Home / Call routing platform
Inbound call routing platform for pay-per-call networks
01 · The job
What call routing means in pay-per-call
In a call center, routing means picking the right queue. In pay-per-call it means more. Every call costs someone money, so routing has to answer three questions at once: who can take it, who should pay for it, and whether it should be taken at all.
InboundX answers those questions before the call is sent. The publisher asks first, a buyer is held, and only then does the call move.
02 · Inbound routing
What to look for in inbound call routing software
Most inbound call routing software was built for support lines, where every caller is already a customer and the only question is who is free. Pay-per-call adds a buyer who pays for the call and a publisher who is paid for it. Four things matter more there than in a support queue.
A decision before the call, not after
Routing that picks a buyer once the caller is already ringing can only pick from whoever is left. InboundX holds a buyer first, for the campaign's hold time, and sends the call only to that hold.
Rules that know about money
A call center routes by skill. A pay-per-call network also routes by who has paid: a buyer with an empty wallet is skipped, so a call never lands with someone who cannot be billed for it.
A reason for every no
A publisher that gets a no-bid needs to know why: outside hours, outside coverage, no buyer free, or a missing lead field. InboundX keeps every ping with its answer and its reason, and the publisher sees it in plain words.
One set of rules for every source
Pinged calls and calls to dedicated numbers pass the same buyer checks, so a number that bypasses the rules is not a way around them.
If you are comparing routing platforms by name, the published figures are side by side on Ringba alternatives and Retreaver alternatives.
03 · The buyer
How the buyer is chosen
Each buyer on the campaign is checked on every call:
- Online, in a browser tab that passed the device check
- Inside your working hours
- Taking calls from the caller's state
- Has a funded wallet
- Approved, ID-checked where you require it, and not paused
- Selected this campaign
Of the buyers who pass, the one who has been idle longest is held. That spreads calls fairly and keeps buyers who are waiting from sitting idle while others are busy.
04 · The rules
What you set per campaign and offer
- Coverage by state, or a campaign zip list that replaces the buyers' states
- Required lead fields, set by a ping profile per offer or industry
- Hold time per campaign, 10 to 30 seconds, 15 by default
- Qualification billing, or billing on call duration
A publisher’s key names one offer, so the rules that apply are never in doubt. How a ping turns into a bid is on real-time bidding for calls.
05 · The safety net
No held buyer, no call
A call that arrives without an active hold is refused before anyone answers. A caller never rings into a room with nobody free, and a buyer is never charged for a call they were not held for.
When a publisher’s ping gets a no, the reason travels with it, and the publisher’s ping log shows the same reason in plain words. What else pay-per-call publishers see is on their own page.
06 · Every source
Pings and dedicated numbers
Publishers who ping get a bid and send the call to the address it names. Calls to dedicated numbers go through the same buyer checks. Either way, the same rules decide who answers.
Publishers integrate in four steps, from the first ping to conversions.
07 · After it rings
What happens once the call connects
The held buyer answers in a browser tab. Caller and buyer are transcribed live on separate channels, and you can listen in from the console. The call bills when spoken criteria qualify it, or on duration if the campaign is set that way. Buyers pay from a prepaid wallet through your own payment processor.
The full path, from ping to bill, is on how it works. The whole product is on pay-per-call software.
08 · Questions
Asked about call routing
- 01What is a call routing platform?
- A call routing platform decides which buyer answers each inbound call, and refuses the call when nobody should. InboundX is a call routing platform for pay-per-call networks: it checks coverage, hours and funded wallets, holds the buyer who has been idle longest, and rings them in the browser. A call that arrives without a held buyer is refused before anyone answers.
- 02What is inbound call routing software?
- Inbound call routing software decides where an incoming call goes. In a call center that usually means a queue or a skill group. In pay-per-call it also means checking that the buyer is covered, inside hours and funded before the call is sent. InboundX is inbound call routing software built for that second job.
- 03How long is a buyer held for a call?
- Per campaign, from 10 to 30 seconds, 15 by default. If the call does not arrive inside the hold, the hold lapses and the buyer is free again.
- 04How does InboundX pick which buyer gets a call?
- Every buyer on the campaign is checked: online, inside working hours, taking the state, funded, approved and not paused, and selected the campaign. Of those who pass, the one who has been idle longest is held and gets the call.
- 05Can I route by zip code instead of state?
- Yes. A campaign can carry its own zip list. When it does, that list replaces the states the buyers take, for that campaign.
- 06What happens if no buyer can take the call?
- The publisher gets a no-bid with the reason, before the call is sent. If a call still arrives without a held buyer, it is refused before anyone answers, so no caller rings into an empty room.
- 07Does routing work for dedicated numbers as well as pings?
- Yes. Calls to dedicated numbers go through the same buyer checks as calls that come from a ping.
- 08Do buyers need phones or softphones?
- No. Buyers answer in a browser tab after a short device check. The call picks up on its own. Both sides are transcribed live on separate channels.
09 · Next
Route your network's calls
Open a workspace and set your first campaign, or see how a ping becomes a bid.