If there is no direct integration option with WordPress for one of your beloved tools, Webhooks can be a fantastic alternative to connect your WordPress forms to those tools and apps so they get data to process whenever someone fills out your forms. You do need to be a developer to use this feature since there a deeper understanding is needed. However, if you set it up correctly Webhooks allows you to connect your WordPress forms to pretty much anything.
Why Webhooks can be better than API Calls
In order to seamlessly sync data between applications, platforms and databases (in other words, application integration), APIs are often named as a today’s best-practices method for handling this, especially if massive amounts of data are involved.
Yet using APIs to sync data can become rather a wasteful and inefficient way of using resources, because they keep making calls even if there is no new data on the other end.
Here is when Webhooks come in handy.
Webhooks receive calls from external systems ONLY when those have some data updates. Therefore they “activate” the whole integration workflow when something has been filled out and submitted.
If you have a form that is used to submit applications, you could use webhooks to send the data to your HR system, which will then notify you about the new application. As long as nobody submits anything, the webhook will just sit there and wait.
Another good thing about Webhooks is that they provide other applications and services with (near) real-time information. This is possible through APIs only too, but is extremely resources-consuming.
