GTM Email Automation with Make.com

Learning Objectives

• Understand GTM engineering as a practice — building AI and automation for sales and marketing
• Build an automated email outreach pipeline with Make.com
• Implement proper email deliverability (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Track outreach status in Google Sheets

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What Is GTM Engineering?

GTM (Go-to-Market) engineering is the practice of building AI-powered automations for sales and marketing. It represents a fundamental shift:

Traditional	GTM Engineering
Sales person uses tools	Sales person builds systems
Manual sequences	Automated workflows
Generic outreach	AI-personalized at scale
Separate tools	Connected pipelines

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What You'll Build

A Make.com scenario that:

Google Sheet (leads)
    → Filter (not contacted yet)
    → Send personalized email (Resend)
    → Wait (3 seconds)
    → Update sheet with timestamp

What You'll Need

• Google account with a leads sheet
• Resend account with a verified sending domain
• Make.com account (free tier: 1,000 operations/month)

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Step-by-Step

Step 1: Set Up Your Leads Sheet

Create a Google Sheet named "Leads" with columns:

Name	Email	Company	Email 1 Date

Add rows of prospect data. Leave "Email 1 Date" blank for new leads.

Step 2: Create the Make.com Scenario

1. Google Sheets → Search Rows

   • Connect your Google account
   • Select your spreadsheet and "Leads" sheet

2. Filter

   • Condition: Email column exists AND Email 1 Date does not exist
   • This ensures you only contact leads who haven't been emailed yet

3. Resend → Send Email

   • Connect your Resend account (add API key)
   • To: {{email}}
   • From: your verified sending domain
   • Subject: a template with personalization
   • Body: plain text (better deliverability than HTML)

4. Tools → Sleep

   • Duration: 3 seconds
   • Prevents email throttling and protects sender reputation

5. Google Sheets → Update Row

   • Map to the original row number
   • Find "Email 1 Date" column
   • Value: {{now}} (current timestamp)

Step 3: Schedule the Scenario

• Set to run on a schedule (daily or hourly)
• Respect sending limits: start with 10-20 emails/day
• Gradually increase as your domain warms up

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Email Deliverability Essentials

Setting	Purpose	How to Set Up
SPF	Authorizes which servers can send from your domain	TXT record in your DNS
DKIM	Cryptographically signs your emails	TXT record (provided by Resend)
DMARC	Tells receivers what to do with unauthenticated email	TXT record in your DNS

Best practice: Use a subdomain for cold outreach (e.g., mail.yourdomain.com) to protect your primary domain's reputation.

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Extension Ideas

Once the basic pipeline works, add:

1. Personalization — Use an LLM module to generate personalized subject lines based on company info
2. Multi-step sequences — Add follow-up emails at 3-day, 7-day, and 14-day intervals
3. Tracking — Use Resend's webhooks to track opens and clicks
4. LinkedIn enrichment — Add a module to look up prospect LinkedIn profiles
5. AI research — Before sending, use Perplexity to research the company and generate a personalized reference

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Key Takeaways

• GTM engineering is a new skillset: building systems, not just using tools
• A simple email automation pipeline is achievable in under an hour with Make.com
• Email deliverability depends on proper DNS configuration (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Start small, warm up your domain, then scale

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely Cause	Solution
Emails going to spam	Missing SPF/DKIM	Configure DNS records
Make.com scenario errors	Row mapping wrong	Check column names match exactly
Rate limiting	Sending too fast	Increase sleep duration
No emails sent	Filter too strict	Check sheet column values