Bidding Strategy

Overview

The next key part of a Campaign is its Bidding Strategy. A Campaign's Bidding Strategy determines how it will bid within Talroo's competitive marketplace. Talroo's marketplace is made up of many sources of traffic that include job boards, niche industry job sites, blogs, and various subscriber lists, all in addition to Talroo's owned and operated Jobs2Careers.com job board.

It is imperative to utilize an appropriate Bidding Strategy so you can be most efficient with your budget. Please consult your Talroo POC when deciding which Bidding Strategy to use.

caution

For all bidding strategies: If your campaign is a Talroo Pro campaign, you must use jobCampaign.talrooProCpc when setting campaign-level CPCs. If your campaign is NOT a Talroo Pro campaign, you must use jobCampaign.basicCpc when setting campaign-level CPCs.

Fixed CPC

The most straightforward bidding option is the Fixed CPC (cost per click) Bidding Strategy. This strategy will charge a set price for every billable click a Campaign accrues. The CPC can be set at the campaign level, segment level (see Segments), or job level.

This Bidding Strategy is best for Campaigns whose jobs do not have CPA goals, and are monitored by external systems to make sure they are hitting spending and performance targets.

tip

While external bidding systems can be effective, if your jobs have CPA targets we highly suggest utilizing one of the Target CPA bidding strategies. These bidding strategies have insight into the different sources of traffic that make up the Talroo marketplace and, unlike external bidding systems, can automatically adjust bids based on performance

The following example request to the PATCH /campaigns/{campaignId} endpoint would update a Job Campaign (Id:12345) with field values that match the Fixed CPC Bidding Strategy, and a CPC of 75 cents:

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/campaigns/12345' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "autopilot": false,
    "targetCpaType": "NONE",
    "basicCpc": 75
    }'

Autopilot

The Autopilot Bidding Strategy will automatically attempt to pace your Campaigns budget out to the end of the month (or your set pacing date if utilizing budget pacing, See Campaign Funding) by automatically adjusting your Campaign's CPC on a daily basis to generate more or less exposure, and thus traffic, within Talroo's Marketplace.

You can optionally limit how high Autopilot is allowed to raise your CPC by setting jobCampaign.autopilotMaxCpc. The autopilotMaxCpc cannot be lower than the Campaign's minCpc.

The following example request to the PATCH /campaigns/{campaignId} endpoint would update a Job Campaign (Id:12345) with field values that match the Autopilot Bidding Strategy, a starting CPC of 65 cents, and a maximum CPC of $1.50:

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/campaigns/12345' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "autopilot": true,
    "targetCpaType": "NONE",
    "basicCpc": 65,
    "autopilotMaxCpc": 150
    }'

Target CPA

If you have set performance goals for your jobs and you can communicate conversion events back to Talroo (see Conversion Tracking) then it is highly suggested that you utilize the Target CPA Bidding Strategy. The Target CPA Bidding Strategy will automatically make performance-based bid adjustments for the various sources of traffic within the Talroo Marketplace so that the campaign is optimized towards a provided Target CPA (Cost Per Application).

Target CPA can be set at the campaign level and will optimize all jobs within that campaign towards a set Target CPA, or it can be set at the job level and will optimize towards Target CPAs for each individual job that has a Target CPA goal set within the job feed.

caution

Target CPA cannot be turned on for a Campaign whose Pool has no conversion event selected for optimization. Enable at least one conversion event under the Pool's Conversion Tracking settings first (see Conversion Tracking).

Campaign Level

The following example request to the PATCH /campaigns/{campaignId} endpoint would update a Job Campaign (Id:12345) with field values that match the Campaign Level Target CPA Bidding Strategy, with a Target CPA of $25:

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/campaigns/12345' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "autopilot": false,
    "targetCpaType": "CAMPAIGN",
    "targetCpa": 2500,
    "fullTargetCpa": true
    }'

Job Level

To utilize the Job Level Target CPA Bidding Strategy, you must include Target CPAs at the job level within a <target_cpa> node in your job feed. If a job does not have a <target_cpa> value provided in the job feed, then it will default to using the jobCampaign.targetCpa value set for the Campaign. It is recommended you provide a <target_cpa> value for all jobs in your feed if you intend to utilize Job Level Target CPA.

caution

You must work with your Talroo POC to ensure that your Job Source is set up to read target CPAs from your feed.

The following example request to the PATCH /campaigns/{campaignId} endpoint would update a Job Campaign (Id:12345) with field values that match the Job Level Target CPA Bidding Strategy:

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/campaigns/12345' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "autopilot": false,
    "targetCpaType": "JOB",
    "fullTargetCpa": true
    }'

Smart Bidding

Smart Bidding lets Talroo set a separate bid for every job in your Campaign. Instead of one CPC or Target CPA for the whole Campaign, each job's bid is based on Talroo's forecast of how likely that job is to get applications and on how much of the Campaign's budget is left for the month. Bids are recalculated automatically as performance and remaining budget change.

There are two types of Smart Bidding:

• Smart CPC: Talroo sets the CPC for each job. Smart CPC Campaigns have a jobCampaign.targetCpaType of NONE.
• Smart CPA: Talroo sets the Target CPA for each job, and the CPC for each click is based on it. Smart CPA Campaigns have a jobCampaign.targetCpaType of JOB. Like the other Target CPA strategies, Smart CPA requires Conversion Tracking.

You can tell a Campaign is using Smart Bidding when its jobCampaign.smartBiddingStrategy field has a value. A value of null means the Campaign is not using Smart Bidding.

caution

Smart Bidding can only be turned on by Talroo. Contact your Talroo POC to turn on Smart CPC or Smart CPA for a Campaign. Once it is on, you can use the API to change the Campaign's goal or to turn Smart Bidding off. If you turn Smart Bidding off, you will need to contact your Talroo POC to turn it back on.

Smart Bidding Goals

Every Smart Bidding Campaign has a goal, set in jobCampaign.smartBiddingStrategy. The goal sets how Talroo tries to spread your budget across the jobs in your Campaign. The goal names shown in the Talroo Ad Platform (TAP) and their matching API values are:

Goal in TAP	smartBiddingStrategy value	What it aims to do
Maximize Applications	max_conversions	Try to get the most applications from your budget, based on forecasts
Spend Evenly Among Jobs	spend_evenly	Try to spread your budget evenly among all jobs, based on forecasts
Optimize Speed	optimize_speed	Try to get as much traffic as possible for each job, without pacing your budget

note

Smart Bidding sets bids based on forecasts. Actual spend and applications for each job can differ from the forecast.

Maximize Applications (max_conversions)

Talroo tries to spread your Campaign's remaining budget over the days left in the month (or until your pacing date, if utilizing budget pacing, see Campaign Funding), and puts more of each day's budget behind the jobs that are forecast to be most likely to get applications. Jobs that are forecast to be less likely to get applications may get less traffic.

Consider this goal when the total number of applications from your budget matters most to you, and it is fine for some jobs to receive more traffic than others.

Spend Evenly Among Jobs (spend_evenly)

Talroo tries to spread your Campaign's remaining budget over the days left in the month (or until your pacing date) the same way, but also tries to spread each day's budget evenly among all jobs, based on forecasts. Within each job's share, bids are set to try to get as many applications as possible.

Each job's share is a spend target, not a hard cap. Jobs are not paused when they reach their share, so spend will still vary from job to job, but it is usually more balanced than with Maximize Applications.

If your Campaign uses title expansion (Talroo adding additional titles for your roles), the expanded titles count as part of the original job and share that job's portion of the budget.

Consider this goal when you want your budget spread across all of your jobs, for example when your Campaign has a mix of roles or locations, or each job is a separate opening you are trying to fill. This is the default goal selected in TAP.

Optimize Speed (optimize_speed)

Talroo sets higher bids for each job to try to get as much of the traffic available to it as possible, based on forecasts, without pacing your budget over the rest of the month.

Consider this goal when getting traffic quickly matters more to you than spreading your budget over the month.

caution

Because Optimize Speed does not pace your budget, your Campaign may spend its full budget early in the month and move to the OUT_OF_BUDGET status. If you utilize budget pacing (see Campaign Funding), your Campaign's daily spend is still limited by its pacing.

Changing the Goal

The following example request to the PATCH /campaigns/{campaignId} endpoint would update a Smart Bidding Job Campaign (Id:12345) to use the Maximize Applications goal:

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/campaigns/12345' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "smartBiddingStrategy": "max_conversions"
    }'

caution

Smart Bidding only works on Campaigns with a targetCpaType of NONE (Smart CPC) or JOB (Smart CPA). If you change a Smart Bidding Campaign's targetCpaType to any other value, its smartBiddingStrategy is kept but no longer has any effect on bids.

note

On a Smart CPC Campaign, Talroo sets the CPC for you. While jobCampaign.useSmartCpc is true and targetCpaType is NONE, jobCampaign.basicCpc cannot be updated. A request that changes it will return the error Basic CPC is readonly when SmartCpc is enabled.

Segment Level Goals

Segments within a Smart Bidding Campaign use the Campaign's goal by default. A Segment can also have its own goal, set in jobSegment.smartBiddingStrategy, which is used instead of the Campaign's goal. Setting a Segment's smartBiddingStrategy back to null makes it use the Campaign's goal again.

You can set a Segment's goal when you create the Segment within a Smart Bidding Campaign. After a Segment is created, you can change its goal if it already has one, or set it to null.

caution

Giving an existing Segment its own goal when its smartBiddingStrategy is null must be done by Talroo. Contact your Talroo POC if you need this.

The following example request to the PATCH /segments/{segmentId} endpoint would update a Job Segment (Id:67890) that already has its own goal to use the Spend Evenly Among Jobs goal, regardless of the goal set on its Campaign:

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/segments/67890' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "smartBiddingStrategy": "spend_evenly"
    }'

Turning Off Smart Bidding

To turn off Smart Bidding, set jobCampaign.smartBiddingStrategy to null and jobCampaign.useSmartCpc to false. The Campaign will then go back to bidding with its other Bidding Strategy settings, such as basicCpc and targetCpaType, so check that those are set to the values you want.

caution

If you only set smartBiddingStrategy to null and leave useSmartCpc as true, Talroo will keep setting the CPC for each job, but without a Smart Bidding goal.

The following example request to the PATCH /campaigns/{campaignId} endpoint would turn off Smart Bidding for a Job Campaign (Id:12345):

curl -X 'PATCH' \
  'https://api.talroo.com/v5/campaigns/12345' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "smartBiddingStrategy": null,
    "useSmartCpc": false
    }'