Bid Management

Control your campaign costs and optimize performance through bid management. This guide covers how to set bids, manage daily spend limits, and use source optimization.

Understanding Bids

A bid is the maximum amount you're willing to pay for a click on your push notification. Higher bids generally result in more impressions and better placement, but also potentially higher total spend depending on your campaign's targeting.

How Bidding Works

1. Your notification competes with others for user attention
2. Higher bids win more auctions and get more impressions
3. You only pay when a user clicks your notification
4. Actual cost per click (CPC) may be lower than your bid

Default Bid

The default bid is your base bid that applies to all traffic sources unless you set source-specific bids.

Setting Your Default Bid

1. Navigate to your campaign
2. Go to the Spend tab
3. Enter your desired bid in the Default Bid field
4. Save your changes

Bid Guidelines

The system provides guidance based on competitive data:

Indicator	Meaning
Green	Competitive bid - good chance of winning impressions
Yellow	Moderate bid - may win some impressions
Red	Low bid - unlikely to win many impressions

Minimum Bid

There's a minimum bid requirement that varies by traffic source and targeting. The system will display the minimum allowed bid when you enter the field.

Daily Spend Limit

Control your daily budget with the Daily Spend Limit setting.

How It Works

• Set a maximum amount to spend per day
• Once reached, your campaign pauses until the next day
• Campaigns resume automatically at midnight (UTC)
• Leave blank for unlimited daily spend

Setting a Daily Spend Limit

1. Go to your campaign's Spend tab
2. Enter an amount in the Daily Spend Limit field
3. Save your changes

Recommendation

Start with a conservative daily limit while testing, then increase as you identify winning combinations.

Minimum Daily Spend

The minimum practical daily spend limit depends on your bid and expected volume. A limit of at least $10/day is recommended to gather meaningful data.

Source Optimization

Source optimization uses machine learning to automatically adjust your bids across different traffic sources to achieve your target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition).

Enabling Source Optimization

1. Go to your campaign's Spend tab
2. Toggle Source Optimization ON
3. Set your Target CPA
4. Save your changes

How Source Optimization Works

When enabled:

• The system analyzes performance across traffic sources
• Bids are automatically adjusted up or down
• Sources with better conversion rates get higher bids
• Poor-performing sources are bid down or paused
• Your default bid becomes a starting point, not a fixed value

Target CPA

Your Target CPA tells the system what you're willing to pay per conversion (action/acquisition).

Field	Description
Target CPA	Maximum cost you want to pay per conversion
Minimum	Varies based on your campaign and traffic

Benefits of Source Optimization

• Automatic optimization - No manual bid adjustments needed
• Better ROI - Spend more on what works, less on what doesn't
• Time savings - Algorithm works 24/7 to optimize
• Scale efficiently - Find and scale winning sources automatically

When to Use Source Optimization

Source optimization works best when:

• You have conversion tracking set up
• You have sufficient traffic volume (100+ clicks/day recommended)
• You have a clear CPA target in mind
• You're willing to let the algorithm learn (2-7 days)

Learn more about Source Optimization.

Source-Level Bidding

For advanced control, you can set custom bids for specific sources (push publishers).

Adjusting Source Bids

1. Go to your campaign's Spend tab
2. Find the source you want to adjust
3. Click the bid column to edit
4. Enter a custom bid or adjustment

Source Bid Options

Option	Description
Custom bid	Override the default bid for this source
Percentage adjustment	Increase or decrease from default bid
Block	Stop showing ads on this source

Bid Strategy Best Practices

Starting Out

1. Start with the suggested competitive bid
2. Set a conservative daily limit ($20-50)
3. Monitor performance for 2-3 days
4. Adjust based on results

Scaling Up

1. Increase daily limit for winning campaigns
2. Consider enabling source optimization
3. Test higher bids to increase volume
4. Monitor CPA as you scale

Troubleshooting Low Volume

If you're not getting impressions:

• Increase your default bid
• Check that your daily limit hasn't been reached
• Verify your targeting isn't too narrow
• Ensure creatives are approved

Troubleshooting High CPA

If your cost per acquisition is too high:

• Lower bids on poor-performing sources
• Enable source optimization with a lower target CPA
• Review and optimize your creatives
• Check landing page conversion rates

Cost Control Summary

Setting	Purpose	Recommendation
Default Bid	Base bid for all traffic	Start at suggested competitive rate
Daily Limit	Maximum daily spend	Start conservative, increase as you learn
Source Optimization	Automatic bid adjustment	Enable once you have conversion data
Target CPA	Goal cost per conversion	Set based on your unit economics

Need Help?

Contact support@pushnami.com or reach out to your Pushnami account representative for bid strategy consultation.