Ladies and Gentlemen! In this corner, the high-flying hero, Ping Post! And in the opposite corner, we have the the intimidator, Direct Post! Now this is a good clean fight, but instead of seeing punches and body-slams, we are going to look right where it hurts-at the numbers.
What Is Ping Post?
Here is the lifecycle of a ping post lead. First, a lead is bought or generated and then is put up to be sold. Partial information is taken from the lead, such as zip code, gender, age etc. But all identifiable or contact information like name, phone number or email is excluded. The only information needed for the buyer to make an informed purchase is included at this stage. This is the ping. The ping is bid on in real time, so it is not a situation where you can ping a buyer via email and wait for a response. Responses need to be within seconds so the seller can make a determination on buyers, and the lead generator can communicate with the lead on the next steps (typically on the confirmation page).
Once the seller chooses the best buyer/s depending on if the lead is sold exclusively or non-exclusively, the ping is sold and is then posted to their system. Hence, ping post. Once sold, all the lead's information is routed to the seller so they can contact the lead from there.
What Is Direct Post?
Direct post has a less detailed lifecycle than that of a ping post lead. With direct post, a lead is posted "as is" with all its information and from there is sold either exclusively or non-exclusively.
Who Uses Ping Post
The benefits of using ping post, is it is a more secure process when dealing with user data. Many industries use ping post for their leads, such as home improvement, health insurance, mortgage, solar and more. Many also use ping post due to the benefits to all stakeholders in the process. Sellers use it to maximize their revenue for each lead, since it is sold in real-time. Lead brokers who aggregate leads use ping post to alter their profit margins and buy and sell from one central place with greater insight to their lead flow. Lead buyers use ping post to adjust their bids based lead quality or their current volume. It is easier to lower their bids when they need less leads, than to halt the flow entirely.
Who Uses Direct Post?
Generally, all the same industries that use ping post have buyers and sellers using direct post as well. Sometimes direct post works better for specific businesses, but there tends to be more trust when dealing with posting all a lead's information at once.