AI Email Reply Workflow: n8n + OpenAI + Gmail Lead Alerts

Turn new website enquiries into ready-to-send email replies—automatically

This n8n workflow captures leads from an n8n Form, uses OpenAI (Chat Completions) to draft a friendly first response in your business voice, and sends you a Gmail alert with the lead details plus a one-click “Reply now” mailto link—so you can respond fast without replying directly to your customer.

What this workflow does

• Triggers on form submission when a visitor submits the n8n Form with name, email, phone, and enquiry message.
• Enriches the submission with your business context (business name, services, service area, sign-off name, reply rules, and the target alertEmail).
• Drafts a response using OpenAI by sending the lead details and your business context to the OpenAI Chat Completions API, instructing the model to treat the customer message as data.
• Cleans and validates the output, applying a safe default reply if no usable AI output is returned.
• Builds an HTML email alert that includes the lead information, the suggested reply, and a pre-filled “Reply now” mailto link.
• Sends the alert via Gmail to your chosen inbox (it does not send anything directly to the customer).

Use cases

• Instant follow-up for website lead enquiries collected via n8n Form.
• For SaaS operators and automation engineers: a practical AI email reply workflow to reduce manual triage.
• Sales/support teams who want draft replies in their own sign-off and reply rules with minimal effort.

Technical details

• Integrations/Nodes: form trigger, set, code, http request, gmail, sticky note.
• OpenAI integration: uses the Chat Completions endpoint via an OpenAI API credential.
• Gmail integration: sends the formatted lead alert using a Gmail credential with permission to send from the alert account.

Setup: add OpenAI + Gmail credentials, fill in “Your business details” (including alertEmail), optionally adjust replyRules and the OpenAI model, then activate the workflow and connect your n8n Form production URL.