Reducing Costs

ChatAds bills per request, but not all requests are created equal. Here’s how to keep your costs down.

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Know What’s Not Billable

Several response statuses are free — you’re not charged when these fire:

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Pass the country Parameter

If you know the user’s country, pass it in the country parameter. ChatAds will reject non-US traffic for free. Without it, ChatAds falls back to the ip parameter for geo-detection — and if neither is provided, it assumes US and processes the request, meaning you’ll pay for a no_offer result on traffic that was never going to convert.

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Pass the ip Parameter

If you’re serving international traffic, pass the user’s IP address in the ip parameter. ChatAds will detect non-US traffic and reject it for free. Without ip or country, ChatAds assumes US and processes the request — meaning you’ll pay for a no_offer result on traffic that was never going to convert.

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Turn On Brand-Only Mode

When Brand Only is enabled, ChatAds checks for brand-like words in the message before processing. If no brand is detected, the request returns early with status no_brand_found. This is billed like other processed requests. Pros:

• Branded matches tend to convert better since users already have a product in mind
• Higher precision — only surfaces offers when a specific brand is mentioned

Cons:

• Lower fill rate — generic product mentions like “yoga mat” or “running shoes” won’t match
• Misses opportunities where a generic term could have resolved to a popular product

If your traffic frequently mentions brands by name, this can improve conversion rates on the offers that do get through.

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Check billed in the Response

Every response includes a data.billed field. Use it to track how many of your requests are actually costing you money. If you see a high ratio of billed: true with returned: 0, review the tips above to reduce waste.

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Next Steps