Using Webhooks for Custom Data

What a webhook is

A webhook is an HTTP POST request that your system sends to Activly the moment an event happens — a purchase, a signup, a review submission, or any other event you want to display as a notification. Your application fires the request, Activly receives it, and a notification is queued immediately.

Webhooks give you direct, low-latency control over what data Activly receives, without any third-party relay like Zapier in between.

When to use webhooks

Your application is custom-built and does not have a native Activly integration
Your platform is not available on Zapier, or you want sub-second delivery (Zapier free tier adds delays)
You need to send a custom event type — for example, a review submission, a milestone reached, or a trial started
You want to filter, transform, or enrich data before sending it to Activly

Setup

In your Activly dashboard, go to Integrations → Webhooks.
Copy your unique Activly webhook URL. This URL is specific to your account and includes a secret token in the query string.
Configure your platform or application to send an HTTP POST request to that URL whenever a relevant event occurs.

Required payload format

Your POST request must send JSON in the following structure:

{
  "event": "purchase",
  "first_name": "Sarah",
  "city": "London",
  "country": "UK",
  "product": "Running Shoes",
  "timestamp": "2026-02-28T14:30:00Z"
}

All fields shown above are required. The timestamp field must be an ISO 8601 UTC string.

Optional fields

You can include any of the following additional fields and Activly will use them where applicable:

amount — the payment amount as a number (for example, 49.00)
currency — ISO currency code (for example, "USD", "GBP")
email — the customer's email address. This is never displayed publicly and is used only for deduplication.
product_url — a URL to the product page, used to make the notification clickable

Supported event types

The event field accepts the following values:

purchase — a completed transaction
signup — a new account registration or lead capture
review — a new review or rating submitted
custom — any other event you define. The notification copy will use the product name and first name fields.

Testing your webhook

Before going live, verify your integration is working:

Use a tool like Insomnia, Postman, or curl to send a test POST to your webhook URL.
Use the example payload above, substituting realistic test values.
Open your Activly data feed at app.activly.io and confirm the test event appears.

Example curl command:

curl -X POST "https://hooks.activly.io/YOUR_WEBHOOK_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"event":"purchase","first_name":"Alex","city":"Berlin","country":"DE","product":"Pro Plan","timestamp":"2026-02-28T12:00:00Z"}'

Security

Your webhook URL contains a secret token that authenticates requests from your system. Treat it like a password — do not expose it in client-side code, public repositories, or browser-accessible files. If your token is ever compromised, you can rotate it from Integrations → Webhooks in the Activly dashboard.