Automated Email Drip Campaign and Response Tracking using Google Sheets and Gmail - n8n Workflow

Sales professionals needing automated cold outreach and persistent follow-up sequences.
Marketing teams running targeted drip campaigns.
Users seeking robust automation solutions utilizing n8n templates for CRM functionalities.
Anyone who needs reliable, conditional email sending without a dedicated CRM system.

Managing high-volume outreach and subsequent follow-ups manually is time-consuming and error-prone. This robust n8n workflow template solves this challenge by creating a dynamic, data-driven email automation system. It utilizes Google Sheets as the central contact database, tracking the reply status and the current follow-up stage for every lead. The n8n automation runs daily, intelligently identifying contacts that require a new email, preventing unnecessary follow-ups to those who have already responded. By using this n8n workflow, you ensure consistent communication, save operational time, and maintain a clear, real-time log of engagement status directly in your spreadsheet.

The entire process is initiated by the scheduling n8n trigger, Daily Trigger.

1. Data Retrieval: The Fetch Contact Data n8n node connects to Google Sheets to retrieve all contacts, including their current 'Reply' status and 'Follow-up' number.


2. Contact Iteration: The Iterate Contacts n8n node ensures that subsequent logic is applied sequentially to each individual contact item.


3. Condition Check: The Determine Follow-Up Stage n8n node uses an If condition to check if the 'Reply' status for the contact is 'no'. Only contacts awaiting a response proceed to the next step.


4. Follow-Up Routing: The Route by Follow-Up Stage n8n node uses a Switch statement to check the current 'Follow-up' number (specifically targeting stages 6 and 7 in this configuration). This determines which version of the follow-up message to send.


5. Email Dispatch: The appropriate Send Follow-Up Email n8n node (using Gmail) sends the targeted message to the contact.


6. Status Update: The Update Sheet with Follow-Up Status n8n node updates the Google Sheet row for the just-sent email, incrementing the 'Follow-up' counter (e.g., from 6 to 7) and calculating the Next Follow-up Date.


7. Response Monitoring (Parallel): Separately, the Check Email Responses n8n node runs, using IMAP to monitor the mailbox for new, unread emails matching specific subject criteria (e.g., "Testing").


8. Logging Reply: If a response is detected, the Update Sheet with Response n8n node locates the corresponding row based on the sender's email address and updates the 'Reply' column to 'yes', effectively stopping future automated follow-ups for that contact in this n8n workflow.

To deploy this n8n workflow template, follow these steps:

1. Import: Copy the provided JSON and import it directly into your n8n instance as a new n8n workflow.


2. Google Sheets Setup: You need a Google Sheets credential configured for Service Account access. Apply this credential to the Fetch Contact Data, Update Sheet with Follow-Up Status, and Update Sheet with Response n8n node instances. Ensure your sheet structure includes columns like 'User Email', 'Reply', and 'Follow-up'.


3. Gmail Setup: Configure a Google API credential that includes Gmail scopes. Apply this credential to the Send Follow-Up Email n8n node instances.


4. IMAP Setup: Set up an IMAP credential for the Check Email Responses n8n node so it can read your inbox. Ensure the configuration includes the necessary filters (e.g., SUBJECT filter) to identify replies relevant to this n8n workflow.


5. Activation: Once all credentials and configurations are verified, activate the n8n workflow to allow the Daily Trigger n8n node to start the automation.

Daily Trigger (n8n trigger): A Schedule Trigger configured to initiate the execution of the n8n workflow daily, typically using a Cron expression.
Fetch Contact Data (Google Sheets n8n node): Performs a Read operation on a specific sheet ('Sheet3') of the specified Google Document ID to pull all required contact information.
Iterate Contacts (Split In Batches n8n node): Splits the incoming Google Sheets data array into individual items, ensuring that the conditional logic and email sending n8n node processes each contact one by one.
Determine Follow-Up Stage (If n8n node): Uses an expression ={{ $json.Reply }} to check if the value equals "no". If true, the n8n workflow proceeds with sending a follow-up.
Route by Follow-Up Stage (Switch n8n node): Routes the execution based on the contact's current Follow-up number. Uses expressions like ={{ $json['Follow-up'] }} to check for values 6 or 7.
Send Follow-Up Email 1 / 2 (Gmail n8n node): Configured to send an email using the Gmail service. The sendTo parameter dynamically uses the contact's email address: ={{ $json['User Email'] }}.
Update Sheet with Follow-Up Status (Google Sheets n8n node): Performs an Update operation, matching on 'User Name', and sets dynamic values for Follow-up (incrementing it by 1) and Next Follow-up Date.
Check Email Responses (EmailReadImap n8n node): Reads emails using IMAP, specifically filtering for UNSEEN emails with a SUBJECT containing "Testing". This n8n node helps track inbound replies.

• Update Sheet with Response (Google Sheets n8n node): Updates the sheet using an Update operation, matching on 'user email' and setting the 'reply' column to 'yes' based on the response detected by the IMAP n8n node.