The organization
This case study comes from a communications team that runs recurring events. Every event needs a polished announcement email with working calendar links, out on time — written by the same people doing everything else.
The problem
Event emails followed the same pattern every time, but each one was still assembled by hand. Staff copied a previous email, swapped in the new details, and cleaned out leftovers — and a missed leftover occasionally slipped through. Building Google and Outlook “add to calendar” links by hand is fussy; formatting ICS text is worse. The work was repetitive assembly and cleanup that slowed event communications down.
What we built
A Make.com workflow that turns a row in a shared Google Sheet into a finished email draft in Gmail, waiting for review.
The sheet is the single source of truth. The workflow handles everything mechanical — templates, calendar links, formatting — while an AI step does one narrow job: drafting the subject line and supporting copy. By design, it creates a draft and never sends.
How it works
- Staff fill in an event’s row in the shared sheet and mark it ready.
- Make.com picks up the row and loads the right template.
- It builds Google and Outlook calendar links and ICS text, so attendees can add the event in one click.
- An AI step drafts a subject line and supporting copy from the details.
- The workflow renders the final HTML email from template, copy, and links.
- The email lands in Gmail as a draft. A person reviews it and sends it — or doesn’t.
What it produces
- A formatted Gmail draft, ready for review
- Reusable copy blocks the team can pull from again
- Working Google and Outlook calendar links plus ICS text
Where humans stay in the loop
Draft-not-send is the core control: the workflow can’t reach a supporter’s inbox on its own, so every email is read and sent by a person. Staff can also override the AI’s copy through the sheet — write your own subject line and the workflow uses it. Checking a well-structured draft takes a fraction of the time assembling one did, but it always happens.
Why it works
- Consistent input structure. Details arrive through consistent sheet fields, giving the workflow predictable inputs.
- AI handles only the draft-writing layer. Calendar links, templates, and assembly are deterministic and don’t need AI. The AI does the one task that benefits: writing a first draft.
- Final review protects tone and accuracy. A human checks the voice and the details before anything goes out, so the automation saves time without lowering the bar.
What to copy
- Start with “draft, never send.” For anything touching external communication, make a human click send — the single control that makes everything else safe to try.
- Structure your inputs before adding AI. A shared sheet with consistent fields did as much here as the AI step.
- Give AI the smallest useful job. Here, subject lines and connective copy, nothing more. A narrow drafting role is easier for staff to review.
The support inbox assistant applies the same draft-never-send principle to a different channel.
