How to Start Email Marketing With AI Agents Step by Step

Most people who try email marketing quit before they ever send a second email. Not because the strategy is bad, but because sitting down every day to write something from scratch is exhausting. You stare at a blank screen. You have no idea what to say. You type a few sentences, delete them, and close the tab.

This tutorial walks through two N8N automation workflows that handle the hardest parts for you. The first one pulls trending topics from Google Trends every morning and writes a broadcast email tied to your niche, then drops it straight into a Google Doc waiting for you to copy and paste. The second one is a full email list setup that creates lead magnet ideas, picks the best one, writes landing page copy, builds a 7-day soap opera autoresponder sequence, and adds a thank you page with affiliate offer recommendations, all stored in one Google Doc. You do the initial setup once. After that, the automation runs on its own.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A working N8N broadcast email workflow that fires every morning at 6 a.m. and writes one ready-to-send email for your niche
A Google Docs connection via OAuth 2.0 so every output lands in the right place automatically
An AI agent prompt structure that connects trending news to any niche, even if the connection is not obvious
A full soap opera sequence workflow that generates lead magnet ideas, selects the best one, and builds a 7-day autoresponder
A landing page copy template your AI agent writes for you, including headline, sub-headline, and opt-in button text
A thank you page framework with affiliate product placements so you can start picking up commissions from day one
A clear answer to what niche to use and why writing at a 5th-grade reading level converts better than using $50 words
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Why Email Marketing Still Outperforms Social Media

YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram change their algorithms constantly. A video that got 50,000 views last month might get 5,000 views this month because the platform shifted what it promotes. You have no control over that. But if someone is on your email list, you can reach them directly every single day. No algorithm decides whether your message gets through.

The other problem with relying on social platforms is reach. Even on YouTube, only a small slice of your subscribers sees any given video. If someone subscribed to your channel six months ago and has not watched in a while, the algorithm stops showing them your uploads. Email does not work that way. You hit send, and the message goes to every person on your list. That is why building a mailing list is one of the most consistent income strategies online, and why automating the daily content piece makes it sustainable long-term.

The Two Workflows You Are Building in N8N

N8N is a drag-and-drop automation platform. You connect nodes together the same way you would connect Lego pieces. No coding required. The two workflows in this tutorial share several building blocks, so once you understand the first one, the second one moves much faster.

Workflow 1 is the broadcast email builder. It takes about five nodes. Workflow 2 is the full soap opera setup. It is longer but follows the same pattern: set your niche, create a Google Doc, run an AI agent, save the output, repeat. The entire process took about 45 minutes to build from scratch in the video. With the blueprint, the estimate is 15 minutes.

Workflow 1: Daily Broadcast Emails Step by Step

Step 1 — Create a New N8N Workflow and Name It

Open N8N and click to create a new workflow. Name it something clear, like “Broadcast Emails.” This matters more than it sounds. If you build several automations and none of them are labeled, you will spend time hunting for the right one every time you want to make a change.

Step 2 — Add a Schedule Trigger

Click on your first node and choose a schedule trigger. Set it to fire every day at 6 a.m. This means by the time you wake up and check your Google Docs, the email is already written and waiting. You never have to think about what to write that morning.

Step 3 — Set Your Niche With a Set Node

Add a Set node after the schedule trigger. Inside the Set node, create one field: niche. Enter your niche as the value. The reason you do it this way is so that if you ever want to switch niches or run this for a client in a different space, you only have to change one thing in one place instead of hunting through 15 different spots in your workflow.

In the tutorial, the demo niche used was YouTube growth. For a client, you might set it to auto-detailing, home security cameras, or basket weaving. The workflow does not care what niche you give it. It adjusts automatically.

Step 4 — Create a Google Doc for the Output

Add a Google Docs node and set it to create a new document. Name the document using the current date and your niche. You can drag and drop the “readable date” field from N8N directly into the document name field. That way every morning you get a fresh, clearly labeled Google Doc like “Broadcast Emails May 28 2025” and you never have to sort through a folder full of files named “untitled document.”

To connect your Google Docs account, you will need to set up an OAuth 2.0 credential through Google Cloud Console. Go to Google Cloud, click APIs and Services, enable the Google Docs API, then go to Credentials and create an OAuth 2.0 client ID. Copy the client ID and client secret into N8N. Do not share these credentials with anyone. They are like a username and password for your account.

Step 5 — Add the AI Agent With RSS and Think Tools

Add an AI agent node. Set the input source to “define below” so you can write a custom prompt. Click on Chat Model and select OpenAI Chat Model. The default GPT-4o mini works well for this workflow and keeps the API costs low. You will need an OpenAI API key, which you can get from platform.openai.com under API keys.

The AI agent needs two tools. The first is an RSS feed from Google Trends. Go to trends.google.com, click Trending Now, then click Export and copy the RSS feed URL. Paste that URL into the RSS tool inside your agent node. The second tool is the Think tool. Adding the Think tool tells the agent to reason through the problem before writing, which tends to produce better output.

The prompt tells the agent it is an expert email copywriter with knowledge of current events. It instructs the agent to pull one or two trending stories from the RSS feed, find a way to connect that story to your niche, and then write a daily email with a subject line, a body under 200 words, a hook, and a soft call to action. A critical addition to the prompt is a rule that says the agent must always produce an email, even if no story seems directly related. A skilled copywriter finds the angle. Todd Chrisley going to jail can be connected to basket weaving if you are creative enough. This rule keeps the agent from ever returning an empty result.

One more thing to add to the prompt: tell the agent to write at a 5th or 6th grade reading level and to avoid industry jargon and trendy vocabulary. People who see your content may be international. Words like “pertinent” or “high-stakes” can confuse readers who speak English as a second language, and they make native speakers feel like they are being talked down to. Simple English builds trust. Complex words lose sales.

Step 6 — Update the Google Doc With the Email

Add a final Google Docs node and set it to update an existing document. Drag and drop the document ID from the earlier Create step so N8N knows which file to update. Drag the agent output into the text field. Test the step. If everything is green, your broadcast email workflow is complete.

Optional but worth adding: go back to the agent prompt and include a line at the end telling the agent to transition to promoting an affiliate product. Paste in a placeholder for your affiliate link. That turns the daily educational email into a soft sell that can generate commissions over time without the email feeling like a hard pitch.

Workflow 2: The Soap Opera Autoresponder Sequence

The soap opera sequence is a concept from Russell Brunson’s email marketing work. The idea is that each email in a series ends with a cliffhanger or open loop that makes the reader want the next one. It builds trust fast, keeps people opening, and warms up new subscribers before you ever ask them to buy anything. This workflow builds the entire 7-day sequence for you automatically.

Set Your Niche and Create the Google Doc

Follow the same first three steps from Workflow 1. Set a niche using a Set node. For the tutorial demo, home security cameras was used. Create a Google Doc named something like “Soap Opera [niche]” so you know exactly where to find the output when it lands.

AI Agent 1 — Generate Lead Magnet Ideas

Add an AI agent node and set it to generate three lead magnet ideas based on your niche. For this agent, use GPT-4 instead of GPT-4o mini. The quality of ideas here matters because everything else in the sequence is built on the lead magnet you pick. Include the Think tool. Test the step and save the output to the Google Doc with a header like “Lead Magnet Ideas” so the document stays organized.

You can change three to five or seven ideas if you want more options. The number does not change the workflow structure at all.

AI Agent 2 — Pick the Best Lead Magnet

Add a second AI agent. Feed it the output from Agent 1. This agent reads the three ideas, evaluates them, picks the best one, and writes a short explanation of why. The reason you want the AI to make this decision instead of doing it yourself is simple: people get attached to their own ideas. If you came up with the three options, you will probably pick the one you thought of first or the one that sounds coolest to you, regardless of which one would actually convert better. Removing that bias tends to produce a smarter pick.

Add a Set node after this agent to capture the selected lead magnet as a variable. Label it “selected lead magnet.” This makes it easy to pull that value into every agent that comes after it without having to manually trace back through the chain.

AI Agent 3 — Write the Landing Page Copy

A landing page is a single-page website with one job: get the visitor to enter their name and email. The page should have a headline, a sub-headline, an input field for name and email, and a submit button. That is it. Nothing else. No navigation, no links, no distractions.

Add an AI agent named “Landing Page Generator.” Feed it the selected lead magnet from the previous Set node. The agent writes a headline and sub-headline optimized for conversions. Save that to the Google Doc with a “Landing Page” header. You can paste this copy directly into ClickFunnels, GBolt Systems, or any other funnel builder.

AI Agent 4 — Build the 7-Day Soap Opera Sequence

Add an AI agent named “Autoresponder.” Feed it the selected lead magnet. The prompt tells the agent to write a 7-day email sequence using the soap opera format. A few things to add to the prompt that improve results: ask it to include a short welcome message with a link for the subscriber to download the lead magnet they signed up for, and ask it to prompt readers to reply to each email. Getting replies improves your sender reputation with mail servers like Gmail and Outlook, which keeps your emails out of the spam folder.

Save the sequence to the Google Doc. When you scroll through the final document, you will see all seven days laid out with subject lines and body copy ready to load into your autoresponder.

AI Agent 5 — Write the Thank You Page

Most people build a thank you page that says “thanks for signing up, check your inbox.” That is a missed opportunity. The thank you page is the one moment when a new subscriber is the most engaged and the most interested. They just signed up for something. Their attention is on you right now.

This agent writes a thank you page that opens with a warm headline, confirms what they signed up for, and then recommends two or three affiliate products related to the niche. The conversion rate on thank you page affiliate offers is low, around 20% or lower, but it is free traffic. You are not running ads. You are simply showing products to people who already raised their hand and said they want to learn more about this topic. Even one or two sales a week from this page adds up.

The prompt for this agent: “You are a conversion copy expert optimizing post opt-in experiences for the thank you page tied to the lead magnet. Produce a headline, set expectations for the email sequence, build trust, and include three affiliate product recommendations relevant to the niche with a placeholder for the affiliate link.”

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Honest Drawbacks of This Approach

The AI output is a first draft, not a finished product. The demo email in the video included the phrase “buzzing with excitement,” which Alston called out immediately as something that sounds off and needs editing before you hit send. You still need to read through each broadcast email before you copy it into your autoresponder. Budget five to ten minutes for that each morning.

The Google Docs and OpenAI API connections require setup time upfront. If you have never worked with Google Cloud Console or created an OAuth credential before, expect to spend 30 to 60 minutes on that piece alone the first time. The video walks through it, but it is not instant.

API costs are real. GPT-4 costs more per request than GPT-4o mini. Running the full soap opera setup with four GPT-4 agents is not free, though it is cheap compared to hiring a copywriter. Budget a few dollars per run until you know what your actual costs are, then scale based on what you see in your OpenAI dashboard.

The thank you page conversion rate is low. Alston was transparent about this in the video. You are not going to make hundreds of dollars the first week from affiliate sales on a thank you page. The value is in compounding. As your list grows, even a 1% conversion rate on a list of 10,000 people is 100 buyers every time you send an offer.

And last: this is for informational purposes. No one can guarantee you will make money online. This is a method that works in principle, and results depend entirely on your niche, your offer, and how consistently you show up.

Tools You Need to Run Both Workflows

N8N account (self-hosted is free; cloud version has a paid tier)
Google Cloud Console account (free) with Google Docs API enabled
OAuth 2.0 client ID and client secret from Google Cloud
OpenAI API key with access to GPT-4o mini and GPT-4
Google Trends RSS feed URL (from trends.google.com, click Trending Now, then Export, then RSS)
A funnel builder like ClickFunnels or GBolt Systems for your landing page and thank you page
An email autoresponder platform to load in the 7-day sequence once it is written

Who This Works For

Alston pointed out in the video that this is not just for people building their own email list. There is a service angle here too. If you can build these workflows and run them reliably, you can reach out to YouTubers, content creators, and small business owners who do not have the time or the interest to learn automation tools, and offer to set this up for them. You charge a setup fee, you deliver a working system, and if they want ongoing management, you charge a monthly retainer. The N8N workflows are the same whether you run them for yourself or for a client. You just change the niche in the Set node.

Affiliate marketers can use Workflow 2 to spin up a fully built email funnel for any new niche they want to test without spending weeks writing copy from scratch. Software as a service founders can use the same setup to build email sequences for their user onboarding. The structure is the same. The niche changes.

Find Your X

Email marketing is one path. But depending on your skills, your schedule, and what you actually want your online income to look like, there might be a better starting point for you. The free quiz at finder.platformproof.com asks a few questions about your background and goals and gives you a specific recommendation. It takes about two minutes and tells you exactly where to focus first instead of trying everything at once.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know how to code to build these N8N workflows?

No. N8N is built for drag-and-drop. You connect nodes visually. The most technical part is setting up the Google Cloud OAuth credential, which involves copying and pasting a client ID and client secret into a form. The video walks through that process step by step. If you can follow on-screen instructions, you can build this.

How much does it cost to run these workflows every day?

The main cost is your OpenAI API usage. GPT-4o mini is very cheap per request, often fractions of a cent per run. GPT-4 costs more, closer to a few cents per run depending on the length of the output. The broadcast email workflow uses GPT-4o mini, so daily costs there are minimal. The soap opera setup uses GPT-4 across four agents, but you only run that once per niche, not every day.

What if the AI generates an email that does not fit my niche well?

That is why you read the output before you send it. The prompt includes an instruction to always find a connection to the niche even when the trending topic seems unrelated. Sometimes the connection is creative but still works. Sometimes it is a stretch. If it feels forced, spend three minutes rewriting the bridge between the trending story and your topic. You are editing, not writing from scratch. That is still a win.

What is the soap opera sequence and why does it work?

The soap opera sequence is a 7-day email framework from Russell Brunson, a well-known marketer and founder of ClickFunnels. Each email ends with an unresolved story or open question that gives the reader a reason to open the next one. The format mirrors how soap operas keep viewers coming back. It works in email because it builds a relationship with new subscribers quickly and establishes you as someone worth listening to before you ever ask them to buy anything.

Why write at a 5th or 6th grade reading level?

Two reasons. First, a large portion of online audiences are international and read English as a second language. Simple vocabulary is easier to understand for everyone. Second, complex language can make readers feel like they are being talked down to or that they are not smart enough to follow along. If someone feels that way reading your email, they will not buy from you. Plain English keeps people in the conversation longer.

Can I use this for a niche I know nothing about?

The workflow generates all the content, so you do not need deep expertise to start. However, you will need to fact-check the output before you send anything. AI agents sometimes produce plausible-sounding information that is not accurate. If you are writing emails about a niche you do not know well, spend a few minutes verifying any specific claims before you send them to your list. Sending wrong information damages trust faster than anything else.

How do I get people onto my email list in the first place?

The workflows in this tutorial build the infrastructure once someone decides to opt in. Getting them to that landing page is a separate step. Common approaches include promoting your lead magnet in YouTube video descriptions, pinning a link on social media profiles, running low-budget ads to a landing page, or adding a call to action at the end of videos. The lead magnet needs to be specific and genuinely useful to your target audience. “Get my free guide” is weak. “Download the 7-day home security checklist for apartment renters” is specific and tells the reader exactly what they are getting.

Is this only useful for affiliate marketers?

No. The broadcast email workflow is useful for anyone who needs to send regular emails to an audience. That includes coaches, course creators, YouTube channel owners promoting new videos, and local business owners keeping in touch with customers. The soap opera setup works for anyone who needs a welcome sequence. Alston specifically called out that you could offer both workflows as a service to clients who want email marketing but do not want to build it themselves.

What should I do after the 7-day soap opera sequence ends?

That is exactly what the broadcast email workflow is built for. Once a subscriber finishes the 7-day onboarding sequence, they move into your regular broadcast list. From that point on, they receive your daily or weekly emails that are written each morning by the automation. The two workflows are designed to work together. Workflow 2 builds the relationship in the first week. Workflow 1 maintains it from week two forward.

Sources

N8N automation platform — n8n.io
Google Cloud Console for OAuth 2.0 credentials — console.cloud.google.com
OpenAI API platform for GPT-4 and GPT-4o mini access — platform.openai.com
Google Trends RSS feed — trends.google.com (Trending Now, Export, RSS)
Russell Brunson, soap opera sequence framework — DotCom Secrets