## Introduction
Startups and fast-growing companies rely heavily on automated email workflows to engage with their users. HubSpot’s email automation feature is a popular choice but can become costly as your contact list grows. This guide shows how to replace HubSpot’s email automation for sending welcome emails using n8n and SendGrid. This approach drastically reduces costs and increases customization flexibility.
## The Problem and Who Benefits
HubSpot’s pricing for email automation can be prohibitive for early-stage startups or budget-conscious teams. Moreover, HubSpot is a monolithic tool where you might pay for functionalities you don’t use fully.
This automation benefits:
– Startup CTOs looking to reduce SaaS spending without compromising quality
– Automation engineers wanting full control over email workflows
– Operations specialists requiring tailored onboarding email sequences
## Tools and Services Integrated
– **n8n:** An open-source workflow automation tool to build and orchestrate the email automation.
– **SendGrid:** A robust email delivery service with a generous free tier to send the actual welcome emails.
– **Optional:** Any CRM or database trigger source (e.g., Airtable, Google Sheets, or webhook from your app) to start the flow.
## Workflow Overview
This n8n workflow sends a personalized welcome email to new users immediately when they sign up. The trigger step listens for new user events. Then, data is formatted and passed to SendGrid to deliver the email.
### Step 1: Trigger
– Use a webhook node or a polling node connected to your user database or CRM.
– For instance, a webhook that your signup backend calls with new user details.
### Step 2: Data Transformation
– Use a function or Set node to format the user data appropriately.
– Create email content variables such as `firstName`, `email`, and personalize the email body with handlebars or template strings.
### Step 3: Send Email via SendGrid
– Configure the SendGrid node with your API key.
– Set the “To” field to the user’s email.
– Use dynamic values for Subject and Body to personalize the email.
### Step 4: Logging or Notification (Optional)
– Optionally add a Slack notification node or a database update node to log that the welcome email was sent.
## Detailed Breakdown of Each Node
1. **Webhook Trigger Node:**
– Set the HTTP method to POST.
– Define the expected JSON schema if desired.
– Deploy the webhook URL in your app signup flow.
2. **Set Node for Data Preparation:**
– Map input fields to desired variables.
– Use expressions to create personalized greeting in the email body.
3. **SendGrid Node Configuration:**
– Insert SendGrid API Key in credentials.
– Compose the email with the following mandatory fields:
– `To`: `{{$json[“email”]}}`
– `Subject`: “Welcome to [Your Startup], {{$json[“firstName”]}}!”
– `HTML Content`: A customizable HTML template with placeholders replaced by user data.
4. **Optional Slack Notification Node:**
– Post a message in a #notifications channel confirming email sent.
## Common Errors and Tips
– **Authentication Errors:** Ensure the SendGrid node uses a valid API key with Mail Send permissions.
– **Webhook Failures:** Verify your webhook URL is accessible publicly or via tunneling (e.g., ngrok) when testing.
– **Email Delivery Issues:** Monitor SendGrid dashboards for bounce or spam complaints.
– **Rate Limits:** SendGrid free tier imposes limits; for high volume, consider batching or paid plans.
## How to Adapt and Scale
– **Multi-step Onboarding:** Extend the workflow with delay nodes to send follow-up emails days after signup.
– **Segmentation:** Include conditional nodes to branch email content based on user attributes.
– **Error Handling:** Implement error workflows with retry and alert notifications.
– **Integration with CRM:** Sync back email delivery status or user engagement metrics to your CRM.
## Summary
Replacing HubSpot’s email automation with n8n and SendGrid empowers startups to build highly customizable, cost-effective email workflows. This approach offloads expensive SaaS costs while retaining flexibility in personalization and scaling.
### Bonus Tip
Use n8n’s built-in environment variables to securely manage API keys and avoid exposing sensitive credentials in your workflows. Additionally, leverage n8n’s parameterization features to reuse email templates across different campaigns or user segments effortlessly.