A complete walkthrough for automating follow up emails after Walnut demo completion

If you're running demos with Walnut and sick of chasing prospects with manual follow-up emails, this guide's for you. Maybe you're juggling too many demos, or you've seen leads get cold fast when you wait too long. You want something that just works, doesn't break the bank, and doesn't eat up your weekends fiddling with integrations.

Here's a direct, no-nonsense walkthrough to automate your follow-up emails after a Walnut demo—covering tools, set-up, what to watch out for, and some honest lessons from the trenches.

Why bother automating follow-ups?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: following up is where deals move forward—or die. People get busy, forget, or just need a nudge. Manually sending emails is fine for your first five demos, but if you're aiming to scale, automation saves time and keeps you from dropping the ball.

But, and it’s a big but: automation can backfire if you blast impersonal, tone-deaf emails. You need a system that triggers at the right time, keeps things personalized, and doesn’t turn prospects off.

The end goal: What are we automating?

  • Trigger: Demo completed in Walnut.
  • Action: Send a personalized follow-up email to the attendee(s).
  • Bonus points: Track opens/clicks, sync notes to your CRM, and make it easy to reply or book a meeting.

You don’t need a 10-step nurture sequence unless you’re running an enterprise sales motion. Start simple: one good email, sent quickly, with a clear ask.

Step 1: Decide where the automation should live

You basically have two options:

  1. Inside your CRM (like HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive):
  2. Good if your sales process already lives here.
  3. Most CRMs let you trigger automations based on custom fields or API events.
  4. Bonus: keeps all activity in one place.
  5. With a dedicated automation tool (Zapier, Make, n8n):
  6. More flexible if you use a patchwork of tools.
  7. Good for quick experiments.
  8. Can get messy if you overcomplicate things.

Pro tip: Don’t build a Rube Goldberg machine. If your CRM can handle it, start there. Use Zapier or Make if you need to glue Walnut to a simple email tool.

Step 2: Get Walnut demo completion data out

Walnut doesn't have a massive app store of integrations, but you do have options:

  • Email notifications: Walnut can send you (or a team inbox) an email every time a demo is completed. Not fancy, but reliable.
  • Webhooks (for Business plans): If you're on a higher-tier Walnut plan, you can set up webhooks to notify external tools when a demo is completed.
  • Zapier (via Webhooks only): No direct Walnut-Zapier integration (as of mid-2024), but you can use Zapier’s Webhooks feature to catch events from Walnut.
  • CSV export/manual upload: Old school, but sometimes that’s all you’ve got.

What works: Webhooks are your friend if you want real automation. If you’re stuck with email notifications or CSVs, you’ll need a bit more duct tape (and maybe manual effort).

Step 3: Choose your email sending method

Here are your best bets:

  • CRM-based emails: If you use HubSpot or Salesforce, you can trigger a workflow to send an email template.
  • Email automation tools: Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or similar can send emails based on triggers—if you can get the contact data in.
  • Zapier/Make to Gmail or Outlook: For small teams, Zapier can send a Gmail/Outlook email on your behalf. Fast to set up, but can hit daily sending limits.
  • Transactional email tools: For higher volume or more control, use SendGrid or Mailgun. But now you’re getting technical.

Skip: Marketing platforms that make every email look like a newsletter. You want these to look (and land) like a real person sent them.

Step 4: Build the automation (with Zapier example)

Let’s walk through the most common “glue it together” setup using Walnut → Webhook → Zapier → Gmail.

What you’ll need:

  • Walnut Business plan (for webhooks)
  • Zapier account (free tier is usually enough to start)
  • Gmail (could be Outlook or another provider)

The workflow:

  1. Set up a webhook in Walnut:
  2. In Walnut, go to your demo settings and add a webhook URL. This is where you’ll send completion events.
  3. Create a Zap in Zapier:
  4. Trigger: “Catch Hook” (Zapier gives you a webhook URL)
  5. Action: “Send Email” via Gmail (or Outlook)
  6. Map Walnut data (like attendee name, email, demo name) into your email template.
  7. Customize your email:
  8. Don’t use a generic “Thanks for attending.” Reference something specific from the demo, if you can.
  9. Keep it short, and end with a clear next step (“Want to hop on a call?” or “Ready for a trial?”).
  10. Test it thoroughly:
  11. Run a few demo completions yourself and make sure the right people get the right messages. Double-check for typos and broken personalization.

Sample Zapier setup

  • Trigger: Catch Hook (Zapier)
  • Action: Send Email (Gmail)
    • To: Attendee email from Walnut data
    • Subject: “Quick follow-up: your {Demo Name} with us”
    • Body: Use merge fields like {First Name}, {Demo Link}, etc.

Pro tip: If you want to CC your sales rep, pull their email from your CRM or assign it as a static field.

Step 5: Fine-tune for deliverability and sanity

Automated emails are great—until they land in spam, or you accidentally send five to the same person.

  • Keep emails plain-text: Fancy HTML gets flagged more often. Plus, it feels more personal.
  • Test with real addresses: Don’t just use your own inbox—try sending to Gmail, Outlook, and corporate accounts.
  • Set up SPF/DKIM: If you’re sending from your own domain, make sure your DNS records are set up to avoid spam filters.
  • Throttle sending if needed: If you’re doing high volume, don’t blast hundreds at once.
  • Add a real reply-to address: You want people to actually answer you.

What to ignore: Don’t obsess over open rates. Focus on replies and booked meetings instead.

Step 6: Track what matters (and skip what doesn’t)

  • Track replies: Automation should stop if someone replies. No one likes getting a drip after they’ve already answered.
  • Record activity in your CRM: This is where things get tricky. If you can, use your automation to log the email as an activity on the contact record.
  • Don’t over-build: You don’t need a dashboard of fancy analytics. Start simple. If you’re getting replies, it’s working.

Step 7: Iterate and improve

Your first version won’t be perfect. That’s fine.

  • Ask reps for feedback: Are people replying? Does the email sound weird?
  • Tweak timing: Is the email sent too quickly? Too late? Try different delays.
  • Update your template: Swap out lines that sound robotic or generic.
  • Add a calendar link: Makes booking a next step frictionless.

If you’re not sure what to improve, just read your own emails. If you’d ignore them, so will your prospects.

Common pitfalls (and how to dodge them)

  • Broken personalization: Double-check those {First Name} fields. Nothing kills trust faster than “Hi ,”
  • Sending to the wrong people: Filter out internal test emails and multiple attendees if needed.
  • Overcomplicating the workflow: Keep the steps minimal. More moving parts = more things to break.
  • Forgetting to turn off manual emails: Don’t double-email prospects by accident.

When automation isn’t worth it

Sometimes the “hack” is just making a good email template and sending it manually—especially if you’re only doing a handful of demos a week. Automation shines when volume is high and mistakes are costly, not when you’re just starting out.

Wrap-up: Keep it simple, keep it human

Automating follow-ups after Walnut demos is about freeing up your time without making your communications cold and robotic. Start simple: trigger on demo completion, send a short, useful email, and make it easy for prospects to respond.

Don’t get lost in over-engineering. Build the minimum version, see what works, and improve as you go. Most importantly: if your email wouldn’t make you reply, no automation will fix that.

Now, go ship it—and actually follow up.