How To Set Up Pacvue Billing Tags

July 10, 2024 20:10

Overview

This article will walk you through Pacvue’s Billing Tag functionality. Billing Tag is a feature that allows Pacvue clients to create custom campaign taxonomies for invoicing. Pacvue’s standard invoicing practice is one invoice per platform at the total platform level. Billing Tags require Pacvue Finance approval prior to implementation, as they require ownership by the client for on-time, monthly billing. If profile level billing meets the client’s custom billing needs, this is the preferred method for invoicing as it is less cumbersome for clients and Pacvue.

Custom invoice examples:

Brand level invoicing: multiple brands in one Pacvue account that need to be listed as line items on the same invoice. Note: if profiles are set-up cleanly by brand, please request Profile billing over Billing Tags as it’s more efficient for both parties.
More than one PO/IOID required in the same monthly billing cycle for one Pacvue account. Note: Profile billing will not work in this scenario. Billing Tags are the only solution for this use case.

When setting up Billing Tags each individual Billing Tag will appear as a separate line item on the Pacvue monthly invoice.

Billing Tags is not a default feature in Pacvue and must be approved by Pacvue’s Finance department and enabled by your Pacvue CS contact. Talk to your Pacvue CS Account Manager if you need Billing Tags enabled in your account. Please note that your account must be in good standing (current on payments) for Billing Tag approval and ongoing usage. Billing Tags usage for custom invoices is a privilege and approval may be revoked if Billing Tags are not maintained timely for monthly billing or are found to be misused.

Setting Up Billing Tags

Step 1: Navigate to the Billing Tags page on the lefthand navigation with the following path: Advertising Tagging Billing Tag. Note: This page will only be available if you’ve communicated with your Pacvue contact to enable this feature for you and it has been approved by the Pacvue Finance team.

Step 2: Click on the ‘Add Tag’ button to create a new billing tag. Input a tag name per line for each billing tag you’d like to create.

Tips: Including PO/IOID #’s, or any other unique identifiers in your invoice

If you require a PO/IOID #, or any other unique identifier included on your invoice, then be sure to include that information in the free form field when naming the Billing Tags. The name of the Billing Tag is what will appear on the line item of the Pacvue invoice.

For example, let’s say you need individual brands in your account as separate line items on your invoice with a specific PO/IOID # included. When naming your billing tags use a naming convention such as ‘Brand – PO/IOD#’.

Brand A – PO#90948540
Brand B – PO#905405840353
Brand C – PO#09808454

Note that it is up to you to update the PO# in the Billing Tag as necessary if the PO # changes. Failure to maintain accurate POs will delay billing and cause manual work for Pacvue’s billing team and may result in loss of Billing Tag approval.

Step 3: Assign campaigns into a Billing Tag. This can either by done manually or automatically through a Match Tag Rule. Assigning campaigns through a Match Tag Rule is the preferred method.

On the righthand side of a billing tag over the action menu and click on the ‘Rules’ icon.

When setting up a match tag rule for Billing Tags there are two main sections: Pick From and Requirements.

Pick From – Select which Profile and Billing Tag to pull campaigns from. Typically Match Tag Rules would be set up to pull from and move a campaign to ‘Unassigned Campaigns’ to a created Billing Tag.
Requirements – Set up the rule logic to trigger moving a campaign to a created Billing Tag. The rule logic consists of contain or does not contain statements in the campaign name. Example, if a campaign name contains the word “Widget”, then it will be added to the billing tag for brand Widget. Multiple logic statements can be layered to fine tune and make sure appropriate campaigns are added into the appropriate billing tag.

Tip: Campaign Naming Best Practice

Match Tagging Rules are most effective when all of your campaign names have a logical naming taxonomy. If you’d like to be billed by specific brands, then be sure to include the brand name in the campaign name so that the match tag rules can assign the campaign to the appropriate billing tag.

Campaign can be manually added into a tag by hovering on the righthand side of a Billing Tag and clicking on the ‘+’ button. Manually select which Unassigned Campaigns should be added to a billable Billing Tag.

Ongoing Maintenance

Creating Billing Tags is only the beginning. It’s your responsibility to perform the below actions on a regular basis, and on the last calendar day of every month (if unassigned campaigns are present), to maintain billing tags for accuracy and avoid billing delays. The billing process begins on the 3rd calendar day of every month. Make it a part of your process to audit your billing tags for accuracy before the billing cycle begins at the start of the month.

Monitor Unassigned Campaigns Billing Tag

Unassigned Campaigns is a default Billing Tag that shows you the number of campaigns that are not assigned to a billing tag and the spend associated with those campaigns. You will be billed for Unassigned Campaigns, but they will not be billed under the appropriate Billing Tag line item on the invoice. It’s important that you monitor this to make sure there is no spend in the unassigned billing tag. Fees may be assessed for any credit/rebill requests resulting from lack of timely mapping.

If you have Match Tags rules set up and still have spend in Unassigned Campaigns, then there may be issues with either your match tag rule set up or the campaign names. Here are some actions you can take to troubleshoot and audit your Billing Tag set up.

Check your Match Tag Rule set up. Look for misspellings in the campaign requirements which may prevent the Match Tag Rule from tagging the correct campaigns.
Check to make sure that you’re following your own campaign naming taxonomy to ensure that the Match Tag Rule can add campaigns into the appropriate billing tag. Click on the Campaign Count link for Unassigned Campaigns to go the campaign view filtered for Unassigned Campaigns. Look for misspelling in campaign names and fix appropriately.

Billing Tag FAQ

What is the difference between a Billing Tag and a Campaign Tag?

Billing Tag and Campaign Tags are completely separate Pacvue features and now live in their own respective tabs in the platform. Billing Tags are used strictly for billing purposes to have certain groups of campaigns be billed separately on different line items of the Pacvue invoice. Campaign Tags are used in Pacvue to group campaigns for reporting, execution, and optimization purposes.

A key difference between Billing Tags and Campaign Tags is that a campaign cannot exist under multiple Billing Tags. Said differently, campaigns must be exclusively assigned to a single Billing Tag to prevent duplicate campaign billing. On the flipside, a campaign is able to exist in multiple Campaign Tags.

How often and when should I be auditing my Billing Tags?

The billing cycle begins on the 3rd calendar day of every month. You should be auditing your Billing Tags for accuracy every month by the last calendar day of the month, if there are unassigned campaigns, and to correct any potential errors. Catching errors before the start of the billing cycle will help speed up the billing process and avoid delays in getting invoices sent out. Please note that this is the sole responsibility of the client and fees may be assessed for any credit/rebill requests resulting from incorrect mapping.

Monthly Billing Tag Audit

When auditing, make sure to check for these common errors:

Check to make sure that all campaigns are included in billing Tags and there are no campaigns remaining in the Unassigned grouping.