Auto-Respond to Gmail Inquiries using OpenAI, Google Sheet & AI Agent

Who is this for?

This workflow is ideal for:

• Customer support teams looking to reduce manual response time
• SaaS companies that frequently receive product inquiries
• E-commerce stores with common customer questions about orders, shipping, and returns

What problem is this workflow solving?

Manually responding to repetitive customer emails is inefficient, prone to inconsistency, and time-consuming. This workflow solves the issue by:

• Automatically replying to real customer inquiries 24/7
• Ensuring every response is consistent, friendly, and based on approved knowledge
• Preventing responses to non-inquiries like newsletters or confirmations
• Logging every interaction for traceability, analysis, and compliance

What this workflow does

This AI-powered Gmail auto-responder intelligently handles inbound emails with the following steps:

1. Monitors your Gmail inbox for new incoming emails in real time
2. Classifies each email as either an “Inquiry” or “Not Inquiry” using GPT-4
3. Gets context from a Google Sheets FAQ database
   The context will be used to determine the most accurate and helpful response
4. Generates a professional reply only if it’s a valid inquiry (e.g., pricing, refund, product details)
5. Builds a context-aware, helpful response using verified knowledge only
6. Sends the reply to the original sender automatically
7. Logs everything to a Google Sheet — original email, AI response, timestamp, and email address

Example Use Case:

An email comes in:
"Hi, I want to know your pricing and refund policy."

The workflow:

• Detects it’s an inquiry
• Finds the pricing and refund FAQs in your Google Sheet
• Sends back a professional response like:
  "Hi! Thanks for reaching out. Our pricing starts at $99/month. Refunds can be requested within 30 days of purchase. Let us know if you have more questions!"
• Logs the interaction to your “Enquiry_Log” tab

Setup

1. Copy the Google Sheet template here:
   👉 Gmail Auto-Responder – Google Sheet Template
   This contains:

   • A FAQ_Context tab (your knowledge base)
   • An Enquiry_Log tab (interaction logs)

2. Connect your Gmail account to the Gmail Trigger and Gmail Send nodes

3. Add your OpenAI API key in the classification and response generator nodes

4. Link the Google Sheet in both the FAQ lookup and logging nodes

5. Test with a sample email — try asking a pricing and refund question to see the complete process in action

How to customize this workflow to your needs

• Adjust tone or brand voice in the AI prompt for a more casual or formal reply
• Modify classification rules if your use case includes more custom logic
• Expand the FAQ database to include new questions and answers
• Add multilingual support by customizing the AI prompt to detect and respond in different languages
• Integrate CRM or ticketing systems (like HubSpot, Zendesk, or Notion) to log or escalate unanswered queries