Overview
This article provides an end to end guide for automating emails & task creation in Tern. We'll walk through:
How to set up Automations - which are triggers that will automatically send emails or create tasks
How to build Workflows - which let you save lists of Automations and Tasks to apply to your trips and contacts all at once
How to automate your Workflows - by setting rules for when to apply a specific Workflow to a Trip or Contact
Before you continue reading, we also recommend checking out the following articles - since you will use Tasks & Emails a lot as a part of Automation!
Before we jump in... let's talk through a few examples
Before we get into the details of how these features work, let's walk through an overview of each feature we'll mention throughout this article, and how to think about each of them.
Tasks let you track that you need to accomplish a specific action item, by a specific 'due date'.
When creating a task you can choose a specific due date, or you can add a 'relative due date'.
This would allow you to have a task due "1 week before your trip start date", or "1 week after the task is created", for example. Learn more.
Emails allow you to reach out to your clients directly via Tern.
Email templates let you save an email to use over and over.
You can add variables (like your client's first name, or the name of your trip) that will be automatically swapped out depending on where you send the email from / who you send it to.
Automations let you set up "rules" - so if a specific event happens, it triggers the creation of a task or email.
You can set up Automations to trigger emails, task creation, or both!
This is the only way you can set emails to go out automatically in Tern. You can use Automations to trigger emails around certain events (for example - send a thank you email after a client approves their itinerary), or around certain dates (for example - send a 'last minute tips' email 10 days before trip start date).
Use Automations to create tasks when the task should only exist under certain conditions. For example - if you want a task to "make payments" any time a client authorizes payments. If you have a running list of tasks you do once for every trip, you can always just use regular tasks for that.
Workflows let you save lists of Task & Automation Templates. When applied to a Contact or Trip, they create all of those saved tasks/automations for you.
You can also set up specific rules for Workflows (like "apply this any time a trip status changes to 'planning'), or easily apply them across trips ("in bulk") with just a few clicks.
So let's put this into practice with an example end to end Workflow
I have saved a "Standard Trip Planning" Workflow, which is automatically applied to any trip that moves into my "Planning" status.
This Workflow has 3 regular tasks, each with a relative due date 'after task creation'.
Task 1: "respond to new client inquiry", is due 1 day after task creation
Task 2: "schedule intake call", is due 3 days after task creation
Task 3: "send service fee", is due 10 days after task creation
This Workflow has 3 Automations
Automation 1: creates a task each time my client authorizes a payments, for me to "Make payment" by the next day. It also sends a personal email from me letting them know I'll be making the payment shortly, with additional details on what to expect.
Automation 2: sends a personal email from me, getting them excited for their trip, 4 months before their trip start date.
Automation 3: sends a personal email from me, making sure they are prepared, 1 month before their trip start date.
Each time a trip moves into this stage, all these tasks & automations are automatically created for that trip.
For regular tasks, their due dates will be set immediately (since the Workflow creates these tasks automatically).
Automations will trigger their task creation / email whenever the trigger criteria is met. So I might get 10 different 'make payment' tasks throughout planning. But the emails around trip start dates will only go out once, unless I end up moving a trip dates after they have gone out once, with enough time to re-trigger the email.
Using Automations
Automations are triggers that will automatically send emails or create tasks. You create Automations for individual trips/contacts, or save a template to apply across multiple trips/contacts.
Automation templates
1. Go to your Library, choose Automations, and select 'New Automation'
2. Name your automation, and select the type.
This will determine where you can add this template - to your trips or to your contacts.
3. Choose your Trigger 'event' and 'timing'
For a full list of triggers and how they work, see that section below.
Triggers set the 'event' and 'timing' that the automation will be based off of. For example, a 'birthday date' event will key off the birthday date on your client's profile.
Your 'timing' will determine when the email is sent, or the task is created. So in the example below, the email or task would be created on the day of my client's birthday.
4. Create your 'action'
Next, set up your 'action'. This is what you want to happen when the 'event' is triggered.
You can create a one-off task or email from here, or you can select an existing task/email template to use.
5. Choose your email recipients (if applicable)
For 'Contact' automations, or automations set to send to a specific "triggerer" (eg the person who approves the itinerary), you don't need to worry about choosing a recipient. They will just be the Contact or person who triggered the event.
But for emails that send based on trip start / end dates, you'll need to choose who should receive your email
Right now you can select between 'Full Access' travelers, or all travelers. But very soon you'll be able to also select a 'Primary Contact' if you prefer this email just go to a single person you are coordinating with.
6. Set your automation to 'active' when applied
To make sure your automation doesn't accidentally get triggered mid-edit when applied, we have a specific toggle to set it to "active"
When you set this toggle on, if you apply an automation to a trip or contact and that trigger occurs, it will send automatically.
To make changes to this automation template you'll need to un-toggle that setting.
7. Use your automation template!
Now that you've set up your automation template, make sure to use it on a Trip or Contact!
You can add it manually to a specific trip or contact - just go to 'Automations' on that specific trip or Contact, and select 'Add Automation' -> 'Automation Template'.
Remember: only Automations with a matching 'type' will appear - so you won't see Contact-based Automations available from your trips
Or you can include it in a Workflow, and add that Workflow to a trip or contact (see Using Workflows below)
One-Off Automations
If you want to add an Automation that you don't want saved as a template in your library, you can always add them "one-off" from your Trip or Contact.
Set up your Automation normally
Make sure you activate it before you leave
Again, we don't want this trigger to happen mid-edit, so you'll need to take an extra step to tell us you're 'ready'! To edit it later, simply "deactivate".
Types of Automation triggers
Tern plans to add many more triggers as we continue to build out this feature. If you have ideas for new triggers, please submit those to our support team! The types of triggers that are available now are:
Trip-based triggers
Client approves trip
Client authorizes payments
Client requests trip edits
Trip ends (end date)
Trip starts (start date)
Contact-based triggers
Birthday date
Anniversary date
Passport expiration date
Using Workflows
Workflows let you save lists of Automations and Tasks to apply to your trips and contacts all at once.
1. Go to your library, select 'Workflows', and click 'New workflow'
2. Name your Workflow, and select the type.
This will determine where you can add this Workflow - to your trips or to your contacts.
3. Start adding Tasks & Automations to your Workflow.
You can choose to add them from templates, or create them "one-off" for this particular Workflow.
4. Once you are happy with your list of tasks & automations, you're all set!
This Workflow is now ready to be applied to trips :)
5. Pick a trip, go to Automations, and add your Workflow.
Tip: to add Workflows in bulk, or set automated rules for when to apply a Workflow, see the next section below.
6. Once you select your Workflow, you'll see the Tasks & Automations automatically added to each respective tab
Here is the Automation I had on my Workflow -
And here are my Tasks -
Auto and Bulk-Applying Workflows
You can also set rules for when to auto-apply a specific Workflow to a Trip or Contact, or add your Workflows to trips/contacts 'in bulk'.
Setting up Auto/Bulk Apply
1. You can set up Auto or Bulk Apply by scrolling to the bottom of your Workflow
2. Next, pick your 'rule' for auto-applying this Workflow
For Trips, you can choose to automatically apply your Workflow whenever this trip changes status (eg moves into "Booked"), or you can add it to each new trip.
For Contacts, you can choose to apply the Workflow to all new Contacts, or when adding a tag to a Contact
3. Optionally bulk apply to existing trips or contacts
Since the auto-apply rule you set up will work for trips/contacts that are created or match your rule moving forward, you can also bulk apply your Workflow to any existing trips/contacts that meet your criteria
For trips, you can bulk apply to all trips, or trips matching a specific status
For contacts, you can bulk apply to all contacts, or contacts matching a specific tag
