Filter Sets: Setup Guide

What are Filter Sets?

Filter sets are core features in the boberdoo distribution system that control lead routing to your partners/buyers. What leads your partners to receive, when they receive them, and how they're delivered is all determined by your filter sets. Filter sets are built under each partner account, so you must already have your partner set up before creating them. Each partner will require at least one filter set for each lead type they are buying to receive leads and can have as many different filter sets as they like.

View Your Filter Sets

You can view your filter sets from one of two locations:

1. The Filter List Tab - This is where you can use this tab to view and sort all of your existing filter sets.
2. The Partner Tab - Navigate to the partner you want to view and select the “Lead Filter Sets” funnel icon to view filter sets attached to that partner.
  
  From here, you can review high-level information about your filter sets including lead limits, exclusivity, and the date of the last lead that matched to each filter set. You can also review details about the filter set from the icon. For more information about leads sold to filter sets, see our reporting tab, which provides detailed reports unique to filter sets.

Create a Filter Set

Initial Setup

To create a new filter set, navigate to the desired partner in the Partners tab and select the “Lead Filter Sets” funnel icon .

Use the drop-down menu above the list of filter sets to select the lead type for your filter set. Each filter set can only apply to a single lead type. If you have any existing filter set templates, you can instead select a template from the other drop-down menu. Then, click the plus icon to create a new filter set for the lead type or template chosen.

Setting Definitions

The items below describe the common settings in a default filter set. Your filter sets may not have all of the settings shown below based on what features are enabled in your system. You can also use our Filter Set Checklist to ensure your filter set is fully configured before enabling.

If you would like to use a setting not currently included in your filter sets, create a ticket with boberdoo to have the feature enabled.

Filter Set Name

This is the name of your filter set. The name is used wherever the filter set is referred to, including filter set reports and lead logs.

Lead Price

This is the default price value of leads sold by this filter set. If your lead delivery includes a price from your buyer’s system, it will override this value.

Filter Set Notes

Use this setting to include any important details about this filter set. This setting is for internal use only and cannot be seen by your partners.

Profit Margin (Ping-Post Only)

Profit Margin refers to the profit your system will make off of leads from this filter set. By default, the bid sent to your lead vendor equals the lead price minus the margin value. For example, if a profit margin is set to $5 and your partner bids a $25 price, boberdoo will send a $20 bid to the lead vendor. See our Ping Post Margins support page for more examples of configuring profit margins.

Margin Type - Set the type of profit margin to use. The Variable option allows you to carve your margin as a percentage of your partner’s bid and create a profit margin matrix (see below).

Profit Margin - Defines a fixed margin as a dollar amount.

Profit Margin Matrix - This table defines the variable profit margin based on the lead price. Use the Max Price column to define the maximum limit to which the profit margin should apply. The Profit Margin (%) column defines the percent margin to claim based on the price of the lead. Use the plus icon to add more rows to the matrix.

Default Profit Margin (%) - For variable profit margins, defines the default profit margin percentage to claim out of any bids that do not fall within the ranges defined in the profit margin matrix.

Inbound Phone Settings

These settings are exclusive to filter sets IPR lead types such as Inbound Phone.

Partner Ring To - All calls that match to this filter set will route to this number. This value is typically acquired from your partner. If your dialing number is being returned dynamically by the buyer, you can enter any 10-digit number (e.g 8888888888).

Maximum Concurrent Calls - This is the maximum amount of calls that the filter set can receive at the same time. Use the partner account settings to set the maximum number of calls the partner can receive at the same time.

Inbound Phone Routing Per Minute Fee - Set an optional per-minute fee that is added to the price of the lead.

Minimum Number Of Minutes For A Successful Call - This is the amount of time (in minutes) that the call must last before it is deemed billable. If a call lasts less than this value, the lead sale will be undone.

Record Phone Calls - If enabled, boberdoo will record the call going to the buyer. Call recordings can be listened to in the Leads tab.

Use Default Routing For Failed Calls

When enabled, all calls that fail will be routed to the default number set in the Phone Routing tab. If this switch is set to “No”, Ring Timeout (below) should also be set to 0s. If “No”, the call will continue ringing until either the lead hangs up, the partner’s voicemail/IVR picks up, or the partner answers the phone. This setting is intended for use with partners who may not answer routed calls. By setting this switch to “Yes”, you can charge the partner for a call as soon as it is routed to them, at which point it is the partner’s responsibility to pick up the phone.

Ring Timeout

The time (in seconds) the call will ring after the call routes to the buyer. If the partner does not answer the call within this time, the call will route to the next available partner or update to a Declined status if no other matching partners are available.

Accepted Lead Sources

This controls which lead sources can match with this filter set. You can also limit the filter set to sources with a given source label for easier source management.

The dollar value next to each source is the fixed cost value associated with the source. For dynamic bid sources, the dollar value should be $0.00.

Lead Delivery Setup

This controls how leads which match the filter set are delivered to the partner. By default, we include standard delivery options of HTML, Excel, PDF, Plain Text, and Short Text Emails. Any custom deliveries will also appear here. If you need a custom delivery built, use the Delivery Wizard or create a ticket with boberdoo to configure the delivery.

The first delivery in this table is considered the primary delivery method. You can use the plus icon to add secondary delivery methods as well. Secondary delivery methods will only be used if the primary delivery method is successful.

Match Priority

This setting only appears if you distribute leads by priority. Matching filter sets with a higher priority value will receive leads first. 0 indicates the lowest priority. All filter sets default to a Match Priority of 5.

For more information on priority distribution, see our Lead Distribution by Priority support page.

Exclusivity

Exclusivity determines how many times a lead can sell if matched to this filter set. For more details on exclusivity, see our Lead Exclusivity support page. There are four options for setting exclusivity:

None - This will follow the rules set at the “Partners Per Lead” setting in your source settings.

Exclusive - A lead that sells to this filter set will not be sold to any other partners. This setting overrides the "Partner Per Lead" setting in your source settings.

Semi-Exclusive - Leads that sell to this filter set can only be sold a maximum of 2 times.

Non-Exclusive - Leads that sell to this filter set must be sold to at least one other partner. If there is not another partner that matches the lead, the lead may sell to a different matching filter set or become Unmatched.

Lead Limits

Lead limits define how many leads can be sold by this filter set in a given time period. These settings are often used to moderate how many leads are sold to a given partner. Lead limits can also be set in the partner’s account settings. boberdoo includes options to limit leads by hour, day, week, and month.

Advanced Limit Settings

Use these settings to limit the number of leads that can be delivered per hour or day for each day of the week. For example, a partner may only want to receive a maximum of 50 leads on Fridays and no limit every other day of the week.

Budget Limits

Limits leads based on the sum of money charged to the partner by time period rather than a number of leads. This setting is often used for partners who want to spend a maximum amount on leads per hour, day, week, or month.

Total Delivery Limit

Use this setting for filter sets that are used on a non-recurring basis or in temporary campaigns. Once the filter set has sold the defined number of leads, the filter set status will automatically update to Not Active.

Campaign End Date

Use this setting for filter sets that are used on a non-recurring basis or in temporary campaigns. Once the current date reaches the defined date, the filter set status will automatically update to Not Active.

Maximum Pings Per Minute (Ping-Post Only)

For ping-post leads, limits the number of pings that are sent to the partner. This setting is used so a partner’s system is not forced to process an overwhelming number of leads at the same time. This setting is not necessary for a majority of lead systems.

This Filter Set accepts only Dynamic Consent Leads

Select this checkbox if your partner only receives 1 to 1 Consent-style leads. Leads will only match with this filter set if they originate from a boberdoo Dynamic Consent form or the pingPostConsent API.

Time Zone

Select the timezone your partner is located. This setting is important for accurate use of the “Days/times you accept leads?” setting.

Days/times you accept leads?

Use this table to set specific days and times leads can be delivered to the partner. Leads will not match to the filter set if the current day/time is outside of these limits. If empty, the filter set is considered to accept leads during all times and days of the week.

The Price column can be used to charge specific prices during certain time periods. For example, a filter set can charge $50 for leads sold from 9am-8:59pm and $30 from 9pm-8:59am. When set to $0, the value set in the Lead Price setting is used by default. This column can also be overridden if your partner returns a bid value on the ping.

Do you accept "manually reviewed" leads?

Select this checkbox if your buyer accepts leads that were put into manual review in your system and reprocessed. This setting is often used for partners who can receive non-realtime leads.

Filters

The filters within your filter set are the core of your filter set build. Each filter can be enabled to allow only leads with specific values to match and sell to your partner.

boberdoo recommends you enable at least one filter in each filter set to maintain a healthy system. A filter set with no enabled filters, also known as an “open filter set”, can cause all leads to sell to a single partner.

Filter options appear at the bottom of the filter set settings and include common fields such as State and ZIP code, plus vertical-specific options. Each filter is enabled using the checkbox in the top-right corner. Once enabled, each filter may have different options depending on the type of field being filtered:

Free Text (e.g. Sub ID) - Free text fields can contain any string up to a maximum character limit. Use the Include or Exclude radio buttons to declare whether you should include or exclude leads with the designated value(s). You can include multiple values by separating them with a comma. Refer to the formatting tips shown in the filter for more advanced options including wildcards and variable alphanumeric strings.

sub id

Zip Code - The zip code field is a unique version of a Free Text filter which can only include a 5-digit string. Use the “Generate Zip list” option to automatically populate this filter with a list of zip codes by county or distance, in miles, from a central zip code.

zipcode

Value Present (e.g. Trusted Form URL) - Fields that check for a present value only confirm the field is populated in the lead data. Once enabled, these filters will only accept leads which contain data in the given field.

trusted form url

List of Values (e.g. State, Project, Credit Score) - List fields accept values from a pre-populated list of options. When enabled, select the option(s) that the filter set should accept. Use the “Accept Empty Values” option to allow empty values in addition to the selected values.

project

Template Management

Filter sets often have similar settings apart from minor differences. Rather than making every filter set from scratch, you can save an existing filter set as a template to use as a starting point. To save a filter set as a template, open the Filter Set Editor. At the very bottom, use the “Save As” checkboxes to add your filer set as an Account Template or Global Template.

An Account Template will only be accessible within the same partner record while a Global Template can be used across multiple partners. Templates are specific to the lead type they were initially created for. To create a new filter set from a template, select a template from the Select Template drop-down menu. Then, click the icon to create a new filter set from the chosen template.

API Integration

Filter sets can also be created and edited using the insertUpdateFilterSet API. Refer to your lead system’s API specs for more information on using this API. Before using this API, you will need an API key enabled for the insertUpdateFilterSet API action. See our support page on API Keys for more guidance on making keys in boberdoo. For more advanced use cases, consider combining this API with some of our Webhook Triggers.

Best Practices

With so many options available in filter sets, it can be difficult to determine the “right” way to build one. The guides below detail some of our best practices when it comes to building filter sets in boberdoo.

Naming - Ensure your filter set name is descriptive. A name such as “Auto 65+ Tier 1” conveys much more information at a glance than “Auto Filter Set 3”

Filter Sets Without Filters - A filter set without any filtering configured is known as an “open filter set” and is built to match every lead in your system for a given lead type. In most cases, boberdoo recommends against leaving filter sets open as this can cause problems with how leads match in your system.

If your leads are sold by the best pricing scenario, for example, an open filter set can cause all leads to sell to the single buyer who always bids highest. While this can be good for revenue, it may be damaging to your other smaller buyers who expect leads as well.

Testing Filter Sets - When onboarding a new vendor, it is important to confirm they can receive a matched response from your system. This can be difficult when your system has multiple buyers accepting different kinds of leads at varying times of the day.

boberdoo recommends creating a test buyer with a filter set for each lead type. Each filter set should be configured to only accept State=AK and ZIP=99999. Any vendor can submit a test lead with State=AK and ZIP=99999 to force a match. Real leads should never have a zip code of 99999 meaning this testing filter set can be left active without the potential for real-time leads to match to it.

See our Testing Process Documentation for more information on testing with new vendors.

Use Filters to Your Advantage - Some leads can be more valuable than others. A realty lead for a $1 million house is significantly more profitable for your buyers than a $200,000 condo. Consider diversifying your filter sets to separate these high-value leads and sell them at a higher price.

Troubleshooting

Many issues can often be tracked down to filter set configuration. Here are common problems that can be addressed through filter set build.

Why did my lead go unmatched?

See our Unmatched Leads support page for a full breakdown of unmatched leads in boberdoo. Below are common settings in your filter sets that could cause a lead to go unmatched:

Inactive Filter Set - Filter sets will not match to any leads while inactive

Lead delivery failed - Deliveries can fail for a wide number of reasons. Your partner could identify the lead as a duplicate, the lead could go unmatched in your partner’s CRM, or the price returned by your partner was too low. For more information on why a particular delivery failed, we recommend reviewing the Lead Log.

If you need assistance troubleshooting a delivery issue, open a ticket with boberdoo for our programming team to review.

Lead Limits - Leads will not match to filter sets which have already reached a limit for the given time period. You can use the Filter Set Statistics option from the Lead Filter Sets tab to view the number of leads received to determine if a filter set is currently at a limit.

Lead Timing - Leads that post to your system outside of the “Days/times you accept leads” setting will not match to the filter set.

Filter Settings - Your filter set filters use the data in the lead to determine if a lead can be sold. Leads that do not match all of your filter settings will not match to your filter set. Use the Get Unmatched Reasons tool in the Leads Tab for a list of reasons a given lead might not have matched to your filter set.

Please note the Get Unmatched Reasons tool is a real-time feature designed to display the specific reasons why filters in their CURRENT state do not match. This feature is not a log for the unmatched reasons.

How can I tell if a filter set is performing well?

The following reports in the Reports tab are useful for determining filter set efficiency:

Profit Report By Filter Set By Transaction Date
PingPost (Outgoing) Leads Accepted/Rejected By Partner

See our Reports Guide support page for a breakdown of other reports available in your system.