What it is
Ping post is a two-step lead distribution process used across performance marketing. Rather than sending a complete lead directly to one buyer at a fixed price, you first send a partial-data "ping" to multiple buyers at once, collect their bids, then "post" the full lead data only to the winner.
On most platforms this happens in under a second for each lead.
How the two steps work
The process splits into two distinct API calls, the ping and the post. Splitting them lets a buyer decide on a lead before it sees anyone's personal details.
Ping
Partial data, such as postcode, age and vertical, sent to several buyers.
Bids
Buyers respond with a price or decline.
Post
Full lead sent to the winning buyer only.
The ping contains just enough data for a buyer to decide whether they want the lead and at what price. In many setups that is geography, product interest, and a few qualifying fields, with no name, email, or phone number. What goes in the ping varies by platform and buyer agreement, so check what your platform sends.
The post follows once you have selected a winner. The full lead record, PII included, is sent only to the buyer who won. This protects the consumer's data and puts you in a stronger position on price.
Ping post vs direct post
In a direct post setup, the whole lead, PII included, goes straight to a buyer at a pre-agreed fixed price, with no bidding. You negotiate a rate per lead, set up the integration, and every lead that matches their filters gets posted at that price.
Direct post is simpler and faster, but you get the same fixed rate however valuable a particular lead is. With ping post the buyers compete, so the leads they all want tend to fetch more.
Direct post
- Faster, single API call
- Simpler integration
- Predictable revenue
- Same fixed price for every lead
- Full PII exposed on every attempt
Ping post
- Higher RPL through competition
- PII only shared with the winner
- Market-driven pricing
- Added latency (500ms to 2s)
- More complex to set up
When ping post makes sense
Ping post works best when you have multiple buyers competing for the same leads and the value of a lead varies meaningfully. Insurance, finance, home services, and education are classic verticals for it. If you have only got one or two buyers per segment, the bidding overhead is not worth it. Stick with direct post or waterfall routing.
The latency trade-off matters too. If your leads come from a web form where the consumer is waiting for a confirmation page, adding a second or two is usually fine. If you are working with real-time transfer scenarios where the consumer is on the phone, you will want tight timeouts or a direct post fallback.
How it works in Hawfinch
In Hawfinch, ping post is a delivery method you choose per buyer, alongside direct post. For a ping post buyer, Hawfinch sends the lead's name, email and phone number to the buyer's ping URL. An HTTP 2xx reply counts as a yes, and the full lead is then sent to their post URL. Any other reply, an error or a timeout counts as a no, and the lead moves on to the next buyer.
Hawfinch does not run an auction. It does not read prices or bids from the reply, and it does not ping several buyers at once. Buyers are tried one at a time in the order set by the delivery group, so ping post buyers sit in the same waterfall as direct post buyers and a decline falls through to the next. Each buyer has one timeout, 30 seconds by default, which covers both the ping and the post.
Routing runs in the background. Your source gets an immediate answer from the API when the lead is accepted, so neither the supplier nor the consumer waits while buyers are pinged.