Kaizen 233 Generating AI-Powered Follow-up Emails Using CRM Functions and Widgets

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to another interesting post in the Kaizen series!

Sales teams regularly capture interaction notes in CRM after speaking with prospects. However, drafting a follow-up email that reflects the conversation context can be repetitive and time-consuming.

What if CRM could automatically generate a contextual follow-up email draft based on recent interactions with the lead?

In this Kaizen post, we will create a practical tool that generates context-aware follow-up emails directly from a Lead record. You will see how it pulls recent notes, lead's details, and crafts a ready-to-send draft.

The solution uses three Zoho strengths:

1. Widgets for intuitive UI
   
2. Functions for secure backend processing
   
3. External AI APIs (like Groq or OpenAI)
   

The output displays in the widget. Review, tweak if needed, copy, and paste into your email composer.

The business challenge

Sales reps log calls like "Prospect interested in 20 user licenses but concerned about pricing. Explore volume discounts."

Now, crafting a response involves recalling details, matching tone, and ensuring professionalism. Miss a nuance, and trust erodes.

Our AI generator automates this. It scans the lead's details (name, company, status) and the three most recent notes, then prompts an AI model for a draft.

Example output

Subject: Follow-up on CRM Licensing Discussion

Hi John,

Thanks for the insightful chat today about your team's CRM needs. You're considering licenses for around 20 users, and I appreciate pricing being a top priority.

I'll review our volume options and discount eligibility right away. Expect specifics by EOD tomorrow.

Best regards,

[Your Name]

This keeps the rep in control while slashing draft time from 10 minutes to 10 seconds. Scalable for high-volume teams.

High-level architecture

Think of a layered cake!

1. UI Layer (Widget): Button launches it; displays, copies the draft, and sends the email.
   
2. Logic Layer (Function): Fetches CRM data server-side, builds prompt, calls AI securely.
   
3. AI Layer: External service generates natural language.
   

Flow

Rep clicks a button → Widget gets Lead ID → Calls function → Function queries CRM + AI → Draft back to widget

Secure (no client-side keys), reliable (server-side), and reusable across modules.

Developers often wonder "Why not fetch AI responses straight from widget JavaScript?"

Widgets run in a browser iframe, so embedding API keys exposes them to inspection or misuse. CORS policies can also block external requests, and complex logic like prompt building suits server-side better.

So, the best practice is to use widgets for UI and functions for secure server-side work. This hides credentials and reuses logic.

Follow these steps to build this solution.

Step 1: Add the custom Button

1. Head to Setup → Modules and Fields → Leads → Buttons → Create New Button.
   
2. Provide the following details:
   
1. Name: Generate AI Email
   
2. Placement: Record Detail Page (top or bottom)
   
3. Action: Open Widget (select your widget once built)
   
3. Save and add to layout.
   
4. Test: Button appears on Leads; clicking loads widget in context.
   

Pro tip: Position near the "Send Email" button for seamless workflow.

Step 2: Build the CRM Function

1. Go to Setup → Developer Hub → Functions → + Create Function.
   
2. Enter the display name, function name, description, choose Standalone as the category.
   
   
3. Click Create. The Functions IDE opens.
   
4. Enter the following function code. Note that this example uses Groq AI API.
   

   string standalone.generate_ai_email(String leadId) { lead = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Leads",leadId); name = ifnull(lead.get("Full_Name"),""); company = ifnull(lead.get("Company"),""); status = ifnull(lead.get("Lead_Status"),""); // Fetch recent CRM Notes notesResp = zoho.crm.getRelatedRecords("Notes","Leads",leadId); recentNotes = ""; count = 0; for each  note in notesResp { noteContent = ifnull(note.get("Note_Content"),""); if(noteContent != "") { recentNotes = recentNotes + "[" + (count + 1) + "] " + noteContent + ". "; } count = count + 1; if(count == 3) { break; } } // Build AI prompt prompt = "You are a sales assistant helping draft follow-up emails. "; prompt = prompt + "Generate a professional follow-up email based on the customer's previous interactions. "; prompt = prompt + "Lead Name: " + name + ". "; prompt = prompt + "Company: " + company + ". "; prompt = prompt + "Lead Status: " + status + ". "; prompt = prompt + "Recent CRM Interaction Notes: " + recentNotes + ". "; prompt = prompt + "Write a professional follow-up email referencing the discussion."; // Sanitize prompt prompt = prompt.replaceAll("\"","\\\""); prompt = prompt.replaceAll("\n"," "); prompt = prompt.replaceAll("\r"," "); // Build AI request message = Map(); message.put("role","user"); message.put("content",prompt); messages = List(); messages.add(message); requestBody = Map(); requestBody.put("model","llama-3.1-8b-instant"); requestBody.put("messages",messages); requestBody.put("temperature",0.4); requestJSON = requestBody.toString(); // Call Groq API response = invokeurl [ url :"https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/chat/completions" type :POST parameters:requestJSON headers:{"Authorization":"Bearer YOUR_API_KEY","Content-Type":"application/json"} ]; // Extract AI email emailContent = ""; if(response.containsKey("choices")) { emailContent = response.get("choices").get(0).get("message").get("content"); } // Return generated email to widget return emailContent; }

Note for production

1. Connections: In the example, the API key is included directly in the function for simplicity. However, production deployments should use Connections instead of hard-coding credentials as they allow developers to store API credentials securely within Zoho CRM and reuse them across multiple integrations.
   
2. Error Handling: Wrap invokeurl in try-catch.
   
3. Limits: Cap notes at 3 to avoid token overflow and tune temperature (0.4 = consistent).
   
4. Logging: Add info prompt before API call for debugging.
   
5. Test: Execute with sample Lead ID. Expect clean email string back.
   
6. Extend: Add phone/email from Lead, or filter notes by date (e.g., last 7 days via criteria).
   

Step 3: Develop the Widget

The widget provides the user interface for generating and copying the AI email.

When the widget loads, it retrieves the current Lead ID using the CRM widget JS SDK. When the user clicks Generate Email, the widget calls the CRM function and displays the generated email draft.

The widget also provides Send Email and Copy Email buttons that send the email to the lead record's email ID and copies the email content to the clipboard so the rep can past it into the email composer, respectively.

Sample index.html

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <script src="https://live.zwidgets.com/js-sdk/1.3-beta/ZohoEmbededAppSDK.min.js"></script> <style>  <!-- Add your style here--> </style> </head> <body> <div class="widget-card">   <div class="widget-header">     <svg width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">       <path d="M20 4H4C2.9 4 2 4.9 2 6v12c0 1.1.9 2 2 2h16c1.1 0 2-.9 2-2V6c0-1.1-.9-2-2-2zm0 4l-8 5-8-5V6l8 5 8-5v2z" fill="white"/>     </svg>     <h2>AI Follow-up Email Generator</h2>   </div>   <div class="widget-body">     <div class="email-box-wrapper">       <textarea id="emailBox" placeholder="Click 'Generate Email' to create a contextual follow-up email..."></textarea>     </div>     <div class="action-bar">       <button class="btn btn-primary" id="generateBtn" onclick="generateEmail()">         <svg width="13" height="13" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none"><path d="M12 2l2.4 7.4H22l-6.2 4.5 2.4 7.4L12 17l-6.2 4.3 2.4-7.4L2 9.4h7.6z" fill="white"/></svg>         Generate Email       </button>       <button class="btn btn-success" id="sendBtn" onclick="sendEmail()">         <svg width="13" height="13" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none"><path d="M2 21l21-9L2 3v7l15 2-15 2v7z" fill="white"/></svg>         Send Email       </button>       <button class="btn btn-secondary" onclick="copyEmail()">         <svg width="13" height="13" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none"><path d="M16 1H4C2.9 1 2 1.9 2 3v14h2V3h12V1zm3 4H8C6.9 5 6 5.9 6 7v14c0 1.1.9 2 2 2h11c1.1 0 2-.9 2-2V7c0-1.1-.9-2-2-2zm0 16H8V7h11v14z" fill="#3D4354"/></svg>         Copy       </button>     </div>     <div class="status-bar" id="statusBar"></div>   </div> </div> <script src="index.js"></script> </body> </html>

Sample index.js

let leadId; let leadEmail; let generatedEmail = ""; // Widget initialization ZOHO.embeddedApp.on("PageLoad", function(data){     if(data && data.EntityId){         leadId = data.EntityId[0];         // Fetch Lead email         ZOHO.CRM.API.getRecord({             Entity: "Leads",             RecordID: leadId         })         .then(function(response){             if(response && response.data && response.data.length > 0){                 leadEmail = response.data[0].Email;             }         });     } }); ZOHO.embeddedApp.init(); // --- Helper functions used by email generation/sending --- // function formatEmailText(raw) { /* formatting logic */ } // function textToHtml(text) { /* convert plain text to HTML */ } // function setStatus(message, type) { /* UI status logic */ } // Generate AI email using a CRM function function generateEmail(){     var req_data = {         arguments: JSON.stringify({             leadId: leadId         })     };     ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute('generate_ai_email', req_data)     .then(function(response){         if(response && response.details){             generatedEmail = formatEmailText(response.details.output);             document.getElementById('emailBox').value = generatedEmail;         }     })     .catch(function(error){         console.log('Function error:', error);     }); } // Send email using ZRC async function sendEmail() {     const emailContent = document.getElementById('emailBox').value.trim();     if (!emailContent) return;     try {         // Get allowed "From" addresses         const fromRes = await zrc.get('/crm/v8/settings/emails/actions/from_addresses');         const fromAddress = fromRes.data.from_addresses[0];         const htmlContent = textToHtml(emailContent);         // Send mail         const response = await zrc.post(`/crm/v8/Leads/${leadId}/actions/send_mail`, {             data: [                 {                     from: {                         user_name: fromAddress.display_name || fromAddress.user_name,                         email: fromAddress.email                     },                     to: [                         {                             email: leadEmail                         }                     ],                     subject: 'Follow-up',                     content: htmlContent,                     mail_format: 'html'                 }             ]         });         console.log('Mail sent:', response);     } catch (error) {         console.error('Send mail error:', error);     } } // Copy generated email // function copyEmail(){ /* copy logic */ }

The  ZIP containing the complete index.js and index.html files used in this example is attached at the end of this post.

Refer to Creating a Widget in Zoho CRM and the JS SDK for more details on CLI installation, creating, packaging, and hosting a widget.

User experience walkthrough

1. The salesperson clicks Generate AI Email on the record detail page and the widget opens.
   
2. The salesperson clicks the Generate AI email button. The widget retrieves CRM context and generates a contextual follow-up email draft.
   
3. The email appears inside the widget, allowing the salesperson to quickly review the generated message, and use the Send Email button to send it to the lead's email ID.
   

This workflow ensures that AI assists with drafting the message while still allowing the salesperson to review and control the final communication.

Here is a GIF explaining the use case in action.

Key takeaways

This example demonstrates how Zoho CRM developers can integrate generative AI into CRM workflows using platform-native tools.

Combine CRM Widgets for user interaction and Functions for secure server-side processing to safely integrate external AI services without exposing credentials or compromising security.

The same architecture can be extended to build more advanced AI features, such as:

1. Automated meeting summaries
   
2. Deal health insights
   
3. Proposal drafting assistants
   
4. Intelligent follow-up recommendations
   

We hope you liked this post. Let us know what you think in the comments or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com.

Cheers!

===================================================================================

See Also

1. Functions in Zoho CRM
   
2. Widgets in Zoho CRM
3. Zoho CRM JS SDK
   
4. Zoho CRM API V8
   
5. Deluge
   
6. Previous Kaizen - 232 - Building a Ticket Escalation Mechanism from Zoho CRM
   
7. Kaizen Directory
   

• Topic Participants

• Shylaja S

  

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

• Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

• Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

• Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

• Recent Topics

• Can I hide empty Contact fields from view?

  Some contacts have a lot of empty fields, others are mostly filled. Is there a way I can hide/show empty fields without changing the actual Layout? I would like to de-clutter my view, and also be able to add information later as I am able. I would be

• Auto-publish job openings on my Zoho Recruit Careers Website

  I have developed a script using the Zoho Recruit API that successfully inserts new jobOpening records to my Zoho Recruit website, but my goal is to auto-publish to the Careers Website. The jobOpening field data shows two possible candidates to make this

• Credit Card Terminal for Zoho Books

  Hello, Instead of punching the credit card number manually for customer payment, do you have a third-party hardware credit card reader that works with Braintree? Thank You

• How do you print out the invoices comments

  I have some invoices where i need to print out the comments that show when reminders and etc were sent how do we print those out in Zoho Books.

• Feature Request: Enable Custom PDF Layout Editor for All Modules (Including Package Slips)

  Hello Zoho Community and Product Team, I am writing to share a suggestion that would significantly enhance the customization capabilities within Zoho Books. We all appreciate the power of the Custom PDF Layouts (the "New" template engine) that allows

• Need advice for product/item search functionality when adding invoices.

  My client uses "Catalog or Vendor" name and Product code to search for his items. But Zoho only allow to search by product name and SKU when adding items to Invoices/Estimates. Clients product codes are not unique as they may overlap from different catalogs/vendors.

• How to dynamically pass IDs from one API response to a second API call in Zoho DataPrep?

  Hi Team, I am setting up a global consolidated reporting pipeline in Zoho Analytics (India) using Zoho DataPrep as the ETL engine. I am pulling data from multiple Zoho Books Data Centers (US, Singapore, India) thats why i used the URL Source (OAuth 2.0)

• Feature Request: "Send Invitation" Toggle for Events

  I am writing to request a critical "Quality of Life" update for the Activities module. Currently, adding people to the Participants field in an Event triggers an automatic email invitation/acceptance tracking with no way to opt-out. For general events

• Account Review Pending - Daily Limit 100

  Hi ZeptoMail Team, I'm writing to request a manual review of my account. I am currently stuck on the 100-email daily limit and cannot purchase credits. Status: My domain is already verified (DKIM/CNAME). Issue: The "Customer Validation" option is no longer

• Automation Series: Move Tasks to a different Task List on Status Change

  In Zoho Projects, you can automatically move a task from one task list to another when its status is updated. This keeps your tasks organised and ensures better visibility while reducing manual work. For instance, during a product launch, the marketing

• Introducing Bigin's all new integration with Microsoft Teams

  Picture this: You are on call with your team to discuss some important deals that need to be closed soon. While discussing each deal, your team has to switch back and forth between your Teams account and Bigin account to refer to details about the deal.

• Scaling the customer journey: What's new in CommandCenter

  Dear Customers, The last time we connected about CommandCenter, it was about the tool's new controls and revamped UI. Personally, the overhaul of the UI from the last update, still excites me. Today, we're here with news about its scalability and added

• Adjusting Physical Inventory

  Not getting very far with support on this one, they say they are going to fix it but nothings happened since November. Please give this a thumbs up if you would like to see this feature or comment if you have some insight. Use Case: Inventory set to be

• How to book GST paid in zoho books

  hi, i am a new user to Zoho books and not able to book GST paid in books, kindly suggest how i can book it in books. thanks, siddharth

• Dynamic Remaining Quantity in Lookup During Allocation

  Hi everyone, From what I understand in Zoho Creator, lookup fields only display the stored value from the source record and do not dynamically update while a form is being filled. Because of this, showing a real-time updated remaining quantity inside

• Is it possible to use HTML formatting in SMS messages sent from Zoho?

  Hi everyone, I have a question regarding sending SMS from Zoho When we send emails from Zoho, we can include HTML code to format the message (like adding links, styling, etc.). Is it possible to do something similar when sending SMS messages through Zoho

• Important update: Migrate to the new SalesIQ live chat widget before April 14, 2026

  The old SalesIQ live chat widget will be deprecated on April 14, 2026. This is a final reminder to migrate to the new SalesIQ live chat widget before this date. After April 14, 2026, the old widget will no longer be maintained, which can lead to slower

• If your IM chats aren’t auto-assigning, here’s what to check

  Hey everyone! We’ve been seeing quite a few questions around Instant Messaging (IM) Chat Routing in Zoho Desk, especially around how it actually behaves in real time. So I thought I’d share a practical breakdown of what’s happening behind the scenes.

• connect zoho creator with google drive

  Hello everyone, I need to connect to a folder drive. The idea, is that google drive loads a text document with some data, I must read that text document to be able to autofill a form that I have in zoho creator with that data. I also attach PDFs and place

• Uploaded files are not included when using "Include user submitted data" in Email Notification

  In Send Email notification workflow in Zoho Creator, there is an option called "Include user submitted data" which allows the email to contain all the form submission details. However, when this option is enabled, files or images uploaded through File

• Extend Zoho Canvas Customization to Zoho Creator Forms and Reports

  Currently, Zoho Canvas allows users to design and customize the UI of Zoho CRM modules with a much better visual experience. This helps organizations create cleaner layouts, improve usability, and design interfaces that match their workflows. However,

• Kanban View for Projects.

  At our organization, we describe active projects with various statuses like "In Proofing" or "Printing" or "Mailing". In the Projects view, one can set these project statuses by selecting from the appropriate drop-down. While this works, it's difficult to view and comprehend the progress of all of your projects relative to each other in a table. Creating a Kanban view for projects where I can move them from one status to another allows me to see where each project is in the order of our workflow.

• Performance issue with too many notebooks or notebooks that are too large?

  I just migrated around 30 folders from Evernote. Most of these folders were created in order that the enex migration files would be < 500mb (requirement by Zoho Notebook). I want to now clean up many of these artificial notebooks mostly by combining them

• Tags with spaces

  I imported notes from Evernote where tags can have spaces in them (for example "House Expenses" or "House Improvements". The import worked fine. Now I want to add a new note and assign it a tag. As soon as I type "House" followed by the space I get a

• Javascript Error

  I don't know how this happened but I'm constantly getting popup windows with Javascript coming from Notebook. I have no idea why this is happening. Screen shot attached. Thanks, Joe Berry

• Serious problem with file that contains non-ASCII characters

  I imported many pdf files from Evernote whose names contain Hebrew characters, such as ח רבעוני - ביטוח חיים - סוף רבעון 3 - לשנת 2025.pdf I have two very serious problems: (1) Zoho Notebook cannot open the pdf file; (2) It cannot download the pdf file.

• NOTAS INVISIBLES

  Siempre que abro mis notas salen invisibles, muchas no resaltan las *negritas* en la vista previa hasta que te metes en ellas y modificas algo. Pero omg con el equipo de Zoho. Les dije que las usaba mucho precisamente por la VISTA PREVIA y encontrar las

• Button ''I'm Interested'' won't translate

  Since our main platform is in French, I would like to get this ''I'm Interested'' button translated to French ''Je suis intéressé''. We managed to translate the whole carreer site in French, except the button. How come ? We have a standard subscription,

• Feature request - image resizing on sales orders

  I need to be able to show the items on the sales orders, currently the item image shows really small and no way to resize it, need the ability to make the image larger to showcase the product on the pdfs

• Email Parser Not Extracting Fields Correctly with Certain Label Formats

  I’ve been testing the Email Parser functionality in Zoho CRM to automatically extract data from incoming emails and map it to CRM fields. During testing, I noticed that parsing sometimes fails when the email contains field labels formatted like this:

• Zoho CRM Community Digest - February 2026 | Part 1

  Hello Everyone! February has been off to a productive start in the Zoho CRM Community, with several thoughtful product enhancements and helpful technical discussions making their way into the forums. To help you stay up to speed, we’ve rounded up the

• Nouvelle fonctionnalité : donnez du style à vos pages avec le Branding

  Que vous prépariez un webinaire important. Vous avez investi du temps dans votre contenu, invité des intervenants de qualité, et les inscriptions commencent à affluer. Mais votre page d’inscription ? Elle ressemble à toutes les autres : générique, sans

• How to sync Zoho CRM Quotes with Zoho Books/Finance Estimates or Quotes

  Hi everyone, We’re building quotes in the Zoho CRM Quotes module because of its strong CPQ features and better communication options (multiple contacts, email customization, etc.). However, these don’t sync directly with Zoho Books/Finance for invoicing.

• Marketing Tip #24: Encourage customers to leave reviews

  Reviews are one of the strongest trust signals in ecommerce. When shoppers see real feedback from other customers, they feel more confident about buying, especially when they’re choosing a brand for the first time. Not all reviews are equal. Detailed

• Ability to Attach Record-Specific Files Automatically in Workflow Email Templates

  Currently in Zoho CRM, email templates allow attachments to be added, but these attachments are static and remain the same for every recipient. There is no straightforward option to automatically attach a file that is stored within the specific CRM record

• Issue with Picklist Dropdown Not Opening on Mobile

  Hello I am experiencing an issue with picklist values on mobile. While the arrow is visible, the dropdown to scroll through the available values often does not open. This issue occurs sporadically, it has worked occasionally, but it is very rare and quite

• {Action Required} Re-authenticate your Google Accounts to Continue Data Sync

  Hello Users! To align with Google’s latest updates on how apps access files in Google Drive, we’ve enhanced our integration to comply with the updated security and privacy standards, ensuring safer and more reliable access to your data. With this update,

• Allocating inventory to specific SO's

  Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which could

• Is this a SCAM email or is it really Zoho?

  L.S. I received the following message. Is this from Zoho? I have had a Zoho One account for many years and my website has been online for years. If it is a scam, I think you should know about it.

• How to close an estimate ?

  Hello, I have created estimates, and converted them to invoices to get 50% payment. Now I have 2 cases where the estimate stills shows status partially invoiced, however: 1. for one of them, project stopped half way, so the remaining part will never be

• Next Page