Why it matters for your business
Webhooks are what make automations feel instant. A workflow triggered by a webhook can respond within seconds of an event, while a polling workflow might check only every few minutes and use more of your API quota. The operational details matter: the receiving endpoint should verify that each request really came from the sender, typically by checking a signature; it must handle duplicate deliveries, because many senders retry; and it should respond quickly and process work in the background so the sender does not time out.
Example
An online retailer configures its payment processor to send a webhook whenever a subscription payment fails. The receiving workflow verifies the signature, checks whether it has already processed that event ID, then emails the customer a link to update their card, tags the account in the CRM and alerts the retention team if the customer is on an annual plan.