10 Trello automation tricks to set up before the new year
Discover 10 Trello automations to set up now that will drive your business forward in the new year.
Automation is one of the most powerful features of Trello, but we don’t always use it to our best advantage. Busy work schedules take priority, so it can be hard to find the time to plan and create the automations that would actually help us get more done!
In this article, we share 10 automation tricks to action now, and set your team up for success in the coming year.
10 Trello automation tricks every team should use
1. Create a Trello automation bot
When you’re setting up Trello automations for your team, it’s good practice to create a separate user to action all your automations. This makes sure that:
All automations are performed across your Trello workspace by the same user in exactly the same way by, so it’s always clear what’s an automated action, and what’s a manually-generated action.
Keeping all your Trello automations saved to a bot account means that you retain access to your automation library, even if people leave the team or company.
Find out more about how to manage Trello automation in your team.
2. Level up your checklists with automation
Ticking off a to-do is super satisfying – but are you really getting the most out of Trello checklists for your workflow?
Maximize the potential of your checklists with these 8 cool things you can do with checklists in Trello, including automatically adding checklists to cards, creating new cards from incomplete checklist items, and sending an email after a Trello checklist item is completed.
3. Automate weekly email tasks
The Email for Trello Power-Up makes it possible for teams working in Trello to send, reply to, and collaborate on email tasks – right from the comfort of their Trello board.
If you’re managing your shared inbox in Trello, you can take things further by automating your email tasks. For example:
Send email reminders to your team when a card is due
Send status updates to clients when a card moves from one list to another
Send email notifications at the same time every day, week, or month
Find out more about how to set these up with our guide to automating weekly email tasks in Trello.
4. Get extra email reply notifications
When a new email arrives in Trello, the Email for Trello Power-Up automatically creates a card at the top of your selected inbox list. By joining or watching that card, you’ll be notified of any replies through Trello’s built-in notifications.
But you can also use Trello automation to add an extra visual notification to incoming email replies – like bumping the card to the top of the list, or adding a red ‘New Reply’ label.
Read more about how to set up email reply notifications in Trello.
💡 TIP Need help understanding how Trello notifications work? Take a look at our ultimate guide to Trello notifications to avoid overwhelm and stay on top of critical tasks.
5. Prioritize cards with labels
Assign color-coded priority labels to Trello cards based on your own custom triggers. For example:
Communicate with color. When you type a keyword (like ‘Urgent’) into the card name, Trello can automatically add your chosen label to the card.
Prioritize to-dos without interrupting your work. Use Trello automation to add a label to a card as soon as you set the value of a Custom Field.
See how to automatically assign a label to a Trello card based on priority.
💡 TIP Find out more about how to set up a triage board in Trello to prioritize and manage your urgent tasks.
6. Automatically reply to new emails
An email auto-reply is a handy ‘set and forget’ automation to help your team manage expectations and deliver great customer service. An automated reply is a great place to:
Confirm receipt of your customer’s email and assure them that your team is working fast to respond.
Signpost self-help resources to pre-empt and resolve problems without your team needing to get involved.
Provide an alternative point of contact in case your customer needs to escalate their query.
Find out more about how to write a great email auto-reply for your shared inbox in Trello.
💡 TIP Phrase-matching can help you create smart email auto-reponses for your Trello workflow. For example, if you get an email containing the words ‘forgot password’, automation can reply with a template email explaining how to reset the password.
7. Boost collaboration with linked boards
If you have multiple, cross-functional teams working in Trello, being able to collaborate quickly and efficiently is a real game-changer!
Set up this handy automation that makes it easier to send cards between Trello boards – just by dragging a card.
In the above example, when a card on the Pet Cuts ‘Ideas’ board is dragged into the ‘Move to WIP’ list, it is automatically moved to ‘Up Next’ list on the ‘WIP’ board.
8. Streamline your year-end feedback processes
Collecting end-of-year feedback can offer vital insights for better business in the coming year.
With Email for Trello and built-in Trello automation, you can keep the entire feedback process in one ecosystem. We show you how to automate year-end feedback surveys in Trello, including:
Setting up a survey to collect customer feedback
Automating the survey to be sent at a key point in your workflow
Converting each survey response into a new Trello card, making it much easier to track feedback and reply via email if necessary (optional)
Your team will thank you in the new year!
9. Send emails in one click
Lots of teams, from sales to customer support, deal with a high volume of similar emails that could easily be resolved with a templated reply.
By combining the Email for Trello Power-Up with Trello card button automation, you can create some serious email magic! All you need is:
The email you want to automatically send, set up as a Saved Reply template
A Trello card button automation, to instantly send the email when the button is clicked
Find out more about how to reply to emails in Trello with just one click.
10. Share Trello automations with your team
Once you’ve set up a library of useful automations, it’s a big time-saver to just share those automations with other teams in your organization, so that they don’t have to start from scratch.
Learn how easy it is to improve consistency with shared Trello automation libraries.
Get on board with automation
Every business can benefit from Trello automation – and the rewards far outweigh the small amount of effort it takes to set up. We hope you’re inspired to create a few helpful automations for your team to save time, avoid errors, and get more done in the new year.
