The Complete Small Business Automation Checklist - 50+ Tasks You Can Automate Today
Introduction
After my previous articles on why and how to start with automation, the most common question I received was: "What specific tasks should I actually automate?"
So I compiled research from automation platforms, small business case studies, and industry reports to create the most comprehensive checklist I could find. This isn't theoretical – these are real automations that real small businesses are successfully using today.
Each item includes difficulty level, estimated time savings, and brief implementation notes based on documented results from business owners who've implemented them.
How to Use This Checklist
- Read through each section and check off tasks you currently do manually
- Start with items marked "Easy" that save the most time
- Use the difficulty ratings to plan your automation roadmap
- Focus on one category at a time to build momentum
Difficulty Levels:
- Easy: Can be set up in under 2 hours with basic tools
- Medium: Requires 2-8 hours and possibly multiple platforms
- Advanced: Complex setup but high impact, may need expert help
📧 Email and Communication Automation
These are the most popular starting points according to platform data, with over 80% of small businesses automating at least one email process.
- Welcome email sequence for new subscribers (Easy | 3 hours/week saved)
- Set up 3-5 email series introducing your business
- Include expectations, resources, and next steps
- Trigger: New email signup or contact form submission
- Appointment confirmation and reminders (Easy | 4 hours/week saved)
- Auto-confirm bookings immediately after scheduling
- Send reminder emails 24 hours and 2 hours before appointment
- Include calendar links and preparation instructions
- Post-purchase thank you and follow-up (Easy | 2 hours/week saved)
- Trigger immediately after payment confirmation
- Include order details, shipping info, and support contact
- Schedule follow-up email 1 week later asking about experience
- Invoice automation and payment reminders (Easy | 3 hours/week saved)
- Generate and send invoices automatically when work is completed
- Follow up on overdue payments with polite reminder sequence
- Include payment links for easy processing
- Customer feedback and review requests (Easy | 2 hours/week saved)
- Send review requests 3-7 days after service completion
- Include direct links to Google, Yelp, or industry-specific review sites
- Include direct links to Google, Yelp, or industry-specific review sites
- FAQ auto-responses (Easy | 5 hours/week saved)
- Set up automatic replies for common questions (hours, location, pricing)
- Include comprehensive information and links to more details
- Forward complex inquiries to appropriate team member
- Abandoned cart recovery emails (Medium | 3 hours/week saved)
- Trigger sequence for customers who add items but don't purchase
- Send 3 emails over 1 week with incentives and product reminders
- Include limited-time offers to encourage completion
📊 Data Management and Reporting
According to industry surveys, businesses save an average of 6 hours weekly by automating data tasks.
- Lead capture from website forms (Easy | 5 hours/week saved)
- Connect contact forms directly to CRM or email platform
- Add new contacts to appropriate lists based on form source
- Trigger immediate welcome email and internal notification
- Abandoned cart recovery emails (Medium | 3 hours/week saved)
- Trigger sequence for customers who add items but don't purchase
- Send 3 emails over 1 week with incentives and product reminders
- Include limited-time offers to encourage completion
- Social media post scheduling (Easy | 4 hours/week saved)
- Batch create content and schedule across multiple platforms
- Post at optimal times based on platform analytics
- Include hashtags and mentions automatically
- Contact information updates (Medium | 2 hours/week saved)
- Sync customer data between email platform, CRM, and accounting software
- Update contact records when customers change information
- Flag duplicate contacts for manual review
- Weekly/monthly report generation (Medium | 6 hours/week saved)
- Compile data from multiple sources (website, sales, social media)
- Generate charts and insights automatically
- Email reports to team members and stakeholders
- Inventory level monitoring (Medium | 3 hours/week saved)
- Set up alerts when stock falls below minimum levels
- Generate reorder reports with supplier information
- Track best-selling items and seasonal trends
- Expense tracking and categorization (Medium | 4 hours/week saved)
- Connect bank accounts and credit cards to accounting software
- Auto-categorize recurring expenses (rent, utilities, subscriptions)
- Flag unusual transactions for manual review
🎯 Sales and Marketing Automation
These automations typically show ROI within the first month, according to platform case studies.
- Lead scoring and qualification (Medium | 5 hours/week saved)
- Score leads based on behavior (email opens, website visits, downloads)
- Route high-scoring leads to sales team automatically
- Send nurturing content to lower-scoring prospects
- Content distribution (Easy | 3 hours/week saved)
- Share new blog posts across social media platforms
- Send to email subscribers with personalized messages
- Post in relevant online communities and forums
- Event promotion sequence (Medium | 4 hours/week saved)
- Send registration confirmations with event details
- Reminder emails leading up to event
- Follow-up sequence for attendees and no-shows
- Customer segmentation (Medium | 3 hours/week saved)
- Group customers by purchase history, behavior, or demographics
- Send targeted messages to each segment
- Personalize product recommendations and offers
- Referral program management (Medium | 2 hours/week saved)
- Send referral requests to satisfied customers
- Track referral codes and attribute sales
- Reward successful referrers automatically
⚙️ Operations and Administration
Often overlooked but can save significant time and reduce errors.
- File organization and backup (Easy | 2 hours/week saved)
- Auto-organize files into folders by date, type, or project
- Schedule regular backups to cloud storage
- Remove duplicate files and old versions
- Team task assignment (Medium | 3 hours/week saved)
- Distribute work based on team member availability and skills
- Send notifications for new assignments
- Track completion and send reminders for overdue tasks
- Order processing workflow (Medium | 8 hours/week saved)
- Generate picking lists and shipping labels automatically
- Update inventory and accounting systemst
- Send tracking information to customers
- Vendor communication (Easy | 1 hour/week saved)
- Send purchase orders when inventory hits reorder points
- Track delivery dates and send reminder emails
- Manage vendor contact information and payment terms
- Employee onboarding automation (Medium | 6 hours/week saved)
- Send welcome packets and required documents
- Set up accounts and access permissions
- Schedule training sessions and check-ins
- Meeting scheduling and coordination (Easy | 3 hours/week saved)
- Allow clients to book appointments directly from your calendar
- Send confirmations and reminders automatically
- Include video call links and agenda items
🔍 Monitoring and Quality Control
- Website performance monitoring (Easy | 1 hour/week saved)
- Social media mention tracking (Easy | 2 hours/week saved)
- Competitor price monitoring (Medium | 3 hours/week saved)
- Customer satisfaction monitoring (Easy | 2 hours/week saved)
- Security and compliance checks (Medium | 1 hour/week saved)
💰 Financial Management
- Automated invoicing (Easy | 4 hours/week saved)
- Expense approval workflow (Medium | 2 hours/week saved)
- Financial reporting (Medium | 5 hours/week saved)
🚀 Quick Wins (Under 30 Minutes to Set Up)
- Email signature with social links
- Auto-reply for common email inquiries
- Social media bio links to latest content
- Contact form to email notification
- Calendar booking confirmations
🎯 High-Impact Projects (Worth the Extra Setup Time)
- Complete customer onboarding journey
- Multi-channel marketing campaigns
- Advanced inventory management
- Customer service ticket routing
- Performance dashboard creation
Implementation Strategy
- Month 1: Focus on email automation (highest impact, easiest to implement)
- Month 2: Add social media and content automation
- Month 3: Implement operational automations
- Month 4: Tackle advanced projects and integrations
Measuring Success
- Time saved per week
- Error rate reduction
- Customer satisfaction impact
- Revenue impact (if applicable)
- ROI calculation
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Over-automating initially - Start with 1-2 automations and perfect them
- Forgetting the human touch - Keep personal interaction where it matters
- Not testing thoroughly - Always test with small groups first
- Ignoring customer feedback - Monitor how customers respond
- Setting and forgetting - Review and optimize automations monthly
Your Next Steps
- Choose 3-5 tasks from the "Easy" category
- Start with email automation
- Set up one automation per week
- Measure results consistently
- Plan your next automations based on what you learn
Remember, the goal isn't to automate everything overnight. It's to gradually build a system that handles repetitive tasks so you can focus on growing your business and serving customers better.
Coming next: In my final article, I'll cover the most common automation mistakes and how to choose the right tools for your specific needs.
