Why n8n Over Zapier or Make?
We've tried them all. Zapier is great until you hit the task limits and get a $500/month bill. Make (Integromat) is powerful but the visual complexity gets out of hand fast. After 200+ automations built across all three platforms, n8n is where we've settled — and here's why:
- Self-hosted option — host it yourself, zero per-task fees
- Code nodes — write actual JavaScript when visual blocks aren't enough
- Better error handling — retry logic, error branches, real debugging
- One-time cost — our instance at n8n.vixi.agency runs for a flat monthly fee
These 5 workflows are the ones we use every day at Vixi. Steal them.
Workflow 1: New Lead → CRM + Slack Alert (in 30 seconds)
The problem: Leads come in through different channels (website form, Facebook Lead Ads, LinkedIn, cold email) and someone has to manually add them to the CRM and ping the sales team.
What this workflow does:
- Triggers on any new lead (webhook from website, or Facebook Lead Ads trigger)
- Enriches the lead with available data (company size, industry via Apollo.io API)
- Creates a contact in your CRM (Monday.com, HubSpot, or Pipedrive)
- Scores the lead (1-10) using Claude AI based on fit criteria you define
- Posts to Slack with the lead score, source, and a link to the CRM record
n8n nodes used: Webhook → HTTP Request (Apollo) → If (score ≥ 7) → Monday.com → Slack
Setup time: ~2 hours for first-time n8n users
Result at Vixi: Response time to new leads dropped from 4 hours to under 5 minutes.
// Example lead scoring prompt for Claude node
const prompt = `Score this lead from 1-10 based on our ICP:
- Agency owner or marketing director: +3 points
- Budget mentioned >$5k/mo: +2 points
- Has existing ad spend: +2 points
- Texas location: +1 point
Lead info: ${JSON.stringify($json.leadData)}
Return only a JSON object: {"score": X, "reason": "brief explanation"}`;
Workflow 2: Weekly Client Report — Fully Automated
The problem: Every Friday, someone on the team spends 2+ hours pulling numbers from Hyros, Google Analytics, and Meta Ads, formatting them into a PDF, and emailing it to clients. Times 10 clients = 20+ hours every week.
What this workflow does:
- Triggers every Friday at 4pm
- Loops through all active clients in Monday.com
- Pulls each client's Hyros data (ROAS, revenue attributed, cost per acquisition)
- Pulls Meta Ads performance (spend, CPL, CTR)
- Generates a narrative summary with Claude (highlighting wins, flagging issues)
- Creates a formatted HTML email and sends via SendGrid
- Logs delivery status back to Monday.com
Data sources: Monday.com → Hyros API → Meta Ads API → Claude → SendGrid
Key tip: Use n8n's Loop Over Items node to process each client sequentially. Set a 2-second wait between iterations to avoid API rate limits.
Result at Vixi: Client reporting went from 20 hours/week to 2 hours of review time. 18 hours reclaimed every single week.
Workflow 3: Hyros Alert System — Never Miss a Drop
The problem: Ad campaigns can tank overnight. By the time someone notices in the morning, you've burned $2,000 on a broken funnel.
What this workflow does:
- Runs every hour, 24/7
- Pulls current ROAS and spend from Hyros for all active campaigns
- Compares to the 7-day rolling average
- If ROAS drops >20% from average: sends immediate Telegram alert with the campaign name, current ROAS, spend today, and recommended action
- If ROAS drops >40%: escalates to SMS (Twilio) and pauses the campaign automatically
Why Hyros specifically? Hyros gives you actual revenue attribution, not just clicks. A campaign might look fine in Facebook Ads Manager but Hyros shows the real downstream revenue. Monitor what actually matters.
Alert format:
⚠️ ROAS Alert: [Campaign Name]
Current ROAS: 1.2x (7-day avg: 2.8x)
Today's spend: $847
Revenue attributed: $1,016
Action: Review audience targeting + landing page
Result at Vixi: We've caught 4 major campaign drops before they became expensive. Estimated savings: $40k+ in prevented ad waste.
Workflow 4: Content Repurposing Pipeline
The problem: Creating content is expensive. A 2,000-word blog post costs real time and money. Most agencies publish it once and let it die.
What this workflow does:
- Triggers when a new blog post is published (webhook or RSS feed check)
- Sends the full post text to Claude with a repurposing prompt
- Claude generates: 3 LinkedIn posts, 5 tweets, 1 email newsletter excerpt, 2 short-form video scripts
- Posts to a Notion database for review and approval
- On approval (button click in Notion), publishes each piece to the right platform via their APIs
Why this matters: One piece of content becomes 11+ assets with zero additional writing time. Your content team becomes 10x more productive.
// Claude repurposing prompt
const prompt = `You are a content strategist. Transform this blog post into:
1. THREE LinkedIn posts (professional tone, 150-200 words each, include a question at the end)
2. FIVE tweets (punchy, under 280 chars, one stat per tweet)
3. ONE email newsletter excerpt (150 words, first-person, conversational)
4. TWO short-form video scripts (60 seconds each, hook + 3 points + CTA)
Blog post: ${$json.content}
Format as JSON with keys: linkedin_posts, tweets, email_excerpt, video_scripts`;
Workflow 5: Monday.com → AI Task Manager
The problem: New items in Monday.com boards get created but nothing happens automatically. Someone has to read the item, decide what to do, assign it, and follow up.
What this workflow does:
- Triggers on any new item in your Monday.com board
- Claude reads the item description and auto-categorizes it (client work, internal task, urgent, etc.)
- Based on category, Claude drafts a task breakdown (sub-items with estimated hours)
- Assigns to the right team member based on their current workload (pulled from Monday)
- Sends a Telegram notification to the assignee with context
- Sets a due date based on priority level
This is the workflow that changed how we operate. Instead of a 15-minute stand-up to discuss new tasks, everything is pre-processed and ready to act on.
Example output for "New Client Onboarding - Acme Corp":
├── Send onboarding questionnaire (assigned: Sarah, due: +1 day)
├── Set up Hyros tracking (assigned: Dev, due: +3 days)
├── Create ad accounts (assigned: Media, due: +2 days)
├── Initial strategy call (assigned: Carlos, due: +5 days)
└── Launch campaigns (assigned: Media, due: +14 days)
Setting Up n8n for Your Agency
Option 1: n8n Cloud (Easiest)
Go to n8n.io, sign up, and you're running in 5 minutes. Starts at $20/month. Good for getting started, but task limits apply.
Option 2: Self-Hosted (What We Do)
We run n8n on a $20/month DigitalOcean droplet. Zero per-task limits, full control over data, and we can run as many workflows as we want.
Quick setup:
# Docker compose (simplest self-hosted setup)
version: '3'
services:
n8n:
image: n8nio/n8n
ports:
- "5678:5678"
volumes:
- ~/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n
environment:
- N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
- N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
- N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=yourpassword
- WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.yourdomain.com
The One Workflow to Build First
If you're new to n8n and overwhelmed by the options, start with the Hyros Alert System. Here's why:
- It runs automatically — no human trigger needed
- The ROI is immediate and measurable
- It connects to real business data (your ad spend)
- When it fires that first alert and saves you money, you'll be hooked
From there, layer in the other workflows one at a time.
Need Help Building These?
We build n8n workflows for agencies every day. If you want these workflows pre-built and integrated with your existing tools, we can have them running in a week.
Book a free automation audit — we'll map out which workflows will save you the most time.