Skip to main content

Real Time Bidding Setup Guide [Video]

Amanda Cross
Updated

Real Time Bidding (RTB) is Ringba’s programmatic call-bidding technology. It lets you bid on live phone calls in real time. This technology is beneficial because it lets a buyer refuse calls when their call center has no capacity or when they already know that a potential customer is not a good fit for their products. Buyers can also bid more aggressively on callers that have a higher likelihood of converting or when they have significant capacity available.

Generally, this model results in higher payouts per phone call, a reduced number of dropped or abandoned calls, better customer experience, and higher profit margins for everyone involved.

Note: To start using Real Time Bidding, reach out your Ringba account manager to request it be enabled for your account.

This article contains the following sections:

Real Time Bidding

Once Real Time Bidding (RTB) is enabled for your account, you see the Real Time Bidding tab at the top of the screen when you open a campaign. Open this tab and toggle on the switch to enable RTB and show the fields to configure the feature.

real_time_bidding_tab_campaign.png

The following sections in this article describe the sections that appear on the Real Time Bidding tab when you toggle on this switch.

General Settings

The first group of controls affect the basic configuration of Real Time Bidding.

real_time_bidding_general_settings.png

This section contains the following fields and controls:

  • Enabled Enables RTB for all publishers in this campaign. (This is the same switch you toggled on to show the fields on the screen.)
     
  • Only SIP: Toggle on this switch to provide only SIP numbers to be called. 
    Learn more: See SIP numbers with Ringba RTB for information on the benefits of using SIP numbers. 

     
  • Require Caller ID: Toggle on this switch to require the caller ID be included in every ping. If the caller ID is not provided, Ringba rejects the ping with the error response Error code 1100 - Caller ID verification. 
    Learn more: See RTB Error Codes for more information about this and other RTB error codes.
     
  • Instant Caller Profiles: Select whether to use Instant Caller Profile (ICP) to look up additional data using the caller ID to enrich the call.
    Important: Fees apply if you set the ICP field to Enabled or Required. ICP is a paid feature that is charged per pull, so the same call may result in multiple charges. The charges are non-refundable, even if the call doesn't occur. Please reach out to your manager about its costs.
    • Disabled: Do not enrich calls.
    • Enabled: Use the caller ID, if present, to enrich the call.
    • Required: Return no bid unless the call has a caller ID to look up in ICP.
       
  • Jornaya: Select whether to use your integration with Jornaya to pull information about which leads provided TCPA consent. If you choose Enabled or Required, additional fields appear to let you configure the Jornaya credentials.
    Learn more: See Jornaya Integration - RTB version for more information about the Jornaya integration.
    • Disabled: Do not use Jornaya to pull information about the call.
    • Enabled: Use the Lead ID, if present, to check Jornaya for authenticity.
    • Required: Return no bid unless the call includes a Lead ID to check in Jornaya.
       
  • TrustedForm Cert ID: Select whether to use your integration with TrustedForm to pull proof of consent for the call. If you choose Enabled or Required, additional fields appear for you to choose the integration method and configure your TrustedForm credentials.
    Learn more: See TrustedForm - RTB Integration for more information about the TrustedForm integration.
    • Disabled: Do not use TrustedForm to pull information about the call.
    • Enabled: Claim the Cert ID, if present, with TrustedForm to verify its authenticity.
    • Required: Return no bid unless the call includes a Cert ID to claim with TrustedForm.

Bid Expiration

Use the controls in the Bid Expiration section to configure how long a bid is good and what to do with calls that arrive after the bid expired.

rtb_bid_expirations_section.png

This section contains the following fields and controls:

  • Bid Good For: The number of seconds after its creation the bid remains valid.
  • Stale Bid Behavior: What to do if a call arrives after the number of seconds you set in the Bid Good For field. Valid values are Reject or Route Normally.

If you set the Stale Bid Behavior to Reject, Ringba blocks calls that arrive after the bid expires and increments the value in the Blocked column of the Summary report.

If you set the Stale Bid Behavior to Route Normally and the call is sent after the time specified in the Bid Good For field, the call does not generate a payout because the call came when the bid was no longer valid. For this reason, every RTB contract includes the following message when Route Normally is selected:

The account will not pay out for the call under this contract if it arrives after the expiration.

Rate Limit

Use the fields in the Rate Limit section to control how many pings you receive from publishers.

rtb_rate_limit_section.png

This section contains the following fields:

  • Maximum Requests: The maximum number of pings you accept from each publisher in the time period you choose. 
  • Time period drop-down: Choose the time period in which you accept the maximum number of requests. Valid values are Per Minute, Per Hour, or Per Day. 

Important: It is possible to enter a large value in the Maximum Requests field. For example, some accounts use values up to 1000. However, if you have Instant Caller Profile (ICP) enabled, Ringba tries to enrich each request. If you set your Maximum Requests value to a large number, make sure to monitor your ICP charges.  

This number applies for each publisher. For examples, if you have 40 publishers on a campaign and allow 10 pings per minute, you can receive up to 400 pings per minute. If your cumulative number of pings per minute for a campaign gets over 1000, you may see performance problems.

Bid Settings

Use the fields and controls in the Bid Settings section to configure the specifics of the bids you send.

rtb_bid_settings_section.png

This section contains the following fields and controls:

  • Base Bid Amount: The value of the bid before applying Bid Modifiers, described later in this article.
  • Max Bid: Maximum bid amount, regardless of any adjustments.
  • Min Bid: Minimum bid amount, regardless of any adjustments.
  • Payout On: The event that triggers Ringba to credit the publisher for the call. Valid options are:
    • Call Length: The credit happens when the call reaches a the duration you specify. If you choose this option, additional fields appear for you to configure Start Call Length On and the call Length.
    • Call Successfully Connected: The credit occurs when the call connects to a target.
    • Inbound call: The credit occurs when the call arrives.  
  • Duplicate Payouts: Select whether to credit publishers for multiple calls from the same person. 
    • Disabled: Publisher cannot be receive credit for multiple calls from the same person. If a duplicate caller ID is included in the request, Ringba returns a $0 bid. If the caller ID is not included but the call is a duplicate, the bid is not credited.
    • Enabled: Publishers receive credit for multiple calls even from the same person.
    • Time Limit: Publishers can receive credit for multiple calls from the same person as long as the amount of time you specify passes between the calls. If you select Time Limit, additional fields appear for you to specify the number of days and/or hours that must pass for the publisher to get credit.

Bid Modifiers

Use the fields and controls in the Bid Modifiers section to create rules for changing your bid based on:

  • The value of tags available in Ringba, like the publisher name, inbound number state, or any ICP tags.
  • The value of tags your publisher sends on the RTB ping.
    Note: To use your publisher's tags in bid modifiers, you must add them as URL Parameters.

rtb_bid_modifiers_section.png

Use the following steps to create a bid modifier with the tools in this section.

  1. Click the Add New Modifier button.
    Fields appear to define the bid modifier.
  2. Click the Token button next to the first field and search for the tag that you want to use as the basis for modifying the bid. Select the tag.
  3. Choose a value from the Logic drop-down. 
    Learn more: For a complete list of logic values and what they do, see the Real Time Bidding FAQ.
  4. Enter the tag value that triggers the modification.
  5. Choose the operation and a value you want to apply.
    operation_and_value.png

  6. Click Add and then save the bid modifier.
    bid_modifier_add_button.png

    bid_modifier_save_button.png

    The bid modifier in this example does this: If the inboundNumber - AreaCode tag is equal to the value 480, it adds $2.00 to the bid amount.

    This means if the base bid is $10 and the inbound number is from a 480 area code, the bid modifier changes the bid amount to $12. On the other hand, if the call is from any other area code, the bid remains $10. 

    base_bid_amt.png
    Note: The Bid Modifiers table is limited to 100 rows. If the table already contains 100 rows and you need to add more, first delete some rows to make space.

Sharing the RTB Link with Publishers

After you have finished configuring your RTB settings, you can share the API information with your publisher.

Tip: Publisher users and managers of publisher user groups can access Code Snippet window themselves by logging in to your Ringba account.

  • Publisher users open the campaign and click the Documentation button on the Real Time Bidding tab. 
  • Managers of publisher user groups follow the steps below.

Use the following steps to find the code snippets to share with your publisher:

  1. Open your RTB campaign and scroll to the Publishers section.
  2. Find the row for the desired publisher and click the trophy icon in the Actions column.
    tropy_icon.png
  3. The Code Snippets window appears.
  4. Choose the options you want to share with your publisher.
    • Option 1 - Get: Select this option to send to your publisher a GET request. Then you choose between JSON or XML.
      image_13nr74s.png
    • Option 2 - JSON - POST: Select this option to send to your publisher a JSON- POST request.
      option_2.png
    • Option 3 - XML - POST: Select this option to send to your publisher a XML- POST request.
      option_3.png
  5. Copy the code and send it to your publisher.
    Tip: Ringba offers an article publishers can use for step-by-step instructions on implementing Ringba RTB. To help your publisher, also provide a link to the Publishers: How to Implement Ringba RTB when you send the code.

Real Time Bidding FAQ, Resources, and Troubleshooting

Note: For a full collection of frequently asked questions about how Real Time Bidding works, see Real Time Bidding FAQ.

What should I do if I need help with Real Time Bidding?

If you have any questions or need additional help, please reach out to our support team via chat or email at support@ringba.com.

Related to

Related articles