Generate Personalized Lead Replies from Google Sheets with OpenAI and Gmail

Google Sheets → Personalized Email Reply Automation with OpenAI + Gmail

Most teams reply to inbound leads manually — copying info from a CRM, drafting a response, and hitting send.

This workflow automates lead intake, draft generation, and sending — directly from a Google Sheet trigger.

Benefits

• Pull new leads and context automatically from Google Sheets
• Generate professional HTML replies with OpenAI
• Personalize each response using lead name, intent, and message
• Send replies via Gmail with your real display name + signature
• Save hours per week on repetitive inbox work

How It Works

1. Manual trigger starts the workflow
2. Reads rows from Google Sheets (Email, First Name, Intent, Message)
3. Fetches Gmail sendAs to capture display name for signature
4. Calls OpenAI model (via n8n LangChain node) to generate HTML reply
5. Sends email via Gmail node with subject = "Re:" + Intent and HTML body
6. Continues for each row, even if one fails (alwaysOutputData enabled)

Who Is This For

• Founders handling inbound leads manually
• SDRs and sales teams replying to prospects
• Agencies wanting consistent, on-brand email responses

Setup

• Connect Google Sheets (replace with your Document ID + Sheet Name)
• Connect Gmail (OAuth2) and enable sendAs retrieval
• Add OpenAI API credentials (choose GPT-4/5 or Claude model)
• Set Gmail node emailType = html for proper formatting
• Test with a few leads before running in bulk

ROI & Monetization

• Save 3–5 hours per week on manual email drafting
• Use as a client-facing “Inbox Automation” service
• Bundle with CRM sync or Zapier handoff for $500–$2k/month retainers

Strategy Insights

In the full walkthrough, I show how to:

• Build this system step by step in n8n
• Craft prompts that output clean HTML with signature
• Handle edge cases (missing fields, null intents) gracefully
• Turn this into a recurring email automation offer

Check Out My Channel

For more advanced AI automation systems that generate real business results, check out my YouTube channel where I share the exact strategies I use to build automation agencies, sell high-value services, and scale to $20k+ monthly revenue.