conditions
• Performance-based source prioritization
• Dynamic margin management by tag combinations
• Seasonal and event-based adjustments

Common Setup Mistakes to Avoid

Rule Complexity Too Early

• Problem: Complex multi-condition rules before baseline
• Solution: Start with simple single-tag rules
• Impact: Easier troubleshooting and optimization

Ignoring Source Priorities

• Problem: Not configuring source priorities for duplicates
• Solution: Set up priorities based on source quality
• Impact: Better duplicate handling and revenue optimization

Tag Overload

• Problem: Too many custom tags without clear purpose
• Solution: Focus on tags that drive bidding decisions
• Impact: Cleaner data and more effective rules

📈 Performance Monitoring & Analytics

Key Performance Indicators

Rule Performance Metrics

• Rule Hit Rate: Which rules activate most frequently
• Rule Revenue Impact: Revenue attribution by rule
• Tag Effectiveness: Which tags drive best performance
• Source Priority Wins: Duplicate resolution success rate

Advanced Analytics

• Tag-Based Revenue: Revenue by tag combinations
• Source Priority Performance: Win rates by priority tier
• Rule Stacking Impact: Multiple rule interaction analysis
• Custom Tag ROI: Return on investment by custom parameters

Optimization Signals

Rule Adjustments Needed

• Low rule hit rate: Rules may be too restrictive
• High rule conflicts: Priority order needs adjustment
• Poor tag performance: Tag logic may need refinement
• Source priority failures: Priority rankings need updates

🚨 Troubleshooting Advanced Features

Advanced Bidding Rules Issues

Rules Not Firing

✓ Check tag spelling and case sensitivity ✓ Verify tag data is being captured
✓ Review rule priority and conflicts ✓ Test with simplified conditions first

Unexpected Rule Behavior

✓ Review rule stacking and interactions ✓ Check for conflicting adjustment types ✓ Verify tag data types (string vs numeric) ✓ Test rules individually before combining

Source Priority Problems

Duplicates Still Getting Through

✓ Verify source priority configuration ✓ Check caller ID matching accuracy ✓ Review duplicate time window settings
✓ Confirm source identification is working

Wrong Sources Winning

✓ Review priority rankings ✓ Check for source naming inconsistencies ✓ Verify priority logic is applied correctly ✓ Test with known duplicate scenarios

🎮 Advanced Call Bidding Strategies

Dynamic Tag-Based Management

Multi-Dimensional Optimization

Combine geographic, source, buyer, and custom tags for sophisticated routing:

Rule: "Premium CA Google Preferred Buyer"

Condition: InboundStateCode="CA" AND SourceName Contains "Google" AND BuyerCategory="Preferred"

Adjustment: Base Bid +$3, Margin -2%

Performance Feedback Loop

Use custom tags to capture conversion data and optimize bidding:

Rule: "High-Converting Source Bonus"

Condition: SourceConversionRate > 15%

Adjustment: Margin -5%

Use Case: Reward high-performing sources with better pricing

Centralized Campaign Architecture

Instead of managing multiple campaigns, use one campaign with advanced rules:

Traditional Approach: 5 separate campaigns

• Google Traffic Campaign
• Facebook Traffic Campaign
• Premium Buyer Campaign
• West Coast Campaign
• High-Value Lead Campaign

CallGrid Approach: 1 campaign with 5 bidding rules

• All traffic centralized
• All rules visible in one view
• Easier management and optimization
• Better performance tracking