From 3.5 hours a day to 30 minutes on email
Inbox → classify, reply or draft, schedule follow-ups → Outlook + Google Sheets
Michael ran his entire agency out of a single Outlook inbox - no automation, no CRM - and lost about 3.5 hours a day to email. We built an n8n workflow that classifies every message, sends instant replies for low-risk cases or drafts approval-ready ones, schedules smart follow-ups for leads and invoices, and logs everything - with business-hours and compliance rules built in. Inbox time dropped to about 30 minutes a day.
Results at a glance
- Founder inbox time cut from ~3.5 hours/day to ~0.5
- 20–30 emails a day handled automatically with scheduled follow-ups
- Lead responses out in seconds; invoice reminders sent consistently
- Prototype in a day, live in five
The problem
Michael managed the entire business through one Outlook inbox with no automation or CRM. He needed reliable categorization (leads, invoices, support, spam), personalized instant replies where safe and draft approvals for complex messages, automated lead and invoice follow-up scheduling, compliance with Australia's Spam Act, and all of it inside Outlook.
What was built
Classification
Sorts every message into lead, quote, invoice/payment, support, spam, or out-of-office.
Response routing
Sends instant replies for low-risk cases; generates a one-click-approvable draft for anything nuanced.
Lead follow-ups
Immediate first response, then nudges at +2 and +5 business days, halting the moment a reply or booking comes in.
Invoice follow-ups
Reminders pre-due, on the due date, then at +3 and +7 business days, pausing after two unanswered attempts.
Personalization
Pulls in business names, suburbs, requested services, and prior thread context, using local tone and spelling.
Operations
Sends only during AEST/AEDT business hours, with idempotent processing, retry-with-backoff, and failure notifications.
How the approach worked
Take a channel a person is drowning in, classify what's in it, and act on the safe cases automatically while queuing the tricky ones for a one-click approval. Compliance and business-hours rules are part of the build, not an afterthought.
The results
Manual inbox management was replaced with scheduled automation. As the founder put it: replies go out fast, follow-ups never slip, and he only reviews the tricky ones. Compliance was built in via the Spam Act 2003 - sender identification, opt-out, and DKIM/SPF/DMARC through Microsoft 365.
Replies go out fast, follow-ups never slip, and I only review the tricky ones.
Tools & technologies
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