How to automate lead generation with n8n

A complete, practical pipeline you can build today: capture leads, score them with AI, follow up automatically, and turn raw lists into enriched CSV files. No code required.

Step 1 — Capture leads with a webhook

The cleanest entry point is a Webhook node. It gives you a public URL that accepts JSON, which means any form on any website can post leads into n8n directly — no connector needed. Configure the node with POST and a path like /lead:

curl -X POST https://your-n8n/webhook/lead \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"Jane Doe","email":"[email protected]","company":"Acme","message":"Interested in automation"}'

Your contact form plugin, Typeform webhook, or even a plain HTML form posts to this URL, and n8n receives the lead as JSON data.

Step 2 — Score and qualify with AI

Not every lead is worth a sales call. An HTTP Request node sends the lead to an OpenAI-compatible endpoint and asks the model to return a fit score from 0 to 10 plus a one-line summary. Store the key in an environment variable ({{$env.OPENAI_API_KEY}}) so it never sits in the workflow.

Then an IF node splits the flow: score ≥ 7 continues to notification, everything else goes to an archive branch. Your inbox only sees leads worth replying to — the rest are stored without disturbing you.

Step 3 — Notify the right person automatically

For qualified leads, a Send Email node (SMTP) fires an alert with the lead's details and the AI summary already included in the subject line. From form submission to a scored lead in your inbox, the whole path takes under two seconds and costs fractions of a cent.

Step 4 — Follow up on a schedule

Acquisition without follow-up is wasted spend. A separate workflow starts from your chosen trigger (a new lead, a closed call, a tagged contact) and walks a Wait node chain: day 0 thanks, day 3 value-add, day 7 case study, day 14 gentle close. Each email is a template with the lead's own data filled in, and the sequence runs itself for every lead in parallel.

Step 5 — Enrich lists in bulk

Have a spreadsheet of 500 leads and no context on any of them? A bulk workflow accepts a JSON array, splits it into items, enriches each one with the AI endpoint (industry, size, one-line summary), merges the results, and returns a CSV you can re-import anywhere. What used to be a day of manual research becomes one request.

The full pipeline on one screen

Webhook → normalize → split → AI enrich → filter by score → email alert / archive → CSV export. That chain covers the entire top of your funnel, and it runs the same way whether you get five leads a week or five hundred.

Building all five steps by hand takes most people a full weekend and a few import headaches. If you would rather import a complete, tested version of this exact pipeline in minutes, that is what the pack below is for.