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Smart Inbox Automation

Intelligent email triage system processing 2,000+ weekly inquiries. Using LLMs to categorize emails, draft responses, and sync valid leads to CRM, eliminating 20+ hours of manual admin work per week.

n8nOpenAI GPT-4Gmail APIHubSpotVector DatabaseSlack
75%
Triage Time Reduced
20+ hrs
Saved Weekly
<5min
Response Time
100%
Lead Capture

The Challenge

A fast-growing digital marketing agency was missing critical leads due to an overflowing inbox. With 300+ incoming emails daily ranging from spam to high-value RFPs, the account management team was overwhelmed. Key pain points included:

  • Lead Leakage: Valid sales inquiries were buried under hundreds of vendor pitches and newsletters.
  • Slow Response: Average reply time was 24-48 hours, causing potential clients to go to competitors.
  • Context Switching: Senior staff wasting expensive hours manually entering data into HubSpot.

Client Profile

Industry
Digital Marketing Agency
Team Size
15 Employees
Email Volume
2,000+ emails/week
Project Duration
4 weeks
Integrations
Gmail, HubSpot, Slack

Our Solution

AI Classification

Deployed GPT-4 to analyze incoming email intent, sentiment, and urgency, automatically tagging threads as Lead, Support, Admin, or Spam with 98% accuracy.

Workflow Automation

Built n8n workflows to route high-value leads directly to HubSpot, notifying the sales team in Slack while archiving low-priority newsletters.

Smart Drafting

System generates context-aware draft replies based on company knowledge base, requiring only a one-click approval from staff before sending.

Technical Architecture

Automation Flows

Email Ingestion

Gmail API triggers via webhook on new message arrival

Orchestration Engine

n8n self-hosted instance managing logic branches and error handling

CRM Sync

Automatic contact creation and deal pipeline entry in HubSpot

Data Security

PII redaction before sending to LLM, zero data retention on processing nodes

RAG Pipeline

Vector database lookup to provide context from past projects and pricing sheets

Key Technologies

n8n
OpenAI GPT-4
Gmail API
HubSpot API
Pinecone (Vector DB)
Slack Webhooks
Docker
Node.js

Results & Impact

Operational Wins

20+ hours saved weekly
Equivalent to 0.5 FTE, allowing account managers to focus on clients
Zero missed leads
Every inquiry is logged, acknowledged, and tracked
Consistent communication
Standardized tone and quality across all automated replies

Business Growth

3x faster speed-to-lead
Responding in minutes instead of hours increased conversion by 15%
Improved data hygiene
CRM is now the single source of truth, automatically populated
Scalable operations
Ready to handle 5x email volume without hiring more admin staff
"We used to hire virtual assistants just to manage our inbox. This system does it better, faster, and 24/7. It's like having a super-employee who never sleeps and knows exactly how to handle every email type."
- Operations Partner, Digital Agency

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