Setting the Lead Purchase Price from a Table

Feature Snapshot

Summary:
The Table option in a source’s Lead purchase price settings sets the price you pay for each lead from one of your tables. LeadConduit matches one or more lead fields against the table’s key columns and uses the value in the price column of the matching row as the lead’s purchase price. If the table can’t supply a price, LeadConduit uses a fallback price you set.

Key Benefits:

• Replaces hundreds or thousands of pricing rules with one table
• Change prices by uploading a new CSV, with no flow edits
• Works on standard submissions and on Real-Time Bidding pings and posts
• A fallback price makes sure every lead, and every ping, gets a price
• Optionally tells the source why the fallback price was used

Typical Use Cases:

• Paying a different price for each postal code (e.g. 40,000 postal codes, each with its own price)
• Pricing by a combination of attributes, such as state and product
• Bidding a different amount per sub ID or campaign in Real-Time Bidding
• Letting a pricing or finance team update prices without editing the flow

How It Works

The Table option reads from a table you create under Assets → Tables. See Creating and Managing Tables to set one up. The table needs:

• Key column(s) that identify the lead, for example zip_code, or state and product.
• A price column that holds the price as a plain number.

For each lead, LeadConduit:

1. Reads the lead fields you mapped to the table’s key columns, for example Postal Code → zip_code.
2. Finds the row whose key columns match those values. If the table has more than one key column, the lead must match all of them.
3. Reads the price column of that row and uses it as the lead’s purchase price.
4. Uses the fallback price if no row matches, or if the price can’t be read.

Example

This table uses zip_code as its key column and price as its price column:

zip_code,price
78701,12.50
10001,18.00
94105,0

The fallback price is set to 5.00.

Price format

Store prices as plain numbers:

When the fallback price is used

• No row matches the lead.
• The lead has no value in one of the mapped key fields.
• The price column in the matching row is empty or isn’t a plain number.
• The lookup times out or fails.
• The price in the matching row is above 1,000,000. No reason is included in this case.

Real-Time Bidding

On a flow with Real-Time Bidding, LeadConduit looks up the price on the ping and again on the post. The ping returns the price as your bid. The price found on the post is recorded on the lead, so you can compare the price you bid with the price you paid. See Real-Time Bidding.

Matching rules

• Matching is exact and case-sensitive. For example, TX does not match tx.
• Spaces at the start and end of a value are ignored.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Before you start

Create the table under Assets → Tables, with your key column(s) and a price column. See Creating and Managing Tables.

Open the source’s pricing settings

1. Open your flow and go to the Sources tab.
2. Find the source and select its Pricing link.
   Expected Result: The Lead purchase price window opens, showing the options Vendor, Service Provided and Table.
3. Select Table.
   Expected Result: The Table settings appear below the option.

Choose the table and map the key columns

1. Open the Table list and select your table.
   Expected Result: The row count, column count and last-updated date appear below the list. Use them to confirm you picked the right table.
2. Under Key column, choose a Lead field for each of the table’s key columns. The key column on the right is fixed: one row for each key column.
   • Some fields have a selector next to them. Raw compares the whole field value. The other options compare one part of it, for example Zip for the 5-digit part of a postal code. Pick the option that matches how the keys are stored in your table.
3. Map a field to every key column. The lead must match all of them to return a price.

Choose the price column

Open the Price column list and select the column that holds the price.

Set the fallback price

1. Enter a Fallback price per lead. LeadConduit uses it whenever the table can’t supply a price.
2. To send the reason along with the fallback price, turn on Include a reason when fallback price is used. The reason is saved on the lead’s source event, and is included in the response to the source if the source’s response format includes a reason.

Save

Select Save Pricing, then save the flow.
Expected Result: The window closes and the source uses the table for its purchase price. The source’s Pricing column on the Sources tab shows Table.

Change your prices

Open the table under Assets → Tables and select Update Table. Upload a CSV with the new prices. The new prices apply to leads that arrive after the upload finishes. You don’t need to change the flow.

Validation & Monitoring

• Test the setup: Submit test leads with values that are in the table, values that aren’t, and, if you use Real-Time Bidding, test pings. Confirm each lead gets the table price or the fallback price as expected.
• Check the price on the lead: Open the lead in the Events tab and check its purchase price.
• Check fallback reasons: With Include a reason when fallback price is used turned on, open the lead’s source event to see why the table didn’t supply a price.
• Check table usage: On the table’s detail page, Last queried and Flows show that the flow is using it.

Best Practices

• Set a fallback price you’re comfortable paying for any lead the table doesn’t cover. Use 0 if you don’t want to pay for unmatched leads.
• Turn on Include a reason when fallback price is used while you test, so you can see why a lead got the fallback price.
• Store keys in the same format your source sends them, including letter case and leading zeros (e.g. 02134, not 2134).
• Check your CSV’s price column before uploading: plain numbers only, with no currency symbols or thousands separators.
• Keep one key value per row. If your CSV repeats a key, only the first row is kept.
• Use one table for several sources or flows when they share the same prices.

Troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Do I need Real-Time Bidding to use Table pricing?

No. Table pricing works on standard submissions and on Real-Time Bidding pings and posts.

What happens if no row matches the lead?

LeadConduit uses the fallback price. If Include a reason when fallback price is used is on, the reason says that no match was found.

Is a price of 0 a fallback?

No. 0 in the price column is a valid price, and the lead is priced at 0.

Can I use more than one key column?

Yes. Map a lead field to each key column; you can’t save until every key column is mapped. The lead must match all of them to return a price. To match on fewer, use a table with fewer key columns. See Creating and Managing Tables.

How do I change prices?

Update the table under Assets → Tables. Every source and flow that uses the table picks up the new prices. You don’t need to change the flow.

Will updating the table change the price of leads I’ve already received?

No. New prices apply only to leads that arrive after the update.

Can several sources use the same table?

Yes. Select the same table in each source’s Lead purchase price settings.

Can I also return other data from the same table?

Yes. Use the Lookup using Table step to add other columns from the table to the lead.

Glossary

Related Articles

• Creating and Managing Tables
• Enriching Leads with the Lookup using Table Step
• Pricing
• Real-Time Bidding

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