When I'm going to do an action, a prompt should pop up asking me how many times I want to do it. This prompt should be capable of being disabled for those who would be annoyed by it. The reason for this suggestion, is so you can automatically get the resources that you need without having to constantly use 'E' after your action is complete. So lets say I need 10 branches, I should be able to use the snap a branch action, select how many times I want to do it which would be 10, and then I'd see the timer start after previous one ends until I have all 10.
As for crafting, this multiplier scale should be shown within the craft window and would act similar to the action multiplier. You would however, not see the multiplier on crafts such as structures, being that it will make things very complicated.