What is ping-post?
Ping-post is a two-step lead transaction: the publisher first sends a minimal record (the ping) so buyers can bid without seeing the full lead, then sends the complete record (the post) to whichever buyer wins.
The ping contains only enough information to evaluate the lead — commonly a phone number, ZIP code, and product type. Buyers respond with a bid or a decline. The winning buyer then receives the post, containing the full contact record, and is charged.
The structure exists to protect both sides. Publishers avoid giving away complete lead data to buyers who will not pay for it. Buyers avoid paying for leads they would not have wanted had they seen them.
For scoring, ping-post is what makes latency the binding constraint. Any evaluation has to happen inside the ping window, on ping-stage data only, which is why pre-bid models are built differently from models that run after a lead is purchased.
Related terms
- Pre-bid lead scoring — Pre-bid lead scoring is the practice of predicting how likely an insurance lead is to convert before paying for it, using only the limited data available at the ping stage of a real-time auction.
- Shared vs exclusive leads — An exclusive lead is sold to one buyer. A shared lead is sold to several buyers simultaneously, so the consumer is contacted by multiple agents and each buyer competes for the same person.