100 Tasks You Should Be Automating
In our post called “What is Automation?” we included a few examples of tasks that we see a lot of companies doing that should be automated. While those few examples might not remind you of anything you’re doing at your company, we figured we should put together a longer list of examples that you’ll recognize as tasks someone at your company is doing (and that they shouldn’t be doing manually). We invite you to read through the entire list or pick a few at random. Don’t feel too bad if you see a lot of things that look familiar…you’re in good company. If you’re not seeing anything familiar, we’d encourage you to share the list with your team. We’ll pretty much guarantee that your teams will see a lot that reminds them of their daily task list.
If you’d like a PDF version of this list that includes some basic information our solutions, you can download it here.
For everything on this list (and lots more), Obvify can create a solution custom for your company that will save half the time, cost, and aggravation. We’ve grouped the tasks based on how we could solve them using a Flow, Interface, or Dashboard (or details on those here). Of course, it’s not quite this simple. Some of our implementations require more than one type of solution. For example, there may be an initial Flow that is responsible for combining information from multiple platforms into a single data source and then an Interface allowing the user to interact with all of this data. In any case, we’ll create a custom solution for your specific needs and incorporate all of your critical platforms and data sources.
Here’s the list grouped by how we’d create some automation to simplify or eliminate the task, but otherwise in no particular order.
Solved with Flows
Collect email sign-ups from a website, import these sign-ups into an email marketing platform, and then craft and send out newsletters to this list.
Keep track of employee attendance from various sources, input this data into the HR system, and compile reports on absenteeism when required.
When a new lead appears in the CRM platform, find additional data about the lead and their company from other services and add this data to the lead's Salesforce profile.
Calculate the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) using data sources, avoiding manual calculation in Excel, and then upload the results directly to the relevant system.
When the team achieves a win, share the good news in Slack to boost morale.
Generate a list of relevant keywords from a given list of product names for your brands and new/existing competitors for SEO purposes.
When a customer takes a notable action, such as renewing a major contract, prepare and send a physical mail to acknowledge their gesture.
Set up a system that sends alerts when inventory levels for certain items are low.
Take daily screenshots of competitor websites, particularly their homepages, and share them with the team for analysis.
Keep data between multiple Google Sheets in sync by checking each spreadsheet for updates, copy any new or updated data, and paste this into the other spreadsheets.
Parse customer reviews from different e-commerce platforms, identify any common issues or complaints, and compile a report for the product team.
Extract important details from each invoice, such as the invoice number, date, amount, and vendor, and input this data into the finance software and other platforms.
Update the email mailing list by exporting contact data from a CRM platform or spreadsheet and importing this data into a separate email platform.
Prepare paperwork for new hires, send it to them, and then keep track of each stage of their onboarding, including orientation, training, and collection of documentation.
Monitor contract end dates, reaching out to clients about renewing, and manually updating their status based on their decision.
Design regular surveys, send them to customers, wait for responses, and then review and organize this data in a spreadsheet and a presentation for the leadership team.
When there's an outage (planned or unexpected), pause or change advertising campaigns by identifying affected campaigns, accessing the campaign management system, and adjusting the campaign settings accordingly.
Complete a regular data migration between accounts by extracting data from one account, preparing it for transfer (including accounting for different formats in different platforms), and then importing it into another account.
Assign scores to leads based on predefined criteria like engagement level, demographics, and previous interactions.
Appending data from other sources to existing customer profiles by identifying relevant data sources, extracting the necessary data, and adding it to the appropriate customer profiles.
Notify a team channel about new software releases so every team can serve customers with the most up to date information about the product across sales, marketing, and customer support.
Create HubSpot contacts from LinkedIn post interactions by monitoring interactions on LinkedIn posts, extracting contact information from these interactions, and adding this information to HubSpot.
Keep tasks between Notion and Asana synced by regularly exporting tasks from one platform, preparing the data for import, and importing it into the other platform.
Update the company’s Twitter profile banner based on changes to key data, special sales, new events, etc, generate a new banner based on this data, and update the Twitter profile with the new banner.
When a new invoice is registered in Stripe, manually update the contact and company in HubSpot by extracting invoice data from Stripe and updating the corresponding profiles in HubSpot.
Handling GDPR data deletion by locating the relevant customer data in every platform and removing this data from the system, and then updating a master spreadsheet of requests and completions.
Collect images from web search results and send them to Google Sheets by downloading the images from the search results, and adding links to these images in a Google Sheets document.
Promote new Shopify products on Twitter by monitoring Shopify for new products when they are released, create promotional messages for these products, and posting these messages on Twitter with the correct images.
When a new appointment is booked via Calendly, create a Pipedrive activity with the relevant details about the appointment and any research about the new contact.
Manually, extract expense details from emails, add them to a central Google Sheet for processing by the finance team.
Regularly check product reviews and ratings on competitor websites, update the competitive tracking spreadsheet, and alert the product management team about significant changes.
Collect absences from Google Calendars by looking at events marked as absences, compile a list of these absences, and store this information in a central location.
Add liked songs to a Spotify monthly playlist to create a new monthly playlist, and share via internal company channels and Twitter.
Copy information for contacts signing up for your event from the event management platform to your central email and CRM platforms for future marketing activities.
Scan academic articles for specific keywords, compile relevant data, and generate a research summary.
When a product goes out of stock, update the website, and create a list of customers in the email who have shown interest in the product, and send them an update when product is back in stock.
Monitor inventory levels and generate purchase orders based on inventory levels, email purchase orders to the correct supplier.
When a customer cancels a subscription, send a follow-up email asking for feedback and offering potential alternatives.
Create translated versions of each new piece of content added to the website by copying new posts, uploading to a translation service, and updating the CMS with the translated version.
Rebook canceled appointments by tracking canceled appointments, identifying new available time slots, and sending rebooking requests via email and text to the clients. Remove the previously available time slots when they are booked.
Create social media images with text and graphics for new product reviews including a product image, the review, number of stars, and post to social media platforms.
Get approval for new content before publication by monitoring for new drafts in the CMS, send to the appropriate manager/editor for approval, and update the content status in the CMS based on the approval status including notifying content owners when changes are required.
Regularly back up data by exporting raw data, formatting for cloud storage and upload to cloud storage.
Tracking customer interactions on social media, log these interactions in the CRM, and notify the relevant sales representative.
Create new leads to a CRM from incoming emails and form submissions including copying relevant structured data from the email/form.
Save any attachments to Dropbox coming to a specific set of emails including downloading the attachment and uploading to Dropbox (or cloud storage platform).
Parse LinkedIn job application response emails by extracting relevant information from these applications and storing this information in the recruitment database for follow up.
Gather leads by searching LinkedIn, trade shows, and webinars for potential leads, compiling these leads into a spreadsheet, format the leads correctly, and upload this spreadsheet into a CRM.
Check multiple listing services (MLS), extract relevant listing information, save this information in a database, and then website with the new listings.
Keep an eye on online orders coming in from different delivery apps, update these orders in their internal system, and then relay the order details to the kitchen staff for preparation.
Check availability across multiple calendars before scheduling a meeting, and then individually send out meeting invites to all the participants.
For each new customer sign-up, check the database for potential duplicate accounts and merge them if necessary.
Compile daily updates from different news sources, create a digest, and send it out to the company each morning.
When a customer cancels a subscription, send a follow-up email asking for feedback and offering potential alternatives.
Monitor multiple email inbox for important messages, flag these messages for follow-up, and then add corresponding tasks to the right owner via a to-do list.
Solved with Interfaces
Take the CSVs of inventory from suppliers and update the product listings on Shopify accordingly.
Use a spreadsheet of returned merchandise to process and issue refunds to customers.
Keep a constant eye on community discussions across different platforms, log important interactions in the community management system, and respond to any queries or comments.
Sort through new leads, rate each based on preset criteria, and assign qualified leads to the sales team following preset rules and guidelines.
When a customer needs an upgrade to their subscription, make the necessary changes in the system without needing to involve the engineering team.
Log every telephone call made via the call system into the CRM system for record-keeping and future reference.
Sort through customer support tickets, tagging and categorizing each one, keeping track of their status, and manually updating them as solutions are found.
A customer support representative's day might involve monitoring different channels like email, phone calls, and live chat, recording each customer inquiry, assigning them to the right team, and tracking their resolution.
Listen to customer complaints, recognize when an issue needs higher-level support, document the problem in detail, and escalate it to the appropriate team.
Copying campaigns between different email platforms might involve selecting a campaign, exporting its data and design, and then importing it into the new email platform.
Regularly check for changes to customer accounts, noting any changes in their plans, and taking necessary actions like adjusting billing or services in the appropriate platform.
Handle all credit card disputes by reviewing the disputed order, researching transaction details, comparing this with customer claims, and crafting and submitting a response based on findings.
As new tickets about order status come into customer support, request the full details of the order from engineering including all order history, platform usage, and the most recent changes to the customer’s account.
Initiate password reset processes for customers, which involves verifying the customer's identity, triggering the password reset, and guiding the customer through the process.
When a customer completes a purchase, update the customer’s loyalty points in the system and send a personalized email with their new balance.
To answer customer questions about their subscription, request the latest subscription and platform usage information from the engineering team that only they can access via database queries.
For upgrade requests that come in from customers, check their eligibility for an upgrade and current subscription status and, if eligible, request that engineering make the appropriate changes to their account.
In order to track competitor price changes, regularly visit competitor websites, note any changes, and update an internal pricing spreadsheet or database.
Manually enter data into the CRM system, including inputting new information from emails, spreadsheets, and social media.
Generate quotes by searching for relevant data from a separate product catalog, inventory management system, and pricing database.
Manually update customer information across multiple systems, like the CRM, billing software, and order management system when there are changes to client accounts.
Managing new customer onboarding including guiding new customers through setup processes, training, and initial usage.
Monitor Telegram accounts for customer messages, identify messages that require a ticket, and create a ticket based on the message content.
Integrating a project management tool with a time tracking system could involve linking tasks in the project management tool to entries in the time tracking system, tracking the time spent on each task, and using this data for billing.
Sync customer data between the marketing automation platform and loyalty platform by exporting customer data from the marketing platform, enrich this data with loyalty program information, and use this data to create personalized offers sent via the marketing automation platform.
Sync audiences to ad platforms from various sources by extracting audience data from each source (CRM, email, etc), format this data for each ad platform, and uploading the spreadsheets to these platforms.
Check the inventory levels for office supplies, send reordering requests to suppliers when levels are low, and notify the office manager of the order status.
Sync data between different e-commerce platforms by monitoring each platform for product updates, formatting updated product information for each platform, and updating products on all platforms with the new information.
Keep track of car and truck traffic data from various sensors scattered across the city, consolidate this data into a traffic management system, and then issue traffic advisories via public communication channels.
Track job applicants coming in from different platforms, update their statuses in an applicant tracking system, and then schedule interviews with selected applicants.
Solved with Dashboards
Gather data from multiple Shopify stores and compile this data into comprehensive reports.
Develop custom compensation plans and ongoing real-time tracking for the sales team based on their sales figures and targets.
Monitor machine performance data from various pieces of equipment, analyze this data for any potential issues, and schedule maintenance as necessary.
Manually compiling and analyzing client data from various sources to generate reports.
Check inventory levels in real time, update the inventory management system, and use this data to make decisions about restocking and storage.
Compile weekly ad campaign performance and reports for each client and deliver via email.
Collect and consolidate customer usage data from different platforms to track product adoption and identify upsell opportunities.
Collect customer feedback from various sources, organizing these into categories, manually inputting this data into a system for analysis, and looking for patterns and trends.
Check the product development Trello board list for status changes, compile a report of these changes, and send it to management each morning.
Perform customer sentiment analysis by extracting data from the feedback platform, analyzing with a sentiment tool, and create a final report.
Track and log all across calls, emails, and meetings and do daily updates of the CRM platform so sales activity reports can be created daily for the leadership team.
Review project status from data from project management software, formatting this data for Slack, and posting daily updates to a dedicated Slack channel on the status of every key project.
Track post engagements across different platforms, calculate the impact of these engagements on follower growth via spreadsheet, and then share these metrics with sponsors, management team, agency partners, etc.
Track event sign-ups and donations coming in from different platforms, update these details in a donor tracking spreadsheet, and then send thank-you emails to all the participants.
Keep an eye on product inventory levels across different warehouses, update these levels in a single spreadsheet, and then plan reorders based on inventory levels.
There you have it…100 tasks someone (or multiple people) on your team is responsible for handling that we can greatly simplify. Our automations will free them up to work on higher order projects and tasks, which is a win for everyone and is guaranteed save time, money, and aggravation or you don’t pay (seriously).
If you’d like a PDF version of this list that includes some basic information our solutions, you can download it here.
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