What is PING/POST?

(known as Incoming Webhooks on TrackDrive Platform)

TrackDrive has implemented a state-of-the-art Incoming Webhooks technology that allows for your Traffic Sources to check for available Buyers before sending a call. The type of Incoming Webhook to use and how many Numbers you need to give to a Traffic Source, is a case by case discussion based on when the Traffic Source needs the Payout reported to them, and if they are willing (or even have the Caller ID) available during this process before sending the call.

NOTE: It can be very confusing to understand the different types of Incoming Webhooks available related to transmitting data to TrackDrive.  Although this document is only discussing the two related to PING/POST, for clarity there are 4 types of incoming webhooks related to the offer on TrackDrive: 

- PING for Available TrackDrive Agent 

- PING/POST for Available Buyers using a single DID to transmit the call 

- PING/POST for Available Buyer using a Number Pool of DIDs to transmit the call 

- DIRECT DATA POST used to send data for: 

- Inbound Call Tracking 

- Warm Transfers 

- Data for TrackDrive Agents/IVR Mode Lead to Call Automation

PING/POST Explained:

Simply stated, the PING/POST will allow your Traffic Source to send a Webhook REQUEST called a PING to check for available buyers.  The Webhook RESPONSE to that REQUEST will send back a PING_ID (or IDs for TrackDrive) that will associate which Buyers the Traffic Source desires to send the call to.  The PING_ID may reference a single buyer or all buyers and information about each buyer, like what Payout the Traffic Source will receive and Duration that must be met to receive the payout for each buyer.

This PING_ID must make it to the TrackDrive platform one way or the other, and the two ways available in the Pay Per Call Space are: 

1) Via a POST if the Traffic Source can and will send the Caller ID in the Data PING and/or POST, or 

2) By associating the PING_ID to a Phone Number the Traffic Source will send the call to TrackDrive on.

What type of Incoming Webhook Posting Instructions do I give my Traffic Source?

Single Number Type:  You may give the Traffic Source Posting Instructions with a Single Phone Number Type of Incoming Webhook if they are willing and able to send the CallerID in the Webhook on the PING and/or POST.  

On TrackDrive, if the Traffic Source sends the CallerID on the PING and we receive the Caller on that Number without a POST, we will inherit the “try_all_buyers_ping_id” and all the data on the PING as POST data automatically.

However, if the Traffic Source can POST each time before they send the Call to TrackDrive, the PING_ID in the POST data will give total control to the Traffic Source to direct the Caller to the Buyer(s) of their choice.

Number Pool Type: This type has to be used if the Publisher is unwilling to send the CallerID before the decision is made to send the call to TrackDrive (for example, on LeadsPedia, they respond with the Phone Number on the POST part of a PING/POST on their platform, and if the publisher has not yet sent the CallerID in data, they don't know the CallerID until the Call is sent on the Phone Number assigned to that PING_ID (just like TrackDrive's case), and in turn, the Number Pool Type would also have to be used on TrackDrive.

NOTE: on TrackDrive for the Number Pool Type, it is not standard to return the Number to forward calls to in the PING RESPONSE so that our clients can limit the number of Phone Numbers in use.  Assigning Phone Numbers on PING REQUESTs can be a massive amount of numbers to buy for a client, and if the Traffic Source is about to send the call, they may skip doing the PING REQUEST and proceed directly to a POST REQUEST.  Many Traffic Sources will use the Agent Availability Check as the PING, and then send the POST REQUEST for the buyer without doing a PING REQUEST for the buyer first (or in the case the data POST is not checking for buyer availability, use the DIRECT POST instructions to get relevant data to TrackDrive.

How many Numbers do I give my Traffic Source so they can route to all of  your Buyers?

The answer to this question is a case by case answer based on the Traffic Source and the capabilities of the Platform they use: 

One Number Per Buyer: 

- Traffic source PLATFORM can not Parse the RESPONSE to extract all the buyers in the BUYER ARRAY and create what TrackDrive calls “Child Buyers” on each call
- Variable Pricing is needed for each Buyer before they Route Calls in their decision on who they will send a call to

Single Number for All Buyers - All Other Cases, for example: 

- Traffic Source is paid a flat rate no matter which Buyer takes the call. 

- Pricing is variable, but the Traffic Source is willing to take a POSTBACK or use your Reporting to get the Payout for each call. 

- The Traffic Source Platform is capable if Parsing the BUYER ARRAY and considering all of the Buyers in the RESPONSE.  For example, a Dental offer to Marchex will respond with an BUYER ARRAY, on one call there may be 3 Buyers that will take the call, while on another call 7 buyers will take the call.