A ring tree (RT) usually contains multiple ring tree targets (RTTs). However, it is possible to create a separate RT for each RTT. Deciding how to structure your ring trees depends on how you want to balance connection speed against maximizing revenue.
Ring Tree with Multiple Ring Tree Targets
Using a ring tree with multiple RTTs let you use the sophisticated ring tree tools and give the entire RT a priority and weight relative to other targets when you add it to the routing plan on the campaign.
When the campaign works through the routing plan priorities and weights and gets to the RT, it pings all of the RTTs in the RT at the same time to determine the best bid. The call goes to the RTT with the highest bid, which is good for maximizing revenue because you have all the possible options before choosing a winner.
However, the ring tree does not choose a winner until all RTTs have responded with a bid, which can slow down the caller experience: the whole ring tree is only as fast as the slowest ring tree target. One option you have to speed up bidding in a ring tree is to reduce the Ping Timeout setting in the Error Settings section of the ring tree configuration.
If a ring tree target takes longer than the Ping Timeout settings to respond to your bid request, Ringba chooses a winner among the other bids that arrived in time. The Ping Timeout is 2000 milliseconds by default, but you can reduce it to a minimum of 50 milliseconds.
Reducing the Ping Timeout value by too much can backfire, though, if it causes you to miss out on lucrative bids from slower RTTs. Review historical response times by the RTTs in your RT to get an idea of how long your Ping Timeout to accommodate most of your RTTs. See the section later in this article about Ring Trees in Reporting.
Ring Tree with a Single Ring Tree Target
Sometimes you might want to still use the power of a ring tree but not have to ping multiple RTTs at the same time and wait for all of them to respond. In this case, you can create a ring tree that contains only one ring tree target.
If you add a ring tree with only one RTT to a campaign, Ringba treats the RT as a separate target and applies the priority and weight you set. If there are multiple RTs like this on the campaign, it results in Ringba pinging the next ring tree target ONLY if the previous RTT did not return a successful response or valid bid.
This approach can speed up the process of connecting a call to a target, but you have to accept the payment of whichever targets accepts the call first. You don't have a chance to accept multiple bids and choose the highest.
Ring Trees in Reporting
You can find a summary of how Ringba pings the target or targets in a ring tree on the Events tab of the Call Details report on the Reporting screen. The events appear in the order they occurred, which reflects the priority order you set when you set up the routing plan on the campaign.