Follow-Up Automation

This drill builds automated follow-up workflows in n8n that respond to prospect actions across email, LinkedIn, and your CRM. It ensures no prospect falls through the cracks while keeping outreach human and contextual.

Prerequisites

• n8n instance running and connected to Attio and Instantly
• Active outreach campaigns (run cold-email-sequence or linkedin-outreach first)
• PostHog tracking set up for email and web events

Steps

1. Map your follow-up triggers

Define the events that should trigger automated follow-up. Common triggers:

• Email opened 3+ times but no reply (high interest, needs nudge)
• Clicked a link in your email (engaged, ready for next step)
• Visited your website after receiving outreach (buying intent signal)
• Connected on LinkedIn but did not respond to message
• Meeting booked but no-show (needs reschedule)
• Positive reply but went cold after 5+ days

2. Build trigger workflows in n8n

Using the n8n-triggers fundamental, create webhook-based triggers for each event. Connect Instantly webhooks for email events, PostHog webhooks for website visits, and Attio webhooks for CRM status changes. Each trigger should include a delay node to prevent immediate robotic follow-up — wait at least 24 hours after the triggering event.

3. Design follow-up logic

Using the n8n-workflow-basics fundamental, build conditional workflows:

• Email opener, no reply: Send a shorter, different-angle follow-up 48 hours later. Reference that you shared something relevant (do not mention you know they opened it).
• Link clicker: Send a follow-up that goes deeper on the topic they clicked about. Offer a specific next step.
• Website visitor: If they visited your pricing page, fast-track to a meeting request. If they visited a blog post, share a related resource.
• No-show: Send a friendly reschedule message 2 hours after the missed meeting. Offer 2-3 new times.

4. Add safety guardrails

Every automated workflow needs limits. Set maximum touches per prospect (never exceed 8 total across all channels). Add a suppression check that skips prospects who replied negatively, unsubscribed, or are already in an active deal. Use the attio-deals fundamental to check CRM status before sending.

5. Connect to Attio for logging

Every automated action should update Attio: log the follow-up sent, update the last-touch date, and change the prospect's status. This gives your team visibility into what automation is doing.

6. Monitor and tune

Track automation-generated replies and meetings in PostHog using the posthog-custom-events fundamental. Review weekly: which triggers produce the most meetings? Which follow-up messages get the best response rates? Disable any workflow that produces low engagement or negative replies.