The best first automation is one you see daily. So we suggest a classic: an inbox assistant. It reads incoming messages, classifies them and prepares a draft reply for your approval.
You need three blocks: a mailbox (Gmail or Outlook), an automation tool (n8n, Make or Zapier) and an AI model (e.g. Claude or GPT via API). Everything clicks together in a visual editor — not a line of code.
The flow: new email → AI classifies it (sales inquiry / complaint / spam / other) → for sales inquiries AI drafts a reply from your template → the draft lands in a “to approve” folder. You just read, tweak and send.
The key is a good classification and reply prompt: add 2–3 examples of real emails and model replies. Models learn style from examples better than from descriptions.
After a week you’ll see the pattern: 60–70% of drafts need only minor edits. That’s the moment to add branches — automatic confirmations, no-reply reminders, a weekly summary. A small automation grows into a system, and you get an hour a day back.