What are webhooks and how to use them?

Tired of manually syncing data between your marketing tools? What if they could talk to each other, automatically? Enter webhooks, the secret weapon for streamlining your workflow and crafting seamless customer journeys across channels. 

In this blog post, we’ll break down everything you need to know about webhooks – what they are, how they work, and most importantly, how you can leverage them to supercharge your marketing strategy. So, let’s dive in and get started.

What are webhooks?

In a nutshell, webhooks are automated messages sent by one application to another in response to specific events. Think of them as a personalized digital courier – they relay essential information, in real-time, allowing you to react promptly and make data-driven decisions.

For instance, when a new customer creates an account on your ecommerce website, webhooks help sync data from your ecommerce platform to your marketing automation software. 

The notification contains valuable information such as the new subscriber’s email address. This real-time exchange enables you to respond quickly by triggering a welcome email series or personalizing future marketing messages.

How do webhooks work?

Imagine you have two online tools you use for marketing: a signup form and an email marketing platform. Webhooks act like a messenger between them, automatically sending information whenever someone signs up on your form. Here’s how it happens in four steps:

1. Something happens (event trigger): Someone fills out your signup form. This triggers the “event” that starts the webhook process.
2. Data gets packed (payload creation): The signup form gathers information like the user’s name and email address. This data is bundled into a contract we refer to as a “payload” to transfer the relevant details.
3. The message is sent (webhook delivery): When the signup form is submitted the system creates and sends the payload (relevant details) to a specific web address, which is called the “webhook endpoint”. It’s like the delivery address for the information.
4. Action time (receiving application): Your email marketing platform receives the payload (relevant details) and extracts the user’s name and email address. It can then take action, like automatically sending a welcome email to the new subscriber.

By automating this process, webhooks save you time and ensure that your marketing tools always have the latest information.

How you can use webhooks?

Webhooks are surprisingly versatile tools with a wide range of applications in digital marketing. Here are some key ways you can leverage webhooks to enhance your campaigns:

Seamless customer journey 

If you run an ecommerce store, you can utilize webhooks to send customized emails to customers who have abandoned their shopping carts. Imagine a customer browsing your website, adding items to their cart, and then leaving without completing the purchase. 

Normally, you might not know when they will return. However, with webhooks, it can trigger your marketing automation platform to send an email to the customer reminding them about their abandoned items and offering them a discount to encourage them to finish their purchase. This real-time exchange allows you to respond immediately.

CRM and marketing automation

To keep your contact database up-to-date and deliver targeted marketing messages, you can use webhooks to sync user data from your website or application to your marketing automation tool, Dotdigital. This ensures that you always have the latest information.

Lead scoring and segmentation

Use webhooks to track user engagement, automatically update lead scores, and segment users based on their behavior. You can then use this information to create tailored marketing campaigns for each segment.

Social media monitoring

Leverage webhooks to gather real-time data on brand mentions and sentiment on social media platforms. With this information, you can respond to customer feedback and capitalize on new opportunities at the right moment.

Customer surveys

You can distribute customer surveys, such as NPS or satisfaction surveys, based on specific user actions or milestones. Webhooks can be used to trigger these surveys, collect feedback, and use the insights to improve your marketing strategy.

Enrich your customer profiles

By using webhooks, you can send important customer data from your marketing automation platform to other systems in your marketing stack. This helps to create a more comprehensive customer profile, allowing you to have a complete view of your audience.

Track message replies and delivery updates

Webhooks can provide you with real-time updates on customer interactions. By using webhooks, you can track the customer’s replies to your messages and receive updates on the delivery status of your messages.

Why use Dotdigital program webhooks

Dotdigital’s latest integrations allow you to connect more of your tech stack to feed actionable insights into the platform. Using webhooks, you can push your data from Dotdigital into any other platform, giving you complete flexibility to create bespoke personalized customer journeys. With Dotdigital’s webhooks, you can:

1. Create hyper-targeted cross-channel experiences

Program webhooks let you programmatically push customer data from Dotdigital to other platforms within your marketing ecosystem. For instance, you can automatically send abandoned cart data to your CRM, trigger a personalized direct mail campaign based on a recent purchase, or initiate loyalty program updates whenever a customer interacts with your brand.

2. Integrate effortlessly with key players

Dotdigital has pre-built integrations with popular ecommerce platforms and direct mail campaign providers. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures that your customer information is always synchronized across your martech stack. You can leverage these integrations to personalize your marketing messages based on past purchases or website behavior.

Deliver seamless cross-channel experiences with webhooks

Webhooks help you create seamless and personalized experiences for your customers. By automating data flow and allowing for real-time communication between your marketing systems, webhooks can help you stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions with agility. So, if you’re looking for a way to streamline your marketing workflow, enhance customer experiences, and increase your competitive advantage, webhooks are worth exploring.