# Call Bidding Setup Guide

> 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..

Source: https://callgrid.com/knowledge-base/call-bidding-setup-guide
Last updated: 2025-09-24

## 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