Smartlead Reply Classifier for Zoho CRM: n8n + OpenAI

Automatically classify Smartlead email replies and update Zoho CRM—optionally with OpenAI

Turn every incoming Smartlead EMAIL_REPLY into the right Zoho CRM lead status and follow-up task—faster, cleaner, and with real-time team alerts. This n8n + OpenAI workflow classifies replies (interested, not_now, referral, unsubscribe, out_of_office, needs_human) and takes action automatically in live mode.

What this workflow does

• Triggers on Smartlead replies via a Smartlead EMAIL_REPLY webhook (or runs a demo trigger to generate sample replies).
• Extracts and cleans reply content, removing quoted email history and normalizing key fields such as email, name, lead ID, and campaign.
• Classifies the reply using OpenAI when configured; otherwise it falls back to keyword rules with safety checks and fallbacks.
• Maps classification to Zoho actions—sets the correct lead status, creates a due-dated follow-up task, and decides whether to notify the team (while ignoring out_of_office replies).
• Updates Zoho in live mode by upserting the matching lead by email and creating Zoho tasks linked to the lead record; in preview mode, it outputs the payloads instead of writing.
• Handles unsubscribe replies by calling the Smartlead API to unsubscribe the lead from all campaigns when configured (otherwise shows what would be sent).
• Posts urgent alerts and a weekday call list: on weekdays at 07:30 (or on demand), it queries Zoho for leads in configured statuses, ranks them into a capped call list, and sends it to a team incoming webhook (Slack/Teams-style).

Use cases

• Route “yes, interested” replies to the right Zoho status and schedule immediate follow-up tasks.
• Automatically ignore out_of_office emails so reps don’t waste time.
• Process unsubscribe requests through Smartlead API for compliant list management.
• Send a daily morning list of high-priority leads to your team via webhook.

Technical details

• n8n nodes / components: webhook, manual trigger, if, code, sticky note, http request.
• Integrations: Smartlead (EMAIL_REPLY webhook + Smartlead API), Zoho CRM (upsert leads + create tasks), OpenAI (optional classification), and a webhook endpoint for Slack/Teams-style alerts.