Problem We Solve
Imagine this situation: your company receives hundreds of leads daily. Managers are drowning in routine work – loading data, sending commercial proposals, tracking responses, making follow-up calls. Meanwhile, some potential clients are lost simply because someone forgot or didn’t have time to contact them in time.
Sound familiar? This is exactly the problem we solved with smart automation based on n8n and EspoCRM. The results exceeded all expectations – lead conversion rate increased by 40%, and lead processing time was reduced by 5 times.
Solution Architecture
Our workflow represents an ecosystem of six interconnected processes. Every element is thought through down to the smallest detail and works like a Swiss watch.
First Stage: Smart Lead Upload
It all started with a simple idea – eliminate manual data entry. We created a convenient web form for uploading CSV files with leads. But we immediately encountered the first problem – data quality was, to put it mildly, not ideal.
We found an elegant solution: we built automatic phone number validation directly into the upload process. The system checks format, removes duplicates, and even tries to restore incomplete numbers. Only after this do the data get into EspoCRM.
It’s especially pleasant to watch how the system processes a file with 1000 leads in a matter of seconds. What used to take a manager a whole day now happens automatically.
Second Stage: Personalized Commercial Proposals
After creating a lead in CRM, the process of sending a commercial proposal is automatically launched. But not a simple template letter, but one personalized for each specific client.
The system analyzes lead data – industry, company size, geography – and selects the most relevant email template. The email is sent within 5 minutes of uploading the lead. Can you imagine how this impresses potential clients?
Multi-level Follow-up System
First Level: Telegram After 2 Days
The most interesting part begins next. Every day at 10 AM, the system wakes up and analyzes all leads that haven’t responded to email within two days.
Here’s where the magic of multi-channel approach happens. The system switches from email to Telegram and sends a personalized message. Not to everyone indiscriminately, but only to those leads who have valid phone numbers.
The coolest part – the system automatically saves the user’s Telegram ID in the lead card, which allows for more personalized communication with potential clients in the future.
Second Level: Working with “Cold” Leads
If a lead doesn’t respond for more than 5 days, the system categorizes it as “cold” and launches a special scenario. On business days at 10 AM, such leads receive a repeat message in Telegram with a different approach.
This could be a case study, a special offer, or simply a different format of information presentation. Statistics show that about 15% of “cold” leads react to the repeat message.
Artificial Intelligence in Response Analysis
Smart Email Response Analysis
A real revolution occurred when we integrated GPT-4 for analyzing incoming emails. The system doesn’t just receive responses, but analyzes their content and classifies them into three categories:
Interest – client is interested, ready for further communication
Soft Reject – “not now”, “we’ll think about it”, “maybe later”
Hard Reject – categorical refusal, request not to disturb
It’s especially impressive how the system handles email chains. It ignores old quotes and analyzes only new parts of messages. AI understands context, irony, even hidden meanings in business correspondence.
Telegram Response Analysis
A similar process is set up for Telegram. The system receives incoming messages, analyzes their tone and intentions, then updates the lead status in CRM.
It’s interesting to observe how differently people react in email versus Telegram. In messengers, responses are more emotional and candid, which provides additional information about readiness to cooperate.
Notification and Control System
Instant Manager Notifications
Every important event in the system is accompanied by a manager notification in Telegram. Received an interested response? Notification. Client firmly refused? Also a notification, but with different priority.
This allows managers to instantly react to hot leads and not waste time on already “dead” contacts.
Detailed Analytics in HTML Reports
Once a day, the system generates detailed reports in the form of visual HTML tables:
- Email sending statistics
- Analysis of responses to commercial proposals
- Telegram broadcast effectiveness
- Repeat message efficiency
Reports are automatically sent to corporate email. Management gets a complete picture of lead work without needing to log into CRM.
Technical Implementation
EspoCRM Integration
The entire system is built on EspoCRM API. Every action – lead creation, status change, comment addition – goes through CRM and is recorded in history. This ensures complete process transparency.
Special attention was paid to logging. Every automation step is recorded in the lead card with exact time and action description. Managers can always view the complete client interaction history.
Error and Exception Handling
Reality is that systems sometimes fail. Email server might be unavailable, CRM API might return an error, Telegram might block an account.
We provided handling for all critical errors. The system automatically restarts failures, logs all errors, and notifies the administrator of any critical situations.
Implementation Results
Quantitative Indicators
Over six months of system operation, results exceeded all expectations:
- Lead conversion increased from 12% to 17% – multi-channel approach really works
- Initial lead processing time reduced from 4 hours to 5 minutes
- Number of missed leads reduced to zero – the system doesn’t forget and doesn’t get tired
- Manager workload reduced by 60% – they focused on sales, not routine
Qualitative Changes
But numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. The main changes occurred in the team’s work culture itself:
Managers stopped drowning in routine and focused on what they do best – selling. The human factor problem disappeared. Clients receive faster and better quality service.
Management gained complete process transparency. Now you can say exactly what stage each lead is at and what happened to it.
What Really Works
1. Multi-channel is the Key to Success
Using two channels simultaneously – email and Telegram – proved much more effective than working with just one.
People perceive communication differently: some react faster to emails, others to messengers. When you cover both channels, chances of getting a response multiply.
2. AI – Implement Gradually
Don’t overload the system with smart algorithms right away. Start simple – for example, with response classification.
As experience accumulates, you can add new scenarios. Sudden and ill-considered changes most often lead to failures and confusion.
3. Logging is Your Best Friend
If there are no logs, you don’t understand what works and what doesn’t. Detailed action records are the basis for analysis, optimization, and quick error resolution. Without them, you’re literally working blind.
What Can Go Wrong?
Too Complex – Too Early
Our first version was extremely simple.
Trying to “do everything at once” will lead to chaos. It’s better to start with a basic scheme and gradually develop it, based on real business needs.
Ignoring Human Participation
Automation is not a replacement for people, but a tool to enhance them. Managers should be able to intervene manually if something goes wrong. Otherwise, you risk losing flexibility.
Bad Data = Bad ResultsEven the smartest system is useless if “garbage” gets into it.
Don’t save time on data validation and cleaning. This isn’t an “additional step” – it’s the foundation for stable operation of all automation.
Development Plans
Immediate Improvements
The system is constantly evolving. Plans for the coming months include:
- WhatsApp integration for even greater reach
- Predictive analytics to identify the most promising leads
- A/B testing of message templates
- Integration with web analytics systems to track lead sources
Long-term Strategy
In the long term, we plan to create a full-fledged lead management platform with machine learning capabilities. The system will not just execute given algorithms, but independently optimize processes based on accumulated data.
Automation as Competitive Advantage
This project showed that proper automation is not just saving time and money. It’s creating a fundamentally new level of customer service and competitive advantage.
The system works 24/7, never gets tired, never forgets about clients, and constantly improves. At the same time, it frees people for creative and strategic work.
The main lesson of this project: automation should be smart, flexible, and result-oriented. Don’t automate processes for the sake of automation. Every solution should bring measurable benefit to the business.
If you’re thinking about a similar project in your company, remember: start small, test hypotheses, measure results, and scale only what really works. This approach is exactly what led us to success in this project.
