Never Miss a Lead Again: AI and n8n for Automatic Lead Capture and Follow-Up in Ireland

Where are Irish businesses losing leads?

Most Irish sole traders and small businesses have multiple channels where leads can arrive — website forms, Facebook DMs, missed calls, Google Business enquiries. The problem isn't that leads don't come in. The problem is response time.

Research shows businesses that respond within 5 minutes are 21x more likely to qualify a lead than those that respond within 30 minutes. A customer who filled in your contact form at 7pm and hasn't heard back by 9am has already called three other tradespeople.

What does an automated lead system look like?

The system has four components working together:

1. Lead capture form — a Tally.so form on your website that collects name, phone, email, and job type
2. n8n workflow — triggered the moment the form is submitted; passes the details to Claude and sends the reply
3. Claude AI — drafts a personalised reply based on the specific job type and customer name
4. Google Sheets log — every lead appended automatically so nothing falls through the cracks

Total time from form submission to reply received: under 2 minutes. This runs 24 hours a day without you being involved.

Step 1 — How do you set up your contact form to trigger n8n?

Use Tally.so (free). It's the simplest form builder that supports webhooks on the free plan. Create a form with these fields: Name, Email, Phone, Job type / description.

1. Create your Tally form at tally.so
2. In Tally settings, go to Integrations → Webhooks
3. In n8n, add a Webhook trigger node and copy its URL
4. Paste the n8n webhook URL into Tally's webhook field
5. Test by submitting your form — n8n receives the data instantly

You can also use Typeform (free tier) or a standard HTML form on your website with a POST action pointing to the n8n webhook URL.

Step 2 — How does Claude draft a personalised reply?

In n8n, add an HTTP Request node that calls the Claude API. Pass the customer's name and job description from the form submission into a prompt.

Claude returns a personalised draft reply in under 5 seconds. The output includes the customer's name and references their specific job — not a generic acknowledgement.

Step 3 — How do you send the reply via Gmail or WhatsApp?

Via Gmail: Add a Gmail node in n8n, authenticate with your Google account, and send the Claude-drafted reply to the lead's email address. This uses your own Gmail account — the reply comes from your real email address.

Via WhatsApp: Connect n8n to the WhatsApp Business API using AiSensy (free tier available) or Twilio. When the lead's phone number is submitted in the form, n8n sends a WhatsApp message automatically. This requires a WhatsApp Business account — not the standard consumer app.

Most Irish sole traders start with Gmail — it's simpler to set up and reaches all leads. WhatsApp is the upgrade once your volume justifies it.

Step 4 — How do you log every lead automatically?

Add a Google Sheets node at the end of your n8n workflow. Each time a new lead arrives, n8n appends a row to your spreadsheet with: Name, Email, Phone, Job type, Source (form/Facebook/etc.), Date and time.

This replaces the mental note, the sticky note, and the "I'll follow that up later" that never happens. Every lead is logged automatically — searchable, sortable, never lost.

What tools do you need and what do they cost?

Minimum spend: €22/month (Claude Pro + free n8n self-hosted). Full setup with n8n.cloud: €42/month. Compare this to a missed job worth €500–2,000 — the system pays for itself on the first lead it captures that you would otherwise have lost.

This system pairs well with our guide on n8n for Irish small business and setting up an AI WhatsApp assistant.

Frequently Asked Questions