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AI Lead Capture & Auto Follow-Up System
An automation that captures a new lead the moment they submit a form, saves them to a CRM, and sends a personalized AI-generated follow-up email — all within seconds, with zero manual work.
Built with n8n, Airtable, Gemini AI, and Gmail.
The Problem
When a business gets a new lead, there's usually a delay before anyone replies — the sales rep is busy, checks email once a day, or the lead gets buried in an inbox. Leads go cold fast, and slow follow-up directly costs businesses potential customers.
This system removes that delay. The moment someone submits interest, they receive a personalized reply — not a generic template, but a message written around exactly what they said they need.
How It Works
Lead fills out form (Google Forms)
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Response logged (Google Sheets)
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n8n detects new row (Google Sheets Trigger)
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Contact saved to CRM (Airtable)
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AI writes personalized email (Gemini API)
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Email sent automatically (Gmail) ──► Sales rep notified (Gmail)
Lead intake — A lead fills out a simple form with their name, email, company, and what they're interested in.
Trigger — n8n watches the connected Google Sheet and fires the moment a new response appears.
CRM sync — The lead is automatically saved (or updated, if they already exist) as a contact in Airtable, with a status of "New."
AI personalization — Gemini reads what the lead said they're interested in and drafts a short, natural-sounding follow-up email tailored to their specific situation — not a mail-merge template.
Auto-send — The email is sent immediately via Gmail, without anyone reviewing it first.
Internal notification — The sales rep receives an email with the lead's full details and a copy of what was sent, so they have complete context for any personal follow-up.
Tech Stack
Tool Purpose
Google Forms Lead intake form
Google Sheets Stores raw form responses; acts as the trigger source
n8n Automation engine connecting every step
Airtable Lightweight CRM for storing and tracking leads
Gemini API Generates the personalized follow-up email
Gmail Sends the follow-up email and internal notification
All tools used are free-tier, making this system easy to replicate or adapt without upfront cost.
Setup
1. Google Form
Create a form with these fields: Name, Email, Company, and "What are you interested in?" Link it to a Google Sheet under the Responses tab.
2. Airtable
Create a base with a Contacts table containing these fields: Name, Email, Company, Interest, Status (single select: New / Contacted).
3. n8n Workflow
Import lead-capture-auto-followup.json into n8n and configure:
Google Sheets Trigger → connect your Google account, select the form's response sheet
Airtable - Add Contact → connect your Airtable personal access token, select your base/table
Gemini - Generate Email → add your Gemini API key
Gmail nodes → connect your Gmail account, set your notification email address
4. Activate
Toggle the workflow to Active in n8n so it runs automatically in the background rather than requiring manual execution.
Example Output
Lead submits:
Interested in: "We run a Shopify store and want to automate our customer support with AI"
AI-generated follow-up email:
A short, personalized email referencing their Shopify store and support automation needs — signed off warmly, ready to send.
Limitations
This system is built for demonstration and small-scale use. Some things worth knowing before scaling it up:
Airtable's free tier has record limits — a paid plan or a different CRM would be needed for larger lead volumes.
Gemini's free tier has rate limits, which can cause delays under high-volume traffic.
The AI-generated email is sent without human review — for higher-stakes outreach, adding an approval step before sending is recommended.
Possible Improvements
Add a Slack notification option alongside/instead of email
Add lead scoring based on the "interest" text before deciding follow-up priority
Swap Google Sheets/Forms for a dedicated landing page + webhook for a more polished intake experience
Add a human-in-the-loop approval step before the AI email is sent
About
Built by Hania Khattak as part of a portfolio of AI automation projects. Feel free to fork, adapt, or reach out with questions.
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