Follow-Up Sequencer: polite persistence on autopilot — day 3 and day 7 nudges from a Google Sheet
An n8n workflow that reads your outreach sheet daily, finds contacts you emailed 3 or 7 days ago with no reply, has Claude write a short varied follow-up (never the same canned bump twice), and sends it from your Gmail — replies are auto-detected and pulled out of the sequence.
- 1
Structure the tracker sheet
Columns:
email,name,company,first_sent(date),context(one line about why you reached out),status(sent / followed_1 / followed_2 / replied / done). Your existing outreach — manual or automated — just needs to log a row here. - 2
Sweep daily for due follow-ups
A
Schedule Trigger(weekdays 09:30) reads the sheet. ACodenode selects rows where status issentand first_sent is 3+ days ago, orfollowed_1and 7+ days ago. Weekends are skipped — B2B nudges on Saturday read as automation. - 3
Check for replies first
For each candidate, a
Gmailnode searchesfrom:{email} newer_than:10d. Hits update the row torepliedand stop. Only true silence proceeds. - 4
Claude writes a non-canned nudge
An
HTTP Requestto Claude with the original context line: day-3 nudge = one new angle or piece of value, two sentences max; day-7 = the graceful close ('assuming timing's off — door's open'). Explicitly banned: 'just bumping this', 'circling back', fake urgency. Every nudge reads written-today because it was. - 5
Send, space, and update
A random
Wait(2–5 min) between sends, aGmailsend as a reply in the same thread (keeps context on their side), then aGoogle Sheetsupdate tofollowed_1/followed_2. After the day-7 nudge, status flips todone— no zombie sequences.
Frequently asked questions
How does it know someone replied?
Before sending any nudge, the workflow runs a Gmail search for messages from that address newer than your first email. Any hit marks the row 'replied' and removes them from the sequence permanently. This check runs at send time, so even a reply that arrives minutes before the nudge blocks it.
Is automated cold email legal?
It depends on where your recipients are. B2B cold email is legal with conditions in the US (CAN-SPAM: accurate sender, no deceptive subject, working opt-out, physical address) and more restricted in the EU/Canada. This recipe handles the sending mechanics; you are responsible for compliant lists and copy. Follow-ups to people who already replied to you or opted in are safe everywhere.
Won't Gmail flag me for sending automated mail?
The workflow sends through your normal Gmail account with n8n's official OAuth integration, spaced by random 2–5 minute waits, capped at a daily limit you set (default 20). That's assistant-level volume, not blast-level. If you're sending hundreds daily, you need a proper outreach platform and warmed domains — not this recipe.