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Hot take: that "CRM automation" trick I found on TikTok saved me 12 hours this week
I was drowning in sending follow up emails after every inquiry. So last Thursday I tried this thing where you set up a simple email sequence in Gmail using tags and filters. No fancy app, no subscription. It auto sends a "thanks for asking" reply and then a check in 3 days later if they don't reply. Got two responses from people I would've forgotten about. Has anyone else found a low effort way to automate the boring stuff without paying for a tool?
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garcia.wren2mo ago
Wait, did you set this up with just Gmail's built in filters and canned responses? I've been messing around with something similar but I keep tripping up on the tagging part... like how do you make sure only the new inquiries get the auto reply and not your whole inbox. I tried a workaround last month where I used a separate Gmail account just for inquiries and then forwarded everything to my main account after the auto sequence ran its course. It's still free but you gotta remember to check that second account's spam folder every couple days or things slip through the cracks. The 3 day check in trick is smart though, I might steal that idea and add a 7 day one too for the people who are still on the fence.
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fionamurphy2mo ago
You guys are way overthinking this with spam folders and forwarding accounts, huh? I just set up a filter for emails that are unread and from unknown senders and it hasn't failed me once.
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the_cameron2mo ago
My buddy tried that and accidentally replied to his boss's late night email.
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joseph_bailey2mo ago
The canned responses with a filter label works perfect once you set the right conditions. I use a label called "new lead" that only gets applied when an email comes from an address not already in my contacts, with specific keywords in the subject line. That way the auto reply only fires on those specific emails instead of everything. The separate account method works but honestly the spam thing drove me crazy too, I lost a couple legit ones that way. The label trick combined with a filter that skips the inbox for anything already labeled solves it automatically. I also added a secondary filter that checks the "is:unread" flag on that label so if someone replies back it stops the auto sequence cold. Took me a weekend to map out but once it clicked it's been running smooth for months now.
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