How to Automate Tracking Analytics for Email Deliverability with n8n

Monitoring the success of your email campaigns can be a daunting and manual task, especially when you need to track deliverability metrics across multiple platforms. 📧 Automating tracking analytics for email deliverability with n8n brings efficiency, accuracy, and actionable insights straight to your Data & Analytics team.

In this article, you’ll learn how to build a robust n8n automation workflow that integrates popular tools like Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, and HubSpot to seamlessly gather, analyze, and report email deliverability metrics. We’ll cover step-by-step setup instructions, error handling, security best practices, and scalability tips so your automation can grow with your business needs.

Understanding the Need: Why Automate Email Deliverability Tracking?

In the world of data-driven marketing, understanding your email deliverability is critical. High deliverability means your emails reach your recipients’ inboxes rather than spam folders, directly affecting open rates and conversions.

Manual tracking involves collating data from your email provider, CRM, and analytics tools — an error-prone, time-consuming process that delays actionable insights. Automation allows your team to consistently monitor, analyze, and respond to deliverability metrics in near real-time.

Stakeholders who benefit include:

• CTOs and Automation Engineers: Automate workflows, reduce manual tasks, and optimize infrastructure for scalability.
• Operations Specialists: Gain timely, centralized reports for decision-making without juggling multiple dashboards.
• Data & Analytics Teams: Access clean, integrated datasets that empower deep analysis of email performance.

Tools & Services Involved in the Automation Workflow

Leveraging n8n’s open-source workflow automation capabilities, we’ll integrate the following tools to build a complete email deliverability tracking solution:

• Gmail API: Access sent email data and delivery notifications.
• Google Sheets: Store and archive email analytics records efficiently.
• Slack: Notify teams instantly about deliverability issues or trends.
• HubSpot CRM: Track email interactions connected to contacts and sales pipelines.

This integration not only centralizes your email analytics but also enables proactive alerts and streamlined reporting.

How the Automation Workflow Works: From Trigger to Output

The core flow typically looks like this:

1. Trigger Event: A new email sent via Gmail or a scheduled polling triggers the workflow.
2. Data Extraction: Pull email metadata such as delivery status, open/click tracking from Gmail and HubSpot.
3. Transformation & Enrichment: Process raw data, calculate deliverability metrics, and match with CRM records.
4. Data Storage: Append results to a Google Sheets spreadsheet for historical tracking.
5. Notifications & Alerts: Send Slack messages if deliverability drops below thresholds.
6. Reporting & Actions: Enable dashboards or trigger follow-up workflows.

Step-by-Step Setup of the n8n Automation Workflow

1. Set up the Trigger Node (Gmail Trigger)

We’ll use the Gmail node configured for the “Watch Emails” trigger to monitor sent emails in your designated folder or label.

• Node Type: Gmail Trigger
• Trigger Event: New email matching criteria (e.g., sent label)
• Filters: Emails sent in last X minutes, subject contains “Campaign”

{
  "resource": "message",
  "event": "new",
  "filters": {
    "labelIds": ["SENT"],
    "query": "subject:(Campaign)"
  }
}

This ensures your workflow triggers only on relevant outbound emails.

2. Extract Email Analytics Data from Gmail

Using the Gmail API node, retrieve message details including delivery status and read receipts if available.

• Node Type: Gmail – Get Message
• Input: Message ID from trigger node
• Fields: Snippet, payload headers (e.g., ‘Delivered-To’, ‘Return-Path’), and headers related to tracking pixels.

Combine this with custom expressions in n8n to extract the email addresses, timestamps, and subject lines for further processing.

3. Connect HubSpot to Enrich Contact Data

Integrate with HubSpot to match sent emails with contact profiles, allowing richer analytics on engagement.

• Node Type: HubSpot – Get Contact
• Input: Recipient email address from Gmail node
• Actions: Fetch contact lifecycle stages, deal status, or custom engagement properties

This connection bridges email deliverability data with sales and marketing metrics.

4. Save Analytics Records to Google Sheets

Google Sheets acts as your centralized repository for tracking ongoing email deliverability metrics.

• Node Type: Google Sheets – Append Row
• Sheet: Predefined spreadsheet with columns like Timestamp, Recipient, Status, Open Rate, etc.
• Fields to map: Date ({{ $json[“internalDate”] }}), Email ({{ $json[“to”] }}), Delivery Status (extracted), Contact info from HubSpot

Example n8n expression to append a row:

[
  {
    "Timestamp": "={{ $json[\"internalDate\"] | date }}",
    "Recipient": "={{ $json[\"to\"] }}",
    "DeliveryStatus": "={{ $json[\"delivery.status\"] }}",
    "ContactStage": "={{ $node[\"HubSpot\"].json[\"lifecycleStage\"] }}"
  }
]

5. Trigger Slack Notifications for Deliverability Alerts ⚠️

Set a condition node to evaluate if delivery rates drop below a threshold (e.g., 90%). If true, send an instant Slack alert to your analytics or ops channel.

• Node Type: IF
• Condition: DeliveryStatus rate < 90%

• Success Branch: Slack – Send Message node
• Message Example: “🚨 Alert: Email deliverability dropped below 90% for campaign XYZ on {{ $json[“date”] }}.”

This helps teams act quickly on potential email issues.

6. Error Handling and Retry Strategies

To ensure workflow resilience, configure n8n’s error workflow or node-level retry options:

• Retries: 3 attempts with exponential backoff (e.g., 5s, 15s, 45s)
• Logging: Use Write Binary File or Webhook Error nodes to store error details
• Alerts: Push critical failures to Slack or email to notify maintainers

Idempotency is key; design workflows so repeated triggers do not create duplicate rows in Google Sheets. Use unique keys like email ID + timestamp to check before append.

7. Scaling & Performance Optimization

As your email volume grows, consider:

• Using Webhooks: Instead of polling Gmail API, set up webhook triggers for near real-time data and reduce API calls.
• Concurrency Control: Limit node concurrency in n8n to avoid hitting rate limits of Gmail and HubSpot.
• Modularization: Split large workflows into smaller reusable sub-workflows.
• Version Control: Use n8n’s versioning to keep track of workflow changes and rollbacks.

Proactively monitor run history and set alerting thresholds for errors or sudden drops in success rates.

8. Security Practices & Compliance

• API Key Management: Store API keys and OAuth tokens securely using n8n credentials.
• Limited Scopes: Use the principle of least privilege when assigning OAuth scopes to Gmail and HubSpot integrations.
• PII Handling: Mask or encrypt personally identifiable information where necessary, especially if logs are exported or shared.
• Audit Trails: Keep logs of workflow runs and changes for audit requirements.

This approach ensures your workflow is secure, compliant, and maintains stakeholder trust.

Comparing Workflow Automation Platforms for Email Analytics

Choosing the right tool is critical for building efficient, maintainable automations. Here’s a detailed look at n8n vs Make vs Zapier:

Platform	Cost	Pros	Cons
n8n	Free (self-hosted); Paid cloud plans available	Fully customizable, open-source, strong community support, unlimited workflows on self-host	Requires hosting & maintenance; steeper learning curve
Make (Integromat)	Starts free; paid plans from $9/mo	Visual builder, extensive app integrations, real-time triggers	Pricing scales with operations used, limited complex logic
Zapier	Free up to 100 tasks/mo; paid plans from $19.99/mo	Easiest to use, massive app ecosystem, strong support and documentation	Task limits costly, less flexible in complex multi-step workflows

Given the technical depth required for email deliverability tracking, n8n’s flexibility and extensibility make it a standout choice for startups and technical teams.

Webhook vs Polling: Choosing the Right Trigger Method

Trigger Type	Pros	Cons
Webhook	Near real-time data, efficient resource usage, scalable	Complex initial setup, depends on external system webhook support
Polling	Simple setup, compatible with most APIs	Delays between polls, rate limits can be an issue, less efficient

Choosing Data Storage: Google Sheets vs Dedicated Database Solutions

Storage Option	Ideal For	Pros	Cons
Google Sheets	Small to mid-sized analytics teams, quick prototyping	Easily accessible, no setup cost, integrates well with n8n and Google ecosystem	Limited scalability, prone to quota limits and slower for large datasets
Dedicated DB (e.g., PostgreSQL, BigQuery)	Large scale, complex queries, enterprise analytics	Highly scalable, powerful querying, integration with BI tools	Requires setup and maintenance, higher operational overhead

For many startups and analytics departments, starting with Google Sheets provides a low barrier and straightforward integration, but migrating to a dedicated database is recommended as data volume and complexity grow.

To accelerate building your n8n workflows, don’t forget to Explore the Automation Template Marketplace where you can find prebuilt automation blueprints for email and analytics tracking.

Testing and Monitoring Your Automation Workflow

Before relying on automation, ensure your workflow behaves as expected:

• Use sandbox test data: Send test emails to a controlled set of addresses.
• Check run history: Monitor execution logs in n8n for success and failure counts.
• Set up alerting: Configure Slack or email alerts on workflow failures or when anomalies are detected.
• Monitor API usage: Track rate limits and throttle calls dynamically if needed.

Once confident, deploy your workflow into production and iterate as your data needs evolve.

If you’re ready to begin automating your email analytics, Create Your Free RestFlow Account and connect your favorite integrations today.

Conclusion

Automating tracking analytics for email deliverability with n8n empowers Data & Analytics teams and technical stakeholders to efficiently monitor and optimize email campaigns. Integrating Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, and HubSpot in an end-to-end workflow provides actionable insights, timely alerts, and centralized data storage, eliminating tedious manual processes.

Adopting best practices in error handling, security, and scalability ensures your automation remains reliable and adaptable as your email volume and complexity grow.

Ready to improve your email deliverability analytics? Take the first step by exploring reusable automation templates or signing up for your free account to start building custom workflows today.