Webhooks explained simply, and five mistakes to avoid

You may have come across the word “webhook” in your shop’s settings. It sounds scary, but the idea is simple: a webhook is an automatic message that a site sends to an address you choose, every time an event happens (an order, a payment, a form).

The image to remember

Imagine your shop leaves a little note on a colleague’s desk for each order. The colleague is your dashboard. The webhook address is the address of their desk. You have nothing else to do but give the right address.

The five common mistakes

• Pasting the address with an extra space or character: it must be copied exactly.
• Forgetting to turn the webhook on after creating it.
• Choosing the wrong event: an order created is not an order paid.
• Not testing: always send a test notification before concluding.
• Sharing the webhook address: it contains a secret, which must stay private.

Verify where messages come from

Some platforms sign their messages with a secret code. By entering it in your dashboard, you make sure the message really comes from the platform and not from a third party.

What to do if nothing arrives

Check the webhook’s delivery history in the platform: it shows whether the message left and what response it received. Often, the problem is an address copied wrongly.

With Pilot-Biz

The setup assistant gives you the address to paste, the exact menus of each platform, and confirms as soon as the first event arrives. If a connection is compromised, you revoke it in one click.