About Webhooks

In marketing, it helps to coordinate your marketing emails with other actions on your website and other channels, such as text messages and direct mail. Webhooks are one way for you to sync Mailchimp activity with third-party apps.

In this article, we’ll look at ways you can create a webhook in the Mailchimp app.

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you begin this process.

• In order to use webhooks, you must be on the Standard or Premium plan. If you have an Essentials or Free plan, you can set up the webhook and see the feature, but you'll be prompted to upgrade before enabling the step. To change your plan, visit the plans page in your account.
• We recommend webhooks if you're familiar with custom coding. Contact your developer or hire a Mailchimp Expert if you need assistance.
• This article explains how to add webhooks in Mailchimp. To learn more about working with webhooks, check out our webhooks quick start guide.

How it works

When a contact performs a specific action in Mailchimp - such as reaching a certain point in an automation flow or updating a profile - a webhook triggers an event in a third-party app. The webhook sends an HTTP request to a URL with instructions and details about the event. The app or integration monitoring that URL then sends a text message to the contact or performs some other action in a third-party app.

Definitions

Here are some terms you’ll come across as you work with webhooks in Mailchimp.

• Webhooks
  A webhook is an HTTP request that allows one app to send information to another.

• Headers
  Headers describe something about the request. Headers can include any information that the receiving app needs to have in order to process the request. Many apps ask for headers to contain a key type ("Key") and a key value ("Value").

• Content type
  The content type option lets you choose the programming language for the body of the request. Currently, the editor only accepts JSON and FormData.

• Payload
  The payload is the body of the request. The correct format of the body is determined by the app connected to the webhook.

Webhooks as an automation flow step

A marketing automation flow is composed of specific triggers, actions, and rules that you set based on your marketing goals. To build your flow, you’ll choose and arrange these elements on a flow map.

Here’s how to add a webhook as an automation flow step.

1. Click Automations, then click All flows.
2. Create a new flow, or click Finish Setup next to an existing flow.
3. To add a step, hover your cursor over the plus icon (+) on the step where you want the webhook to occur.
4. Click Add a step.
   

5. Click Webhook.
   

6. In the webhook builder module, complete the fields to configure your webhook. Some fields are required.

7. Once you’ve configured your webhook, click Save to add it as a step.

Nice job! When you start or resume your flow, the webhook will trigger once the user gets to that step. The number of requests sent will appear on the step itself.

Audience webhook configuration

To send updates about your audience to another app, you can configure an audience webhook. Webhooks can send a request to the URL of your choice when specific updates happen in the audience, such as when someone subscribes or when a profile is updated.

Here’s how to add a webhook to your audience.

1. Click Audience.
2. If you have more than one audience, click the Audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
3. Click the More options drop-down, then choose Audience settings.
4. Click Manage webhooks.
5. Click Create webhook.
6. Enter a Callback URL. This is the URL the webhook sends requests to.
7. Check all the actions that you want to trigger a webhook. Here are the available options:
   • Subscribes
   • Unsubscribes
   • Profile updates
   • Cleaned email address
   • Email changed
   • Campaign sending
8. You can also choose to send updates only when a change is made by a subscriber or account admin, or via the API.
9. Click Create webhook.

That’s it! When one of the selected actions occurs, the webhook will send a request to the URL that you entered.