How to manage your eCommerce orders in Trello
Transform your team email inbox into a streamlined workspace for your online business. Receive orders, manage packaging, and send shipping notifications – all from one central dashboard.
What is an eCommerce workflow?
A good eCommerce workflow should make managing your orders simple and efficient! A systematic, process-driven approach to your eCommerce tasks makes it easier to manage orders, especially if you’re receiving and processing orders across multiple platforms and departments.
How can Email for Trello help?
Email for Trello takes a tool you already know and use – plain old email – and turns it into a fully functioning workflow, endlessly customizable to your unique business needs.
All emails arrive as new cards on your Trello board so that you can manage your orders in one place. Whether you have incoming orders from eBay, Shopify, Etsy or Amazon, your team can easily collaborate and stay on track by following a standardized process.
Let’s build an order workflow
All you need is a Trello board and the Email for Trello Power-Up to build and customize your own flexible eCommerce solution. Here are our top tips and templates to give you a head start! Below, we take a look at two possible eCommerce workflow examples – order management and returns management.
Set up your workflow: Order management
Decide on a list structure that makes sense for your business. A basic eCommerce workflow might include:
Order Inbox: Receive all your order notifications in one place, even if you manage multiple eCommerce sites. Each card represents an individual order as it moves from left to right through the various stages of the process.
Customization: If you offer customized products, you might need to liaise with external suppliers to finish the order. Send and reply to emails directly from Trello!
Packaging: Manage your packaging process and collaborate with colleagues on to-dos before an order goes out.
Shipped: Your parcel is on its way! Keep customers informed about their order progress.
Review: All done! Don’t forget to ask customers to review their purchase before you archive the order.
Example order management workflow for the Pet Cuts online store
Set up your workflow: Returns management
In the same way, decide on the phases that you need your returns to move through and create a list for each in Trello. Here’s an example of a simple returns workflow:
Returns Inbox: When a new return is triggered, the notification will land here as a new Trello card.
Waiting: Pop the return into this list while you wait to receive the goods back from the customer.
Received: Collaborate with colleagues on returns-related tasks once the goods are received.
Refund: Use this column to notify your accounts department of any refunds owing.
Exchange: If a customer has requested an exchange, note down the details and send the order back to your order workflow. Check out our handy guide on how to send cards between two Trello boards.
Example returns management workflow for the Pet Cuts online store
eCommerce management made simple
Here’s a closer look at some Trello and Email for Trello features and how to use them to your best advantage when building your eCommerce workflow.
Template responses
Save team time and offer quick responses with Saved Reply templates. Here are some examples for both order and returns workflows that you can copy and customize.
Order workflow – shipping notification
Dear {%contactFirstname%},
Your order is on its way! Click here to follow your order progress with the tracking number {%tracking_number%}.
Kind regards,
{%userFirstname%}
Order workflow – supplier customization request
Dear {%contactFirstname%},
I hope you're well! We have a new order {%referenceNumber%} for customization. Here are the details:
Product name: {%product_name%}
Product color: {%product_color%}
Custom text: {%custom_text%}
Kind regards,
{%userFirstname%}
Returns workflow – return confirmation
Dear {%contactFirstname%},
We've received your return request for order number {%referenceNumber%}. We aim to process all returns within 48 hours.
Kind regards,
{%userFirstname%}
Note that the variables highlighted in bold are custom variables which are only available through the Custom Fields feature on paid Trello plans. Custom Fields are a handy way of adding more specific details to your Trello workflow. It’s an especially useful feature for order-related details like tracking numbers, order numbers and customer names. Head over to our help center for more on how to use Custom Field variables.
Give your Saved Replies sensible names like #shippingnotification or #customize so that you can easily find and use them. For example, if you write a comment on the Trello card starting with “@reply ##customize”, your supplier will get your templated email – automatically populated with the details relevant to the custom order.
Customization request to a supplier using a Saved Reply template
You can also send Saved Replies automatically, which we’ll cover below.
Save time with automations
Send emails without lifting a finger! Use rule-based automations to save time and stay organized.
Drag a card to send an email
This is a great automation for transactional emails and quick updates. No need to type out a long email or manually comment with a Saved Reply – it will simply happen automatically when you move a card from one list to another! For example, perhaps you want to notify a customer that their return has been accepted. All you need to do is set up a rule to send a customer a Saved Reply when you move their card into the ‘Refund list’.
When a card is added to the list ‘Refund’, Trello will automatically post the comment ‘@reply ##returnaccepted’ to send a Saved Reply.
Head over to the blog to learn more about how to set up email automations in Trello.
Send a timed email
You can also automatically send an email after a certain time has elapsed. For example, ask a customer for a review 48 hours after their order has been dispatched. This relies on two rules, detailed below:
First, add a rule to set the card due date for 48 hours after it is moved into the list ‘Review’
Second, add a due date command to say that as soon as a card in the ‘Review’ list is due, post the comment ‘@reply ##reviewrequest’ to send a Saved Reply.
Manage repetitive tasks
Make sure you don’t forget any important to-dos by saving pre-populated checklists. This is very handy for repetitive or routine tasks like packing an order or checking returned merchandise. You can even use automation to add your checklist to a card when it reaches a certain stage in your workflow.
In this example rule, when a card is added to the list ‘Received’, the ‘Check return’ checklist will be automatically added to the card.
Filter your orders
Use labels to organize your orders according to your criteria. Let’s say you’re running two Trello boards, one for incoming orders and one for returns. If you send a return back to the orders board, make sure your team can quickly spot that it’s an exchange. Adding a label is a quick, easy and visual way of differentiating between orders.
The Pet Cuts eCommerce team uses a red label to quickly show which orders are exchanges making their way back through the system.
TOP TIP Hit the “F” key to filter the cards on your board by label or Custom Field. You’ll be able to see all of the applicable cards in the context of your board workflow.
A powerful and flexible eCommerce workflow
Now you can watch orders move seamlessly through each stage of your eCommerce workflow! You’ll be able to quickly spot backlogs or hold ups, get orders out faster, and collaborate more efficiently with your team and suppliers.
By bringing all your emails into Trello, Email for Trello bridges the gap between eCommerce platforms and makes it easy to manage your orders and returns, all from one single dashboard.
These are just a few ways you can customize Trello to suit your online business! Keep experimenting and optimising as you go to create a solution tailor-made to you.
