How we simplified email drafting in ClickUp using Make.com and Apps Script

When there's a need, there's a solution, preferably a simple one. We follow this rule whenever someone on the team suggests new functions for our tools. In one of our sales funnels, there were so many emails that handling them had to get faster. The suggested solution was to draft emails automatically, to save time and simplify the process.

From the problem to a design that scales

When we design a solution like this, we look for ideas that are:

1. easy to implement and maintain,
2. scalable,
3. reliable.

Cost and execution time matter too, but they come after these three.

System components

We started by analysing the components we already had:

• a landing page,
• a spreadsheet used as the database,
• Apps Script,
• ClickUp as the CRM,
• Google Workspace (Gmail).

Interface and trigger

The next question was what the interface would look like and how the function would be triggered.

We didn't want drafts generated automatically for every email: that would be unnecessary and would cause problems. At the same time, we needed to see what happens and when. So we designed the system like this:

• The action is triggered directly in ClickUp, through custom fields defined in the task template.
• A ClickUp automation sends data to a webhook when the “CREATE EMAIL DRAFT” action is selected.
• The webhook triggers a Make.com scenario that processes the request.

The workflow

Step 1: ClickUp triggers the action

In the custom fields of the task template, the user selects “CREATE EMAIL DRAFT”.

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Step 2: from ClickUp to Make.com (webhook)

The ClickUp automation sends the data to a Make.com scenario, which holds the whole logic of the function.

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The OpenAI assistant writes the draft

Make.com retrieves the relevant data from the database and sends it to an OpenAI assistant. Using a prepared prompt and configuration, OpenAI generates:

• the email subject,
• the email body.

Step 3: the draft and the status update

The draft is created in Gmail, and the task status in ClickUp is updated automatically to reflect the action.

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Why Make.com

One of the reasons we built this in Make.com is its flexibility:

• adding or changing steps is simple,
• connecting other components (e.g. Google Workspace) is straightforward,
• maintenance is easier than for a conventional application hosted on a private server or a cloud service.

Security

Make.com also makes security easier to manage:

• webhooks can be restricted to specific IP addresses,
• every request can carry a unique token that is checked at the start of the scenario.

Keeping the data up to date with Apps Script

Another part of the system is Apps Script, which monitors Gmail inboxes and keeps the database up to date. This way the email drafts contain the latest information and arrangements from all relevant sources.

Next steps

The solution is designed to scale. This article covers drafting emails; the real-time data synchronisation in Apps Script is not described here in detail.

In a separate article, we describe how we automated lead qualification with Retell AI, Make.com and ClickUp.