Triggers are events (form submission, purchase, page view, CRM stage change) that start or advance an automation. Webhooks and APIs carry those events between systems.
What good looks like#
- Done: List the events your product or store already emits.
- Done: Send them to your ESP via webhook or native integration with a stable contact identifier.
- Done: Deduplicate and validate payloads before they enter automations.
- Done: Monitor for silent failures: a broken webhook stops journeys without errors.
What bad looks like#
- Seen in audits: Using email address as the only identifier when users change it.
- Seen in audits: No retry logic for failed webhook deliveries.
How to move from bad to good#
Work through the good list in order and re-verify after each change. Most teams find one or two items from the bad list already present; fixing those usually produces the largest improvement.
Frequently asked questions#
Webhook vs API polling for email automation?
Webhooks are real-time and cheaper. Use polling only as a fallback reconciliation.