Understand HTTP Post

Easily send data from Drip to any URL endpoint with Drip’s Send an HTTP Post action.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a common request-response protocol between a client and a server. The POST method is used to send data to a server to create or update a resource. In Drip, the HTTP POST method is useful to send data to your server at any point in an Automation.

Send an HTTP POST in Automation

The HTTP POST Action allows you to send JSON or form-encoded requests to a URL endpoint set up to receive the request.

Send a POST request to a custom script located on one of your servers anytime a person reaches a certain point in one of your Workflows. Or, you might be using another software that provides you with a URL endpoint to receive requests from outside sources. 

Here is an example of the payload that gets sent automatically with the HTTP POST request:

Subscriber { 

	“id”: “zltogz2hcjrkpp5treip”,
	“status”: “active”,
	“email”: “john@acme.com”
	“custom_fields”: { 
		“name”: “John Doe”
	},
	“tags”: [“Customer”, “SEO”],
	“time_zone”: “America/Los_Angeles”,
	“utc_offset”: -440,
	“created_at”: “2013-06-21T10:31:58z”,
	“ip_address”: 123.123.123.123”,
	“user_agent”: “Mozilla/5.0”,
	“lifetime_value”: 2000,
	“original_referrer”: “https://google.com/search”,
	“landing_url”: “https://drip.com/landing”, 
        “prospect”: “true”,
	“base_lead”score”: 30,
	“lead_score”: 65,
	“user_id”: “123”,
}
custom
{
“custom_field _1”: “foo,
“name_value_pair_2”: bar
}

HTTP Post vs. Webhooks

There are a couple of things that make the HTTP POST method preferable to webhooks for certain use cases: 

• Add custom data to an HTTP post. Webhooks all use standard payloads. 
• With an HTTP post, you are choosing to be notified at a specific point in your workflow/funnel. Webhooks are always based on a particular Drip event. 

With webhooks, you pick an event (e.g., “Updated a custom field”) and get notifications about all of them. That can make webhooks noisy if you want notifications at a few key places. 

Configure an HTTP POST

You can use the HTTP POST automation action in Workflows, Rules, and Bulk Operations.

In Workflows, you can send the request anywhere you can add an action step. In Rules, you can add the request to the action step (step 2) of the rule. In Bulk Operations, you can use the action in the action step (step 2) of the operation.

To configure an HTTP POST in a Workflow:

1. To go Workflows > Workflows 
2. Select the Workflow you'd like to add an HTTP Post Action to
3. Click + on the onde where you'd like to add an HTTP POST Action 
4. Select Action > Drip > Send an HTTP Post
5. Enter the End Point URL
6. Select JSON or Form encode 
7. Enter Custom Data
8. Click Update Action 

Example Action Set Up

What action should we perform?
Send an HTTP post.

Endpoint URL
Enter your endpoint URL.

Content Type
Select either JSON or Form encode (it will default to JSON if unchanged).

Custom Data (optional)
Hard code additional data to be sent along with the request, like an access token, for example. When the HTTP POST action is set to send JSON as its content type, your custom data is sent in the JSON payload and stored in the “custom” object, not as URL parameters.