WhatsApp Lead Qualification Bot with Google Sheets & Slack Alerts

Overview

This workflow automates the qualification and routing of incoming WhatsApp messages for sales teams. It receives messages via a WAHA (WhatsApp HTTP API) webhook, normalizes the data, scores leads based on urgency keywords, and then takes action on high-intent leads. Hot leads are simultaneously saved to Google Sheets for record-keeping and sent as a Slack notification to the sales team. An optional auto-reply node is included to acknowledge the message in Portuguese (customizable).

This is a free, no-code/low-code solution that replaces expensive AI-based lead scoring with simple keyword matching, making it accessible for small businesses and startups.

Node Breakdown

• WhatsApp Webhook (WAHA) — Webhook (No auth) — Listens for incoming WhatsApp messages at the path /leadbot-24h. Configure WAHA to POST messages here. No authentication required on the webhook itself; WAHA handles the connection.
• Normalize & Score Lead — Code node (No auth) — Extracts phone, message, name, and timestamp from the incoming payload. Assigns an intent_score (9 or 5) and urgency (HOT or WARM) based on a list of Portuguese/English urgency keywords (e.g., "preço", "buy", "urgente").
• Filter Hot Leads — Code node (No auth) — Routes only leads with urgency === 'HOT' to the next nodes. All other leads are discarded.
• Save Lead to Google Sheets — Google Sheets (OAuth2) — Appends lead data (phone, name, message, intent score, urgency) to a specified Google Sheet. Requires a Google Sheets OAuth credential and a valid Sheet ID and range.
• Notify Sales Team (Slack/Webhook) — HTTP Request (No auth) — Sends a POST request to a Slack incoming webhook URL with a formatted message containing the hot lead details. Requires a Slack webhook URL.
• Send Auto-Reply (WhatsApp) — WhatsApp (WhatsApp API, OAuth2) — Sends a predefined auto-reply message (Portuguese) to the customer. This node is included but not connected in the current workflow; users should connect it after the webhook or normalization step to reply to all leads.

Setup Instructions

1. **WAHA (WhatsApp HTTP API) — Deploy a WAHA instance (self-hosted or cloud) and configure it to send incoming messages to the webhook URL provided by this workflow (e.g., https://your-n8n-instance/webhook/leadbot-24h).
2. Google Sheets — Create a Google Sheet, copy its ID, and set up an OAuth2 credential in n8n for Google Sheets.
3. Slack — Create an incoming webhook in your Slack workspace and copy the webhook URL.
4. WhatsApp — For the auto-reply, you need a WhatsApp Business API credential (or WAHA) configured in n8n. The template name and namespace in the node are placeholders; replace with your own WhatsApp template.
5. Customization — Update the keyword list in the Normalize node to match your business terms. Change the auto-reply message and language as needed.

Use Cases & Variations

• Lead qualification for real estate, services, e-commerce — Replace keywords with industry-specific terms (e.g., "apartment", "quote", "order").
• Multi-channel lead routing — Add similar webhooks for Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or email to centralize lead handling.
• CRM integration — Replace the Google Sheets node with a CRM node (HubSpot, Salesforce) to create leads directly.
• AI-powered scoring — Swap the keyword logic in the Normalize node with an OpenAI or Gemini node for more accurate intent detection (free tier available).
• Team assignment — Use the Slack notification to route leads to different channels based on product or region.

{
  "name": "LeadBot 24h — WhatsApp AI Lead Qualification Bot",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "parameters": {
        "path": "leadbot-24h",
        "responseMode": "responseNode",
        "options": {}
      },
      "id": "webhook-incoming",
      "name": "WhatsApp Webhook (WAHA)",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.webhook",
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "position": [
        260,
        300
      ],
      "webhookId": "leadbot-24h-webhook",
      "notes": "Configure WAHA (WhatsApp HTTP API) to POST incoming messages here. See: https://waha.dev"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "jsCode": "// Normalize incoming WhatsApp payload to standard lead format\nconst msg = $input.first().json;\nconst lead = {\n  phone: msg.data?.from || msg.from || '',\n  message: msg.data?.body || msg.body || msg.text || '',\n  name: msg.data?.fromName || msg.data?.name || '',\n  timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),\n  source: 'whatsapp'};\n\n// Simple keyword-based urgency detection (no paid API required)\nconst urgentKeywords = ['preço', 'price', 'comprar', 'buy', 'contratar', 'urgente', 'orçamento', 'demissão', 'demissao', 'folha', 'payroll', 'admissão', 'admissao', 'férias'];\nconst msgLower = (lead.message || '').toLowerCase();\nlead.intent_score = urgentKeywords.some(k => msgLower.includes(k)) ? 9 : 5;\nlead.urgency = lead.intent_score >= 8 ? 'HOT' : 'WARM';\n\nreturn [{ json: lead }];"
      },
      "id": "normalize-lead",
      "name": "Normalize & Score Lead",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "position": [
        460,
        300
      ],
      "notes": "Extracts lead fields and assigns intent score. Replace keyword logic with AI node for production (OpenAI/Gemini free tier)."
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "jsCode": "// Route hot leads to CRM / Google Sheets\nconst lead = $input.first().json;\nif (lead.urgency === 'HOT') {\n  return [{ json: lead }];\n}\nreturn [];"
      },
      "name": "Filter Hot Leads",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
      "typeVersion": 2,
      "position": [
        660,
        200
      ],
      "id": "filter-hot"
    },
    {
      "parameters": {
        "operation": "append",
// ... truncated (copy to see full JSON)