Client snapshot
The challenge
One inbox. No CRM. No automations.
Michael ran everything from a single Outlook inbox — no automations, no CRM. He needed to:
- Categorize incoming emails reliably (leads, invoices, support, spam)
- Send instant, hyper-personalized replies where safe; draft others for quick approval
- Keep invoice and lead follow-ups on schedule without manual tracking
- Stay compliant with Australia's Spam Act and retain his brand's personable tone
- Do it all inside Outlook, with a lightweight way to review and control
The goal
An AI-assisted inbox he doesn't have to babysit.
- Auto-classify messages and trigger the right action (send, draft, queue follow-up)
- Operate entirely via Outlook and a simple Google Sheets dashboard
- Reduce founder time dramatically without sacrificing personalization
- Ship a demo in 1 day and a production system in under a week
Solution at a glance
A production n8n workflow that watches the inbox.
Classifies each message, drafts or sends a response, and schedules follow-ups for leads and invoices. All activity is logged to Google Sheets for review.
- Inputs: new Outlook emails (single mailbox), manual "review" label for edge cases
- Processing: AI-assisted triage and drafting; rules for timing, tone, and business hours
- Outputs: sent replies, saved drafts, next-action reminders, inbox categories updated
- Operations: idempotent processing, retries with backoff, run logs, email alerts on failures
Lightning-fast process
Demo in a day. Production in a week.
- Clickable demo in 1 day. Live triage on a small inbox subset. Immediate feedback on categories, tone, and safe-send rules.
- Daily iteration. Tight loop with Michael to tune templates and follow-up cadences. Added business-hours sending and an approval lane for sensitive drafts.
- Standardize and ship (day 5). Hardened workflow, error handling, and logging. Loom walkthroughs and a quickstart doc for simple self-management.
What it does
Classify, reply, follow up — by category.
Classification
Lead, Quote / Proposal, Invoice / Payment, Support, Spam / Promotions, OOO.
Replies
- Instant send for low-risk, high-confidence cases (e.g., basic info requests)
- Draft-only for nuanced messages; Michael approves with one click
Lead follow-ups
Day 0 instant reply; nudges at +2 and +5 business days; auto-stop on reply or booked call.
Invoice follow-ups
Pre-due (−3 days), due-day, +3 and +7 business days; pauses after 2 unanswered nudges.
Personalization
Templates enriched with business name, suburb, service requested, prior thread context, and Australian tone and spelling.
Business hours
AEST / AEDT; no weekends or public holidays.
Logging
Every action and next step recorded in Google Sheets.
The results
From 3.5 hours a day to half an hour.
- Founder time dropped from ~3.5 hours / day to ~0.5 hours / day
- Lead response time improved to seconds in straightforward cases; "draft-first" cut the rest to minutes
- Invoices got consistent, on-brand reminders without manual tracking
| Before (Manual inbox) | After (AI-assisted flow) |
|---|---|
| Missed and late follow-ups | Scheduled nudges for leads and invoices |
| Slow, inconsistent replies | Instant replies or ready-to-send drafts |
| No system of record | Google Sheets log with status and next step |
| High founder time cost | 3+ hours / day saved |
Performance & reliability
Engineered to keep going on its own.
- 20–30 inbound emails / day auto-handled (plus follow-ups queued)
- Hosted on a client VPS; secure OAuth app for Microsoft 365
- Outlook integration via Microsoft Graph (delta notifications) to avoid polling
- Idempotent processing with message IDs; retries with exponential backoff
- Email alerts to Michael on failures or items needing approval
- Rate-limit aware; sends restricted to local business hours (AEST / AEDT)
Compliance & brand
Spam Act compliant. On-brand. Auditable.
- Australia Spam Act 2003: sender identification and opt-out line on non-transactional follow-ups
- No cold blasting; responses are to inbound or ongoing threads
- DKIM / SPF / DMARC validated through Microsoft 365 tenant
- PII limited to email metadata and thread content; retention and access controlled on the VPS and Sheets
Deliverables & stack
What was handed over
- n8n workflow (JSON) deployed on VPS
- Google Sheets dashboard (status, outcomes, next actions)
- Template library (lead, proposal, invoice, support, OOO) with style guide
- Taxonomy and routing rules; quickstart + Loom walkthroughs
- Optional hypercare support for the first two weeks
Tech stack
- Orchestration: n8n on VPS
- Email: Microsoft 365 Outlook via Graph API (delta subscriptions)
- Data: Google Sheets for queueing / logs
- AI: Triage and personalized drafting with few-shot templates
- Ops: email alerts, run logs, retries, idempotency keys
The client says
My inbox used to run my day. Now it's the other way around. Replies go out fast, follow-ups never slip, and I only review the tricky ones. I got back about three hours every day without losing the personal touch.
