Pay-per-call campaign setup for multi-buyer routing

You build a clean pay-per-call campaign setup by creating one campaign, provisioning dedicated entry numbers, and picking a routing mode that fits your buyer mix. Turn on recording, test geo/schedule/cap/dedupe behavior, and go live only after test calls pass. Doing those in order delivers qualified calls fairly and keeps a paper trail that resolves disputes fast.

What a pay-per-call campaign setup contains

A campaign is the container for entry numbers, optional IVR or queue, your routing method, duplicate-caller rules, logs and analytics. Buyers are the companies you sell calls to, each with portal access to their own calls and recordings. Targets are where calls actually go for a buyer, such as a PSTN number, a SIP endpoint, or a browser softphone, and each target carries its own schedule, geo filters, and caps. Have a funded wallet to provision US toll-free and local numbers (and international where supported), destination details for each buyer, and the time zones and geographic boundaries they accept.

Conflicts happen when repeat callers bounce across campaigns, hours overlap, or a single fast-answering buyer soaks early volume and caps out while others are idle. Dedupe windows, per-target schedules, and caps make delivery predictable. The flow is straightforward: caller dials your entry number, your IVR or queue segments if needed, the router evaluates open targets, then target checks apply (time window, geo, daily and concurrent caps) before the call connects or overflows. IVR segmentation reduces disputes because callers self-select into the service line you sold, which cuts “wrong department” chargebacks.

Step 1: Create the campaign and entry numbers

Provision the entry numbers you need from your prepaid wallet and assign them to the new campaign. Use separate numbers per traffic source or region when you want number-level attribution. Add a simple IVR if you need to segment by service line or by state (see Route calls by state), and consider a queue with hold music as a safety net when all eligible targets are busy so you avoid losing high-intent callers to immediate voicemail.

Choose a default routing method that matches the buyer mix. Priority favors premium tiers first. Weighted distributes in agreed proportions. Round-robin enforces strict turn-taking across equals. Simultaneous ring maximizes speed to answer by calling all open targets at once. Tune weights or priorities at the target level, and combine with geographic logic where needed; see examples in Target routing in pay-per-call and deeper notes in Weighted call routing.

Open the real-time log and analytics views, and add a short whisper so agents know the campaign or channel context at pickup.

Step 2: Add buyers and targets

Create each buyer with contacts and portal access so they can view their own call logs, recordings, and basic analytics. Under each buyer, add one or more targets: a PSTN number to their queue, a SIP endpoint to their PBX, or a browser softphone if they’ll answer on-screen.

For each target, set the operational rules that match their desk:

• Time-of-day windows aligned to their staffed hours and local time zone
• Geographic or caller-state filters that reflect their license or service area
• Daily caps to control volume pacing
• Concurrent caps that reflect active agent seats

Define explicit backup behavior. When a target is closed or hits cap, the router advances to the next eligible target per your method. If none are eligible, send callers to the campaign queue, then voicemail if the queue can’t clear. State that order in your plan so everyone understands what happens when a desk is closed.

Daily caps keep delivery aligned with commitments and budget pacing. If a buyer caps out before midday, re-balance with weights so others absorb volume at a healthy rate. Concurrent caps should reflect the active seats a buyer staffs (for example, three simultaneous calls when three agents are on). For planning rules of thumb and examples, see Daily and Concurrent Call Caps.

Align every target’s time-of-day windows to the desk’s local time, not yours. National campaigns benefit from a dedicated after-hours buyer or a voicemail path that captures messages for next-morning callbacks. Combine schedules with geo filters so out-of-area callers never reach a desk that cannot serve them.

When you have many buyers, choose a pattern deliberately. A single buyer with multiple sites often benefits from simultaneous ring or priority to favor the main desk with a backup site. Parity across several buyers works well with weighted or round-robin, still honoring each target’s caps and schedules. If you buy national traffic, filter by caller state first, then apply fairness within each state pool.

Routing methods compared for multi-buyer fairness

Use the right tool for the mix of buyer capacity and geography.

Method	When to use	Fairness	After caps hit	Answer rate impact
Priority	Tiered buyers; premium tiers need first dibs	Low, by design	Skips capped/closed, falls to next tier	High for top tier, lower for others
Weighted	Proportional delivery (e.g., 50/30/20)	High, by proportion	Rebalances among remaining open targets	Stable if weights match capacity
Round-robin	Equal buyers, strict turns	High, equal turns	Skips capped/closed, preserves order	Can dip if a slow target is in turn
Simultaneous ring	Speed to answer matters more than fairness	Variable	Rings only open/uncapped simultaneously	Often highest, favors fastest desk

Consider a roofing campaign with three buyers: A (cap 40/day), B (35/day), C (40/day), open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local and answering reliably. With priority A > B > C, calls fill A to 40, then B to 35, with C taking the rest, which can feel lopsided. With weights at A 40%, B 35%, C 25%, the split tracks those proportions while respecting caps; if C answers slowly, A and B absorb timed-out turns. Round-robin alternates A, B, C in sequence and preserves order when someone caps. Simultaneous ring tends to skew to the fastest-answering desk, so use it only when buyers accept competitive ringing.

You can also mix approaches. You can achieve time-based shifts by creating duplicate targets with different schedules and priorities/weights (e.g., Buyer X priority in the morning, then weighted distribution later). Geo-first and weights-second is common, too.

Step 3: Set duplicate-caller rules to prevent conflicts

In the campaign settings, enable duplicate-caller rules; caller ID is the dedupe key. Choose a look-back window that fits the offer: short windows for urgent services like locksmiths, longer for higher-consideration work such as roofing or solar. Decide the outcome when a duplicate hits within the window: suppress the call across the campaign, route it back to the original buyer for exclusivity, or allow it once the window expires.

Common patterns are a 7-day exclusivity back to the original buyer so follow-ups land with the same desk, or a 24-hour suppression across the entire campaign to reduce channel collisions when affiliates and retargeting overlap. Keep the exclusivity window aligned with what you promise in your agreements. Dedupe trims chargebacks and keeps analytics honest. For setup details and edge cases, review Duplicate call suppression.

Step 4: Turn on recording, monitoring, and reporting

Enable call recording and follow consent laws in the states you cover. Use recordings for QA and to close disputes quickly. Live call monitoring helps you spot short-duration spikes, wrong-number patterns, or agents mishandling calls; pair that with blocklists and rate limits if you see abuse repeats.

Give buyers portal access before launch, and verify they can log in and play sample recordings. Schedule daily or weekly email reports with the core metrics buyers care about: answer rate, average duration, and caps hit. Use the real-time log and analytics to correlate answer rates and pacing with routing and cap changes so you can adjust without guesswork. If you need a refresher on the metrics that matter, see Call analytics.

Test calls and go-live checklist

Run this sequence before you scale spend:

• Dial every entry number and confirm it lands in the right campaign, plays the correct IVR where configured, and the whisper plays only to agents.
• Place test calls with caller IDs from different states and verify geo filters route to the intended buyers. Call during open and closed windows to confirm closed targets are skipped.
• Temporarily lower a target’s daily and concurrent caps to trigger overflow and watch calls move to the next target, then the queue, then voicemail, and resume the next day after reset.
• Test the dedupe window: call once, hang up, then call again within the window to verify suppression or reroute to the original buyer; repeat after the window expires to confirm normal routing.
• Confirm recordings are captured and playable in both your admin view and the buyer portal. Do a short pilot where a buyer logs in, listens to a sample call, and validates staff and hours.

Troubleshooting common issues

One buyer is absorbing too many calls despite weights. Check eligibility first. If peers are closed, have tight windows, or low concurrent caps, the router has no choice but to hand more volume to the open desk. Expand windows and seat counts where possible, or re-balance weights.

You see too many short calls. Listen to recordings and look at the live log to separate spam, wrong numbers, and hang-ups. Add a short IVR gate like “Press 1 to connect,” and apply blocklists or rate limits to recurring abusers.

Buyers complain “we already spoke to this person.” Extend the dedupe exclusivity window or switch from suppression to rerouting back to the original buyer. Point them to timestamps and recordings in the buyer portal to settle credit.

After-hours leakage is landing on closed desks. Tighten per-target windows, verify every target’s time zone, and add a dedicated after-hours buyer or voicemail path that captures messages for next-morning callbacks.

Launch and next steps

Create the campaign, assign entry numbers, pick routing that fits your buyer mix, and add whispers. Add buyers and build targets with schedules, geo filters, and caps, set duplicate-caller rules, then test end to end before opening spend. If you want help mapping multi-buyer routing for your vertical, contact us. Ready to provision numbers from a prepaid wallet and go live on carrier-grade routes? Create an account.