A drafted reply to each lead, approved from my phone before it sends
The inquiry desk is a system I built that drafts a reply to lead emails that pass its junk screen, using my business facts and how I write. A rules check flags made-up prices, promises or risky asks. The draft comes to my phone in Telegram, and I approve every reply. It has run on SignalNine's own inbox since 2026-09-07.
When a lead writes in and you can't reply right away
A lead emails while you're busy with a client, and you can't get back to them right away. If the reply waits, they look at others in the market. A rushed reply can start the relationship on the wrong foot. I built the inquiry desk so I can answer a lead right away, with a reply I've approved.
What is proven and what is not yet
| What it does | Status | How I know |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on SignalNine's own inbox | Proven | It has run live there since 2026-09-07, and every proven row on this page comes from that live desk. |
| Screens out junk for free | Proven | In the live test on 2026-09-07, junk and out-of-scope mail cost $0.00, because the screen runs before any AI step. |
| The part that reads mail can't send | Proven | It's built that way. Sending exists only behind the approve button on the card, so an email telling it to send by itself has nothing to reach. |
| One approval sends one email | Proven | On 2026-09-07, five approve presses landed on one card within 2.2 seconds, and one email went out. |
| Risky asks wait for me | Proven | Test emails I sent to the live desk, asking for an NDA and a security compliance report, were flagged for review and never sent. |
| Won't make up a price | Proven | The rules check stops a price nobody gave it. In a live test, told to quote a price with no scope, it refused. Since 2026-09-13, a price I give it goes in, named on the card. |
| A failed step reaches me | Proven | When a step failed on the live desk, an alert in Telegram named the step that failed. Alerts and approval cards share one chat, so if that chat breaks, the alert can't reach me either. |
| Lets a real lead through the junk screen every time | Not yet proven | An email the screen sets aside gets no card and no alert. I'd only find a wrongly screened lead in the run record. |
| Replies to a lead writing from outside SignalNine | Proven | On 2026-10-05 I sent the live desk a test lead from a Gmail address outside SignalNine. It drafted a reply, I approved the card on my phone, and the reply went out to that address. |
| Runs on another business's mailbox | Not yet proven | I haven't installed it for anyone else yet. Everything on this page comes from my own inbox. |
| Makes a new version of the rules live only if it does no worse in my tests | Not yet proven | Built and not run yet. Running it switches what's live, and there's no new version to try it on. |
| Retries when the AI provider is down, then alerts me | Not yet proven | Built. Testing it needs a real outage, and there hasn't been one yet. |
| Lets only the people I name approve | Not yet proven | Built. Testing it needs a second Telegram account pressing the button, and I haven't set that up. |
| Catches a reply that went out but wasn't marked as sent | Not yet proven | Built. Testing it needs the record to fail right after a send, and that hasn't happened yet. |
| Reads the earlier emails when I ask for a change on a follow-up | Not yet proven | My own review found the first draft reads them and a rewrite I ask for doesn't yet. That fix is still to do. |
What you get at handover
- It runs in your own accounts, signed in with your own logins.
- Your leads, your business facts and the rules it follows stay yours, in your own tools.
- A setup guide that takes it from empty accounts to a first working run, in order.
- A step-by-step guide for whoever runs it, with the steps that keep replies safe marked so nobody changes them by accident.
- When a step fails, an alert in Telegram names the step, and the run is on record so you can see where it stopped.
All of its parts exist in full. The label itself says nothing about live runs.
The logic ran on sample data, with stand-ins for the outside services.
Every outside service it uses was exercised for real on test accounts I own, including failures and reruns.
Running for a client, on the client's own accounts. Nothing I have built is there yet.
Questions
Does it ever send a reply without me?
No. The part that reads email has no way to send. A reply goes out only after I press approve on the card. A flagged one needs a second press, on a question that names the flag.
What if it drafts something wrong or makes up a price?
A rules check runs on every draft before it reaches me. It flags made-up prices, delivery promises and risky asks. I read every draft, and I can change it by replying to the card or reject it. A price only goes in when I give it one.
Have you installed it for a business like mine?
No. It runs on SignalNine's own inbox, and has since 2026-09-07. I haven't installed it on another business's mailbox yet, so everything on this page comes from my own runs.
What happens when it breaks?
A failed step sends me an alert in Telegram that names the step. Every run is on record, so I can see where it stopped and answer that lead by hand. One gap: an email the junk screen sets aside gets no card and no alert, so a real lead screened out by mistake shows up only in the run record.
Can I change what it says about my business?
Yes. Your business facts, the rules and examples of how you write live in a tool called Langfuse, and every change is saved as a new version. So far only the first version has been live; switching to a newer one is built and not yet run.
Related
- Website form leads, scored and answered with a reply I approveA system I built: each website form lead is checked, added to HubSpot once and scored. Gmail sends the drafted reply when I approve it in Telegram.
- The lead-response bottleneck: how fast to answer a new leadHow fast to answer a new lead, why a slow reply hands the decision to someone else, and a system that drafts from your rules for a person to approve.
- How do I approve email replies from Slack before they go out?Approving email replies from Slack, Telegram or Google Chat: what the built-in apps do, where an approval loop breaks, the send-once rule, and what I'd pick.
- Human-in-the-loop approvalWhat human-in-the-loop approval means in an automation, which steps should wait for a person, and how an approval card makes sure an email sends once.
- What do slow replies to leads cost you?Multiply your leads, the value of a won client, your close rate and your own estimate of leads lost to slow replies to see the revenue at risk.
- n8n template library for service businessesEvery workflow template I have ready to show for service businesses, with its stage and how far it has been tested. None is offered as a download yet.