## Introduction
In product management, tracking feature requests efficiently—especially segmented by customer groups—helps prioritize development, improve user satisfaction, and align product roadmaps with real user needs. However, manually sorting through scattered requests from emails, forms, and communication tools is time-consuming and error-prone.
This guide demonstrates how to build a robust automation workflow using **n8n**, an open-source and flexible workflow automation tool, to automatically capture, categorize, and log feature requests based on customer segments. The solution targets the **Product team**, enabling them to effortlessly view and act on feature requests segmented by key customer demographics or account types.
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## Problem Statement
**Problem:** Product teams receive feature requests via multiple channels like emails, CRM, or chat tools but lack automated aggregation and segmentation by customer groups. This hinders visibility into which customer segments are driving requests and delays prioritization.
**Beneficiaries:** Product managers, product owners, and customer success teams who need granular insights by segment.
**Solution:** An automated workflow that:
1. Watches incoming feature requests across platforms.
2. Extracts key data (request, customer identity, segment).
3. Enriches requests with segment metadata.
4. Logs entries into a centralized tracking tool like Google Sheets or Airtable.
5. Notifies relevant stakeholders.
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## Tools and Services Integrated
– **n8n:** The automation orchestration platform.
– **Gmail:** To monitor incoming feature request emails.
– **Google Sheets:** Acts as a centralized database to store and categorize requests.
– **Slack (optional):** For notifying teams about new feature requests.
– **Customer Segmentation Data:** Stored in Google Sheets or within CRM (may require API queries).
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## Overview of Workflow
Trigger: Incoming feature request email in Gmail inbox.
Flow:
1. Watch Gmail for new emails with a specific label or subject pattern.
2. Parse email body to extract feature request details.
3. Identify customer email or ID from the email metadata.
4. Lookup customer segment from a Google Sheets segment database.
5. Append the feature request and segment info to the master Google Sheet.
6. Send Slack notification with details.
Output: A Google Sheet with structured, segmented feature requests and Slack alerts for immediate awareness.
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## Step-by-Step Tutorial
### Prerequisites
– n8n installed (cloud or self-hosted).
– Gmail account with labels or filtering rule configured for feature requests.
– Google Sheets document with two sheets:
– `CustomerSegments` sheet: Columns like **Email, Customer Name, Segment**
– `FeatureRequests` sheet: Columns like **Timestamp, Customer Name, Email, Segment, Feature Request**
– Slack workspace with incoming webhook or API access.
### Step 1: Set up Gmail Trigger in n8n
1. Add a **Gmail Trigger** node.
2. Authenticate using OAuth or service account.
3. Configure to watch a specific label (e.g., “Feature Requests”) or subject filter.
4. Test trigger by sending a test email matching criteria.
### Step 2: Extract Feature Request Details
1. Add a **Function** or **HTML Extract** node to parse the Gmail email body.
2. Use regex or text parsing to extract the core request text.
3. Extract the sender’s email from the Gmail trigger metadata.
Example JavaScript snippet inside Function node:
“`javascript
// Extract feature request assuming it is captured as part of the email body
const emailBody = item.json.textPlain || item.json.textHtml;
const featureRequest = emailBody.match(/Feature Request:\s*(.*)/i);
return [{
json: {
featureRequest: featureRequest ? featureRequest[1].trim() : ‘Not found’,
customerEmail: item.json.from.value[0].address
}
}];
“`
### Step 3: Lookup Customer Segment
1. Add a **Google Sheets** node configured to read from the `CustomerSegments` sheet.
2. Use the customer email extracted to filter the sheet rows.
3. If match is found, retrieve the segment value.
4. If no match, assign “Unknown Segment” or trigger follow-up.
Config example:
– Operation: Lookup
– Key: customerEmail
– Key Column: Email
### Step 4: Append Request to FeatureRequests Sheet
1. Add another **Google Sheets** node, set to append rows in the `FeatureRequests` sheet.
2. Map data to columns:
– Timestamp → Current timestamp (use n8n’s `new Date()` in Function node before)
– Customer Name → From lookup
– Email → From extracted data
– Segment → From lookup
– Feature Request → Extracted text
### Step 5: Notify via Slack (Optional)
1. Add a **Slack** node configured to send a message.
2. Format message to include relevant details:
“`
New Feature Request Received:
– Customer: {{Customer Name}} ({{Segment}})
– Email: {{Email}}
– Request: {{Feature Request}}
“`
3. Send notification to a dedicated channel or user.
### Step 6: Error Handling and Logging
1. Use n8n’s **Error Trigger** node to catch workflow errors.
2. Send alert emails or Slack messages for manual intervention.
3. Validate inputs at each step to avoid breaking nodes.
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## Common Errors and Tips
– **Authentication failures:** Ensure all API credentials (Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack) are up to date with proper scopes.
– **Parsing errors:** Email body structures vary; tailor regex or extraction logic for consistent formats.
– **Rate limits:** Google API calls might be throttled; add delays or batch requests if scaling.
– **Missing segments:** Maintain and periodically update the `CustomerSegments` list.
– **Duplicate requests:** Implement checks or IDs if possible to avoid duplicate entries.
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## Scaling and Adaptations
– **Add channels:** Incorporate other triggers like Typeform submissions, HubSpot tickets, or Intercom messages.
– **CRM Integration:** Instead of Google Sheets, integrate with CRMs (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce) via n8n nodes or API.
– **Advanced segmentation:** Use dynamic lookup in databases or real-time API calls for segment data.
– **Dashboard reporting:** Link to BI tools for visual analysis of segmented requests.
– **Automated reminders:** Enrich workflow to notify product owners if no action on a request within X days.
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## Summary and Bonus Tip
This automation centralizes feature requests by customer segments, enabling product teams to make data-driven prioritization decisions without manual overhead. Using n8n’s open environment makes it customizable, scalable, and integrable with your existing stack.
**Bonus Tip:** To improve data quality, implement an intermediate manual review step using Slack interactions or Google Forms to verify ambiguous or low-confidence segment matches before final entry in the master sheet.
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Building automation for feature request tracking empowers product managers with timely insights, optimizes development resource allocation, and improves customer satisfaction through responsiveness.
Start crafting your n8n workflow today and iterate as your product ecosystem evolves!