Use Case — News Portals

Turn readers into revenue.
Monetise emergency trade searches instantly.

Turn readers into revenue. Monetise emergency trade searches instantly.

See how the API works →

Local news portals drive millions of high-intent searches — and earn nothing from them

A reader searches "emergency plumber Manchester" on your portal. They read the article, leave, and call a plumber from Google. You generated intent but captured zero revenue. Ads pay fractions of a penny. Affiliate directories are slow and generic. There's no native way for a content publisher to monetise the moment a reader needs urgent trade help.

Embed a referral widget — earn a fee every time a tradesperson is contacted

What the contact received — for real

pipeiq.co.uk ✓ Delivered
"Hi James, you asked the Leeds Gazette for an emergency electrician. We have passed your details to a local electrician who will call you shortly."
Sent 07 Aug 2026, 16:46 BST · Confirmed delivered · Reply STOP to opt out

A message, sent and delivered live on the platform. TPS-screened before every send. ICO registered: ZC164080.

Reader submits postcode. Tradespeople get an SMS in seconds.

A reader submits a postcode on your article page; you POST it. Only two fields are required — the mobile number to reach and the postcode the job is in. Everything else is optional attribution.

POST https://app.pipeiq.co.uk/api/leads/register POST
curl -X POST https://app.pipeiq.co.uk/api/leads/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-PipeIQ-Token: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "mobile_number": "07700900000",
    "postcode": "M1 1AE",
    "selected_trade": "plumbing",
    "utm_source": "news-portal",
    "utm_campaign": "emergency-plumber"
  }'

A 201 Created response means the lead was registered and the welcome SMS was dispatched; the body returns the matched postcode sector. mobile_number accepts 07xxxxxxxxx or 447xxxxxxxxx. selected_trade takes plumbing, gas, electrical, roofing, building or all; it is not validated, so an unrecognised or omitted value is recorded as Other rather than rejected. Full field and response reference on the Partner API page.

Seven response codes, and what your integration should do with each

Lead distribution fails quietly when nobody handles the unhappy path. One of these you must never retry.

CodeMeaningWhat to do
201Lead registered, welcome SMS dispatchedStore the returned postcode sector against the lead.
400Missing or invalid fieldsFix the payload; do not retry unchanged.
401Invalid or missing API keyCheck the header. Never put the key in client-side code.
405Wrong HTTP methodPOST only. OPTIONS returns 200 for CORS preflight; everything else is rejected.
422Number previously opted outDo not retry. Mark the lead unreachable by SMS and route it another way.
429Daily call limit reached (100 per key per 24h)Back off and resume; email support to raise the cap. Sandbox keys share this status.
500Unexpected server errorRetry with backoff; contact support with your request id if it persists.

The 422 is the one worth designing around. It is not a transport failure, it is a lawful-basis answer: that person has told us not to text them. Retrying it is the easiest way to turn a compliance feature into a compliance incident.

What news portals see within 30 days

9%
Average tradesperson claim rate on emergency portal referrals
500+
Referrals routed monthly from a mid-size regional portal
0
Editorial changes needed — embed the widget, connect the API, done