WhatsApp Lead Routing

What it does

An n8n workflow that receives every new WhatsApp Business message, checks whether the contact is new or existing, works out what they want, assigns them to the right person by your rules, logs them in your CRM and alerts you if minutes pass without a reply. It respects WhatsApp's 24-hour window.

When to use it

• Leads reach you on WhatsApp and get lost among personal chats.
• You have several people or locations and it is unclear who owns each lead.
• You want to measure how long replies take.

Steps

1. Connect WhatsApp Business (Cloud API or your CRM's) to n8n.
2. Look the number up in the CRM; if new, create the contact.
3. Classify intent: service, city, urgency.
4. Assign by your rules and create the opportunity in the pipeline.
5. Send a welcome reply inside the 24-hour window.
6. If nobody replies within your time limit, alert the owner and their backup.

The skill

---
name: whatsapp-lead-routing
description: Design an n8n workflow that receives inbound WhatsApp Business messages, finds or creates the contact in the CRM, classifies intent, assigns an owner and pipeline, replies inside the 24-hour window and escalates if nobody answers. Use when the user wants to organize or automate leads arriving on WhatsApp.
---

# WhatsApp Lead Routing (n8n)

## Ask before building
1. How WhatsApp comes in: Meta's Cloud API, the CRM's WhatsApp (e.g. GoHighLevel) or another provider.
2. Assignment rules: by service, by city or location, by hours, by shift.
3. Owners and backups, with their alert channel.
4. Maximum time without a reply before escalating.
5. CRM and pipeline where opportunities should land.

## Flow
1. **Trigger**: inbound WhatsApp message webhook.
2. **Filter**: ignore status updates, group messages and the team's internal numbers.
3. **Find contact** in the CRM by phone (normalized to international format).
   - Exists with an open opportunity: alert its current owner and stop.
   - Does not exist: create the contact with source `WhatsApp`.
4. **Classify** (keyword rules first; an AI node only when rules are not enough): service, city, urgency. If unknown, `unclassified`.
5. **Assign** from a rules table (Google Sheets or Notion) so the owner can change it without touching the workflow. No matching rule: default owner.
6. **Create opportunity** in the right pipeline and stage, tagged `wa_lead`, `service_<x>`, `city_<y>`.
7. **Welcome**: a short, human message with the business name and one question. Only inside the 24-hour window since the customer's last message; outside it, only Meta-approved templates.
8. **Internal alert** to the owner with a summary and a link to the chat.
9. **Escalation**: wait the defined time; if the team has not replied, alert the backup and tag `no_reply`.

## Rules
- The AI never promises prices, timing or availability; a person answers those.
- Never send promotional messages to anyone who did not opt in.
- Log every step on the contact record so it can be audited.

## Deliverable
- The n8n workflow JSON.
- The assignment rules table.
- Tests: new contact, existing contact, unclassified message and an escalation case, with screenshots.

For Claude Code, save it as ~/.claude/skills/whatsapp-lead-routing/SKILL.md. In Cursor, ChatGPT or another assistant, paste it as project instructions.

Works with