A webhook is a message one system sends to another the instant an event occurs, pushing the event's data to a URL the receiving system controls. It inverts the usual pattern: instead of a system repeatedly polling another and asking whether anything changed, the source notifies subscribers the moment something happens.
A loyalty platform can fire a webhook when a member enrolls, earns, redeems, or changes tier. A marketing tool subscribed to the enrollment webhook can start a welcome journey within seconds, and a data warehouse subscribed to earning events can stay current without scheduled imports. The loyalty system announces the event, and each listener reacts on its own.
For an operator, webhooks are what keep the surrounding stack synchronized in near real time. Without them, connected systems drift out of date between batch syncs, so a member might complete an action and wait hours for the rest of the ecosystem to notice. Webhooks let the program trigger timely follow-ups and keep every connected tool working from the current state, which is essential when responsiveness is part of the experience.
