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Category : Zoho CRM

zoho vs hubspot crm

Zoho vs Hubspot: Which CRM for Field Service Companies?

Published on: February 26, 2023Category: Job Costing, Zoho CRM, Zoho OneLast Updated: December 6, 2023 Comments: 0

Zoho vs Hubspot CRM – which one is the better choice for your business needs? Field service companies face several unique challenges—from measuring and tracking job performance to scheduling and routing technicians to customer sites, numerous moving parts go into running a successful business.

With customer relationships at the core of any service-based business, field service companies need CRM software to manage leads, scheduling, invoicing, and other nuanced customer relations tasks.

Zoho and HubSpot are two popular CRM systems that make it easy for field service companies to streamline operations and grow their business while nurturing their most important asset—their customers. Here, we’ll take a look at the features, benefits, and costs of both Zoho CRM and HubSpot to help you decide which system is right for your business.

Zoho CRM vs. HubSpot: A Comparison of CRM Features

Zoho CRM and HubSpot are both comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) systems that help field service companies manage their accounts and contact information, automate sales processes like quoting and invoicing, and track customer interactions.

Each has an impressive reputation in the marketplace. But while Zoho offers a full range of apps and comparable features, Hubspot has doubled down on its marketing and email capabilities.

  • Zoho CRM is one of the many applications included in the Zoho ONE platform, an end-to-end platform that offers powerful features like marketing automation, sales tracking, customer service tools, a full finance suite, and more. It also integrates with popular programs like Xero, Dropbox, and QuickBooks.
  • HubSpot, on the other hand, is better known for its sales, marketing automation, and customer service tools. It also offers a marketplace of third-party apps that extend the system’s functionality.

How Zoho CRM and HubSpot Stack Up

Let’s take a look at how Zoho CRM and HubSpot compare when it comes to features, benefits, and costs.

Contact and Lead Management

HubSpot and Zoho CRM are not only easy to use for organizing contact and lead information, but also for managing sales data, such as call logs and sales signals. With the paid versions of both software programs, you can also score leads to determine which ones should receive priority outreach.

However, there are a few differences to be aware of. HubSpot’s duplicate management feature, for example, is only available on the company’s Professional and Enterprise plans, which can be costly. Zoho CRM de-duplicates data on its top three-tier plans for a lower price, potentially making it a better option for smaller field service businesses.

Lead Generation and Sales Quoting

Another significant benefit to Zoho CRM is its end-to-end software. While HubSpot has many integrators, keeping everything on the same platform reduces data silos and supports processes like marketing lead gen; ‘configure, price, quote’ (CPQ) task management; job scheduling and work order management; and billing, invoicing, and job costing.

Since field services companies often have complex pricing models, automated lead funnels and CPQ software that can quickly generate automated quotes is invaluable. Zoho CRM, with its CPQ capabilities, makes this task simple and efficient. While HubSpot can handle these tasks, most require the use of add-ons that must be purchased separately.

Field Service Processes

When it comes to managing field service processes, Zoho CRM simply offers more features than HubSpot. For example, Zoho’s capabilities can support job scheduling and dispatching, billing and invoicing, job costing, and an offline mode built-in for reps who travel to places with low cell reception.

With Zoho ONE, you can reduce data silos, the number of vendors you use, support and maintenance costs, implementation time, integration points, and risk of system failure—all while keeping your costs low.

HubSpot doesn’t have a dedicated, integrated field service app, but it does offer some features that can support field service companies, such as a robust task management application, customer support ticketing, and contact tracking.

Pricing

Generally speaking, Zoho is much cheaper than Hubspot—especially if you go with their all-inclusive Zoho ONE package, which includes access to several integrated applications (including CRM and field service) for one low monthly price.

HubSpot’s lowest-tier plan is significantly more expensive than Zoho ONE, but it does offer a more traditional email marketing platform compared to Zoho’s email marketing solution. The Professional and Enterprise tiers of HubSpot also offer features like lead scoring, contact segmentation, and more that aren’t available on the company’s Basic plan, but which are offered by Zoho’s ONE’s competitively priced plan.

Reporting

With HubSpot, you can have three free dashboards with 10 reports each. If you upgrade to a paid plan, you can store up to 50 dashboards, each of which can have 10-30 reports at a time. The Professional and Enterprise plans let you create 100 and 500 custom reports, respectively—a feature unavailable on any other plan.

All paid plans of Zoho CRM come with standard reports, as well as the ability to schedule these reports. Zoho’s Standard plan offers 100 custom reports, while the three higher-tier plans offer an unlimited number for any KPIs you want to track.

Zoho CRM vs. HubSpot: Which Should You Choose?

Ultimately, when evaluating the features of each program, Zoho CRM is the clear winner for service companies. With more features tailored to field services, a lower price tag, and more comprehensive reporting capabilities, Zoho is the logical choice for most field service businesses.

That said, HubSpot’s email marketing platform is one of the best out there. If you’re looking for a traditional email marketing platform—or if you’re only interested in sales and marketing tools and can get what you need from the company’s lowest-tier plan—HubSpot could be a good fit for you.

Consider your business needs carefully before making a decision. Or, if you need help comparing the two programs, reach out to ZBrains. Our expert team can support you in evaluating both options to determine which solution will best meet your needs going forward.

ZBrains CRM Consultants Migrating Your Legacy System

Zoho CRM Help: Migrate Your Legacy System with Consultants

Published on: January 23, 2023Category: Zoho CRM, Zoho Features, Zoho PartnersLast Updated: May 23, 2023 Comments: 0

On the surface, the benefits of a CRM tool seem obvious—it’s designed to help businesses better manage customer relationships, resulting in more organized contacts, streamlined processes and workflows, and an improved customer experience.

But when it comes to migrating your legacy system to a new CRM, the process is often anything but obvious. In too many cases, companies find themselves confronting an intricate web of different technologies, and ensuring the data transfers correctly can be overwhelming.

This is especially true if you need customizable features and software integrations, which can turn the complexity of setting up a CRM system into a nightmare. That’s where CRM consultants come in. 

On the surface, the idea of finding and working with a consultant might seem expensive and unnecessary. But if you’re busy running your business, don’t have the capacity to learn a new system or process, or are under a time crunch, working with a consultant can save you time, frustration, and money in the long run. They’ll also ensure your system is set up optimally so that it’ll actually be adopted by your users—plenty of projects fail because they aren’t rolled out correctly or built with end users in mind. 

As experts in the technology, CRM consultants like ZBrains can help you to identify any issues that could arise during migration, ensure your data remains secure, and even create customizable features tailored to your specific needs. Here’s exactly how they can help:

11 Steps for a Successful CRM System Migration

Generally speaking, several steps go into a successful CRM system migration. Let’s take a look at what the process looks like.

  1. Assess your reporting and KPIs: The first step involves understanding your current system and the KPIs that are essential to measure success.
  2. Analyze your data inputs: Next, you’ll need to get a better understanding of your data inputs at each stage of your process, including what kinds of content you’ll be migrating and the origin of each element.
  3. Assess operational efficiencies by department: Each department within your organization will have different needs and processes, so it’s essential to understand how they work together.
  4. Spec out your inputs: Inputs are the data points that will be used to populate your new system. Spec out which fields need to be populated, as well as the type of content for each field.
  5. Build your inputs: Now, you can start building out the fields in the new system and populating them with content.
  6. Build initial reports: Your reports provide critical insight into how your business is performing, so you’ll want to make sure they’re set up properly before making the switch.
  7. Spec out automation: Automation can make your life a lot easier, freeing up your time for higher-priority projects. Once you have your data inputs properly set up, you can start creating rules and workflows.
  8. Build automations: Once you have your automation rules properly laid out, it’s time to build them into the system.
  9. Migrate data: This is the moment of truth—all of the data from your legacy system must be moved over to your new CRM.
  10. Go live and perform change management: Once your data is migrated, it’s time to start using the system. Depending on how complex your CRM setup is, you may want to put a change management plan in place to help new users adapt.
  11. Add new features or reports using feedback from your team: As you start using your new system, you may realize that you need to make tweaks or add additional features. This is the time to do it.

As you can see, migrating data into multiple modules and systems can be a complex process, and it’s often essential that the data is migrated in a specific order for it to link correctly. That’s why, at ZBrains, we strive to make the CRM migration process as seamless as possible by performing both a test migration and a live migration.

Through this process, the test migration allows us to identify any potential data issues that could arise, as well as develop a plan to fix them before the live migration takes place. We also ensure that all data is migrated from your legacy system correctly and without any loss of information.

Finally, we take extra steps to secure your data during the migration process by using encryption technology and multi-layered authentication.

Pitfalls to Avoid During Migration (and How CRM Consultants Can Help)

When companies attempt a CRM system migration without the help of an expert, they often end up making costly mistakes. Here are four particular pitfalls to avoid:

1. Choosing the wrong way to solve a problem

Platforms often have many ways to solve a single problem, and it can be difficult to determine which is the best option without experience. This is especially true in the case of complex automations and features (e.g., multi-list segmentation and interactive dashboards).

2. Implementing too many features, too quickly

When companies invest in a robust CRM software, they can be tempted to build out more features than necessary. This often results in an overly complex platform that is difficult to use, with extra time and budget wasted on development.

Even if there are multiple custom features an organization can benefit from, keeping the system as lightweight as possible is key. Working with CRM consultants helps you to identify the features that are truly necessary, and leave out those that will slow down your system or add extra costs. Remember, focus on adoption first, then optimization.

3. Not properly preparing for a migration

Migrating a CRM system means downtime, potential data loss, and a steep learning curve for users. Working with a partner that has experience with successful migrations can help you understand the process and plan for any potential issues.

4. Poor change management

Migrating to a CRM system isn’t just about data migration. It requires a shift in how employees work and think, which can be difficult without proper guidance. Platform-specific CRM consultants can help you create a successful change management plan, as well as ensure that your system is set up to best support its users and maximize system adoption.

Outsource Your Zoho CRM Migration to ZBrains

When it comes down to it, there are four reasons to outsource something:

  • Time: Unless you already have someone in place and ready to perform the migration, chances are it’s going to take more time and energy than you currently have available in-house.
  • Cost: Outsourcing may seem like a more expensive option—until you take into consideration the cost-savings a CRM consultant can provide by helping you avoid migration mistakes and optimize your new CRM for your needs. 
  • Expertise: CRM consultants will already understand the nuances of your chosen system and will be able to get things set up quickly and efficiently. Even if you’ve migrated a system before, being unfamiliar with Zoho creates inherent risks in the migration process that can be costly or time-consuming to resolve.
  • Dynamics and Corporate Politics: In some organizations, having an external partner involved in the migration process can help with change management and ensure that all stakeholders’ needs are accounted for during the process.

At ZBrains, we understand exactly what it takes to get your system up and running—and we know how to save you time and money along the way. Contact our expert team today for more on how we can help streamline your next CRM migration project.

A Woman Connecting Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM

Connect Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM: Integration Guide

Published on: September 22, 2022Category: Zoho Analytics, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho CRM, Zoho MarketingHubLast Updated: October 21, 2024 Comments: 0

In today’s digital age, harnessing the power of social media platforms is crucial for businesses to expand their reach and engage with potential customers. Facebook, being one of the most popular social media platforms, offers an effective advertising solution called Facebook Lead Ads. These ads allow businesses to capture valuable lead information directly from their Facebook ads. However, to effectively manage and utilize these leads, integrating Facebook Lead Ads with a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system like Zoho CRM is essential. This integration guide aims to provide a comprehensive walkthrough, empowering businesses to seamlessly connect their Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM and optimize their lead generation and customer management processes.

Lead generation is a critical aspect of any business strategy. The Facebook Lead Ads program—which involves capturing prospective customers’ information via social media—can be a user-friendly option for identifying and capturing new leads. 

But for lead generation to be effective, it must be followed up with plenty of nurturing and analysis so that you can reach the best prospects who are most likely to convert into customers or clients. Integrating your Facebook Lead campaigns into your Zoho CRM allows you to keep all of your lead generation efforts in one place, while also facilitating lead nurture in real-time. 

To take advantage of these benefits, however, you’ll need to connect your Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM. Here’s how to do it:

How can Facebook Lead Ads help in generating new leads effectively?

Facebook Lead Ads can be an easy way to generate new leads, as it allows you to run your marketing message within a venue you know your prospective customers frequent. Reaching people where they already are—in this case, Facebook—minimizes friction and increases the likelihood of your ads being seen.

Within Facebook, when prospects tap on one of your ads, a form pops up that’s already prepopulated with their Facebook contact information. All it takes is a few taps for them to get the information they need, while you generate a new lead for your business. 

Why Zoho CRM Partners Well with Facebook Lead Ads

By syncing your Zoho CRM account with your Facebook Ad Leads account, new leads can be automatically integrated into your CRM. As a result, you won’t have to manually export leads from your Facebook lead campaigns for import into your CRM. Instead, every time you get a new lead, it can be automatically saved to your Zoho CRM database, along with extra information such as the source of the lead.  

Additional Benefits of Zoho CRM Integration

Turning Conversations into Opportunities

Not only does Zoho CRM let you follow up on your Facebook leads, but it also lets you add leads from your listening streams, even if you’re not running an ad campaign. 

You can add these leads from the Social Tab manually, or set up triggers to automatically add leads from interactions that happen on your Facebook page. You can then assign these leads to your sales reps with specific rules, tasks, and reminders. 

Bringing Facebook and CRM Conversations Together

When a contact has been added to your Zoho CRM, you can go to your Social Tab and access their information, history, and activities. In addition, you can see their recent social interactions with your business so that you can respond appropriately to their social posts and comments. 

Engaging with Your Audience Live

Using the Social Tab in your Zoho CRM, you can easily create new social media posts or reply to comments and messages in real-time. Rather than switching between Facebook and Zoho CRM, you can keep your audience engaged from within a single platform. 

Tracking Conversations About Your Brand

By setting up listening streams that monitor when a prospect or competitor messages you or mentions you, you can manage your Facebook conversations in real-time. SalesSignals gives you real-time Facebook notifications via Zoho CRM. 

How to Connect Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM

To connect your Facebook Lead Ads with your Zoho CRM account, you’ll need to use one of the Facebook Ad management extensions found within Zoho CRM’s marketplace.

Step #1: Install Facebook Advert Manager

To begin, you can either navigate to the Zoho Marketplace and install the Facebook Advert Manager extension, or you can log in to your Zoho CRM account and install it from there. Once the extension has been added to your CRM, take the following steps:

  1. Go to Setup > Marketplace > All
  2. Search for Facebook Adverts Manager
  3. Click Install Now

In the following screen, agree to the terms of service and click Install Now.

Select the users for whom you want to install the extension, and then click Confirm. Then, click Authorize on the following screen:

Finally, in the pop-up that appears, specify the username and password of your Facebook account, and click Continue.

Step #2: Import Your Facebook Ads

Once you’ve installed and authorized the Facebook Advert Manager Extension, you can start importing your ad data into Zoho CRM. When you first set up the extension, you’ll need to perform a complete import of your data.

  1. Within Zoho CRM, select the Facebook Advert Manager tab
  2. On the Facebook Advert Manager page, click Import
  3. This will import all the ads and ad sets that are associated with your Facebook account into Zoho CRM

Once this step is complete, you’ll be able to view and manage all of your ad campaigns from this tab itself. This will take some time, however, depending on the amount of ad data you have to import.

Additionally, if you’ve made changes in Facebook and want them to be reflected in Zoho, you may need to manually update your ads on the Facebook Advert Manager page. To update the details of a particular ad, select the required Advert ID and click Import Advert. The current status of the selected ad will be updated.

To import new ads from Facebook, click the Import button at the top right-hand corner of the window. This will not only import new ads from Facebook, but will update all of your existing ads as well.

Once you’ve successfully connected your Facebook Lead Ads account to Zoho CRM, you can take advantage of Zoho marketing campaign tools to easily nurture and convert the new leads you generate—as well as analyze your new data to create stronger campaigns.

FAQs: Integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM 

  1. What is the benefit of integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM?

Integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM offers several advantages. It automatically transfers lead data from Facebook to your CRM, streamlining your lead-generation efforts. Additionally, you can follow up on leads, engage with your audience in real time, and track conversations about your brand, all from within the Zoho CRM platform.

  1. Do I need technical expertise to connect Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM?

You can use extensive technical knowledge. Zoho CRM’s user-friendly interface and the Facebook Advert Manager extension make the integration process straightforward. Just follow the step-by-step guide in the article to connect your accounts seamlessly.

  1. Can I import existing Facebook ads into Zoho CRM after integration?

You can import your existing Facebook ads and ad sets into Zoho CRM using the Facebook Advert Manager extension. Once connected, you can completely import your ad data into the CRM.

  1. How long does it take to import my Facebook ad data into Zoho CRM?

The time it takes to import your Facebook ad data into Zoho CRM may vary depending on the amount of data you have. For larger datasets, the import process might take longer. However, once the initial import is complete, you can easily manage and update your ads in real time.

  1. Can Zoho CRM help me nurture leads beyond Facebook campaigns?

Absolutely! Zoho CRM’s comprehensive lead management features allow you to nurture leads from various sources, including interactions on your Facebook page and other listening streams. You can set up triggers to automatically add leads and assign them to sales reps, facilitating lead nurturing and follow-up.

  1. How does Zoho CRM’s Social Tab help with engagement on Facebook?

The Social Tab in Zoho CRM enables you to interact with your audience on Facebook without leaving the CRM platform. You can create and schedule new social media posts, respond to comments and messages, and monitor real-time conversations. This keeps your engagement efficient and centralized.

  1. Can Zoho CRM provide real-time notifications for Facebook interactions?

Yes, Zoho CRM’s SalesSignals feature provides real-time notifications for Facebook interactions. This means you can stay informed about prospect messages or mentions as they happen, allowing you to respond promptly and take advantage of opportunities.

  1. Is Zoho CRM suitable for businesses of all sizes?

Yes, Zoho CRM is suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small startups to major corporations. Its scalable features and customizable options make it a versatile CRM solution for businesses looking to optimize lead generation, customer management, and sales processes.

  1. Can I analyze the performance of my Facebook Lead Ads within Zoho CRM?

Yes, Zoho CRM offers robust reporting and analytics tools that allow you to track the performance of your Facebook Lead Ads campaigns. You can gain valuable insights into lead generation, conversion rates, and campaign effectiveness to make data-driven decisions and improve your marketing strategies.

  1. Are there additional costs for integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM?

The Facebook Advert Manager extension is available in the Zoho Marketplace, and its installation is generally accessible.

However, depending on your usage and specific requirements, additional costs may be associated with Zoho CRM’s premium features or higher-tier plans. Remember, by integrating Facebook Lead Ads with Zoho CRM, you can enhance your lead generation efforts, improve lead nurture, and manage your customer relationships more efficiently, leading to better business growth and success.

Have further questions about connecting Facebook Lead Ads to Zoho CRM? Need help maximizing the value of the data you generate from these campaigns? Get in touch with our team of Zoho specialists for customized assistance. 

ZBrains Zoho CRM Reports Graph

Maximize Sales with Zoho CRM Reports: Analytics Reporting Guide

Published on: August 3, 2022Category: Zoho Analytics, Zoho CRM, Zoho CRM, Zoho Reports, Zoho ReportsLast Updated: May 8, 2024 Comments: 0

Of all the advantages of using Zoho, one of the most compelling is the platform’s simple, yet in-depth reporting applications. 

Depending on what you need to report on, you may find that the basic reporting options built into Zoho CRM suffice. Alternatively (or, additionally), you can tap into the power of the more advanced Zoho Analytics when you need to get a deeper understanding of how your business functions.

With that in mind, let us explore each in turn, looking more closely at the advantages and disadvantages of Zoho CRM or Zoho Analytics. 

Zoho CRM

As a CRM, Zoho’s offering is well-rounded and user-friendly, offering most businesses everything they need to keep track of customer relationships. 

From a reporting perspective, Zoho CRM comes with its own reporting engine that is customizable and operates in real-time. As a result, the program enables you to run reports on key relationship and sales metrics, as well as email them out on a scheduled basis. Zoho CRM also comes pre-built with a myriad of reports useful for sales, account management, and front office leadership.

Building Your Dashboards

In the Zoho CRM reporting window, you will see a list of records that you can build into tables, including pivot tables and pivot charts:

You can choose a range of components to group into your dashboards, as well as place components on your home screen. 

An example of a group of components

An example of a dashboard

That said, while Zoho CRM allows you to choose the time or table that best represents your data, it does not allow you to change how your query is built. When you choose the type of table you want to use, Zoho writes the query for you. 

Scheduling Your Reports

With Zoho CRM, you can schedule reports to be automatically sent out by email, which can streamline internal progress reporting and status updates. 

Simply go to the left-hand menu, pick Scheduled Reports, and enter the report you want to have emailed out on a regular basis. 

The major advantage Zoho CRM reporting is real-time but limited to CRM data with no drill-down configuration. If you need additional reporting capabilities beyond what Zoho CRM can provide, you may want to look into Zoho Analytics.

Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is Zoho’s business intelligence and analytics platform. Zoho Analytics allows you to review and report on data from a variety of data sources, as well as customize how that data is presented and shared. 

Data Sources

Incorporating data from multiple sources means that Zoho Analytics facilitates a much deeper dive into your data. In addition to Zoho data points, you can also use Analytics to pull in data from external applications, such as Google Analytics, YouTube, Google Ads, or Facebook. 

Within Analytics, simply select your chosen data sources, and pull them into the same workspace. From there, you will be able to query those different tables together to build reports that span across each application. 

Customizing Your Data Drill-Downs

Like Zoho CRM, Analytics allows you to choose from a variety of charts to present your data. However, with Zoho Analytics, you also have the option to customize charts and tables for tailored insights with Zoho Analytics.

Once you have built your table or chart, you can drag and drop them onto your dashboard for enhanced visibility. 

You can also utilize global filters–such as user, team, and date–to drill down into your data. For example, if you wanted to check on an individual team’s performance, you could filter your reports by team. All of the charts and tables that include a team filter would then be updated and displayed accordingly. 

Trend Reporting

One final feature that may make Zoho Analytics a better fit for your organization is its predictive capabilities. Analytics displays trends and projections, enabling informed predictions for future business decisions and investments.  

As a note, this is not an ‘either/or’ situation. You can Embed Zoho Analytics reports into Zoho CRM via the Analytics widget, by inputting the dashboard URL. Overall, Zoho Analytics is valuable for teams needing trend reporting, global filtering, and multiple data sources.

It is worth keeping in mind, however, that Analytics is not a real-time dashboard. The tradeoff for this enhanced functionality is that you will have a three-hour sync to contend with, though this is not likely to be a deal-breaker for most teams.

Zoho CRM vs. Zoho Analytics Reporting

As you explore your different Zoho reporting options, weigh your options within CRM and Analytics carefully. Taking these and other key points into consideration will help you arrive at the right solution for your team.

Any other questions about Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics? Reach out to the team at ZBrains if you have any queries or need clarification.

Marketing team planning a campaign

Choosing the Right Zoho App or Module for Your Marketing Automation

Published on: July 13, 2022Category: Zoho Campaigns, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho CRM, Zoho CRMLast Updated: October 17, 2023 Comments: 0

We get this question all the time at ZBrains: what is the difference between Zoho CRM Campaigns, Zoho Campaigns, and Zoho Marketing Automation? 

Although the names of these apps and modules are all quite similar, each has its own unique strengths. Let us take a closer look at how to use each resource, as well as the situations where it makes sense to use one over another:

What are the Marketing Features Offered by Zoho CRM Campaigns?

The Zoho CRM Campaigns module brings marketing automation features directly into your Zoho CRM to help you track the success of your sales and marketing campaigns. Depending on your business, that might mean measuring the number of deals, sales, or orders generated from a campaign. 

In any case, this module is mostly about marketing attribution, and Zoho gives you 6 algorithm modules to choose from:

U-shaped attribution and the time decay model–which attributes the most ROI to the last campaign someone was active in–are pretty standard choices for B2B businesses, while first-touch attribution is often more appropriate for small sales. Whatever you choose, all you have to do is pick the model, hit ‘Save’, and Zoho does all of the work for you.

As a note, although you can make campaigns manually in Zoho CRM Campaigns, you might not need to if you are using the Zoho Campaigns app or Zoho Marketing Automation. You also should not use Zoho CRM Campaigns to send mass email campaigns. The module does limit sending to 1,000 messages per day, but because the messages are sent from your own domain, you risk incurring penalties from Google for sending that kind of volume.

Zoho Campaigns

The Zoho Campaigns app is an email service provider (ESP) that is built to help businesses send marketing emails at scale, legally. Think of it like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or other similar email marketing tools.

In addition to providing the standard email builder features you would expect from an email marketing solution, Zoho Campaigns gives you the option to create new campaigns in Zoho CRM Campaigns simultaneously. To set this up:

  • Click ‘Advanced Options’ inside your Zoho Campaign
  • Find the toggle labeled ‘Create campaign in Zoho CRM’
  • Toggle it to the ‘on’ position and save your changes

Then, if you log back into your Zoho CRM Campaigns, you should see your email or social campaign in your list. 

You will still need to create phone and direct mail campaigns manually, as Zoho Campaigns and Zoho Marketing Automation focus on top-rated digital marketing company. But once you have your campaigns fully integrated between the 2 apps, Zoho Campaign activities can be recorded in your CRM records, helping your salespeople better understand your contacts’ engagement.

Another key point about Zoho Campaigns and Zoho Marketing Automation is that they do not send from your mail servers (even though you use the authorization to on your DNS). Zoho Campaigns also sends emails in batches–typically smaller batches to warm up the IP of whatever server they are being sent from–so that they have a much higher chance of getting into recipients’ inboxes.

Zoho Marketing Automation

Finally, there is Zoho Marketing Automation. Going beyond the kinds of email, SMS, and social campaigns found in Zoho Campaigns, Marketing Automation adds autoresponder campaign types including:

  • Sign-up
  • Date-field
  • Closed Group
  • Calendar
  • Email-action
  • Smart Series
  • Lead Nurturing
  • Cyclic

These different autoresponder types are based on contact actions and other triggers. For example, a Smart Series autoresponder is like a newsletter–contacts can be added midway through a campaign, and they will receive new messages as they are added. 

With a Lead Nurturing campaign, on the other hand, email addresses are added directly to the autoresponder. Once they are warmed up, they are thrown over the fence into Zoho CRM for follow-up by sales.

The process of working with Zoho Marketing Automation looks very similar to Zoho Campaigns, but when you go to a ‘Journey’ in Marketing Automation, you will see that there are a lot more actions to choose from than with the comparable workflows in Campaigns. There are more entry points, more lead score calculation options, and more end-of-journey actions–it is just a more robust builder overall.

For these reasons, Zoho Marketing Automation is more comparable to a platform like Marketo or Pardot, while Zoho Campaigns is really meant for simpler campaigns built around email, social, or SMS.

Choosing the Right Zoho Marketing Solution

While there are plenty of other differences between Zoho CRM Campaigns, Zoho Campaigns, and Zoho Marketing Automation, the features highlighted above should give you a sense of when to use each:

  • Use Zoho CRM Campaigns to monitor campaign performance, but build your campaigns in Zoho Campaigns instead, where possible.
  • Use Zoho Campaigns to automate email, social, and SMS campaigns without compromising deliverability.
  • Use Zoho Marketing Automation when you need more complex autoresponders than can be achieved with Zoho Campaigns alone.

Any other questions about these tools? Reach out to the team at ZBrains if you have questions or need clarification.

Zoho Updates October 2021

Zoho Updates, New Features, and Issues | October 2021

Published on: October 6, 2021Category: Certified Zoho Consultants, Zoho Bugs, Zoho CRMLast Updated: May 10, 2023 Comments: 0

Hello and welcome back to the Zoho Updates October 2021. In the past month, Zoho CRM has released a number of notable updates and improvements. In this digest you’ll find time saving new features, how CRM is making user experience better, and how Zoho Desk is making the ability to relate contacts to multiple accounts simpler!

Keep reading for details about What’s New, Zoho Updates Ocotober 2021. 

New Features & Improvements from Zoho

Zoho CRM

  • Updates to IOS Mobile App for Zoho CRM:

    • User-related lookup fields have been optimized, including the search and selection of users from owner lookup field.
    • “Plotting Leads, Contacts, and Accounts in nearby maps has been optimized for better user experience. Also, nearby pins will be grouped on zooming out a location on maps.”

  • Online instances of Zoho Campaigns offers increased specificity in regards to bounced status. “Soft Bounced” and “Hard Bounced” are now noted instead of just “bounced.”

  • Predictive Analytics utilizing Zia in CRM have been improved to achieve more accurate outcomes.

  • New color-coded picklist values improves data interpretation at a glance. Color-coded values are seen in records, modules, deals pipeline, charts, dashboards, and more.

  • Zoho CRM Sales Motivator admins can now compare the performance of a KPI or Target with other KPIs and Targets. Read more here.

  • Select your theme in Motivator; toggle between the light or dark theme to suit your viewing preference.

  • Zone Analysis is a new Dashboard component in Zoho CRM that helps you understand which data requires attention. This comparative analysis currently allows you to analyze two parameters.

  • If you have questions or need help setting up any of these, ZBrains Support is here for you!

Zoho Creator

  • This month Creator released two new enhancements to help you streamline work.
    • The first are a set of enhancements to export settings which allow you to name a file, select the format, select columns to include, and password protect exported files.
    • Secondly, Creator can now pull and pull data from external apps! Using Widgets you can now configure integration from your external apps, giving more power to the applications you use created on the Creator platform.

Zoho Desk

  • Desk now allows you to add a contact to multiple accounts: “Zoho Desk provides a way to relate a single contact to multiple accounts so your agents can easily track the relationships between the customers and companies they work with. Additionally, contacts can view all the tickets belonging to their account on the help center. When you enable this feature, each contact requires a primary account. The primary account represents a direct relationship. But you can associate additional accounts to the contact in a secondary relationship.”

ZOHO UPDATESApplication Updates from Zoho

Zoho CRM

  • CRM extension for LinkedIn Sales Navigator was sunsetted on September 30th. Affecting all users, the extension can no longer be used by current users or downloaded by anyone.

 

Have a question we didn’t answer here?  If you have questions or would like to connect with one of our consultants, schedule below. We’re also available by phone, just call our offices at (888) 207-4111.

 

Connect with a Consultant

 

Webinar for Zoho Writer

Zoho Writer: How-to & Tips Webinar

Published on: September 23, 2021Category: Certified Zoho Consultants, Zoho CRM, Zoho Sign, Zoho Writer AppLast Updated: November 13, 2023 Comments: 0

Master the Art of Zoho Writer: Join Our How-to & Tips Webinar Today!

In less than 15 minutes, join the Zoho CRM webinar with ZBrains Founder, James Converse, to learn about Zoho Writer and its integration with Zoho CRM. The session covers key features and tips to boost productivity.

  • How to use Writer and Zoho Sign to collect signatures on your quotes and other business documents.
  • You’ll see how to relate your Zoho Writer templates to modules.
  • Document storage best practices and tips on where to find the docs you create.
  • We’ll also review Writer templates: how to create them, using themes to coordinate with your brand, incorporating images, mapping fields from CRM, and the uses of sub-forms in Writer documents.

Our Zoho Writer How-to & Tips Webinar is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to share all the juicy insider tips with you. Have questions? Don’t be shy, leave them in the comments below!

Register for this on-demand webinar now, or at any time! and learn how to maximize your CRM’s potential. Our experts will share tips and tricks to help you improve your sales, marketing, and customer service processes. Don’t miss this opportunity to take your business to the next level with Zoho CRM. Sign up now!

Register for the Webinar

Is Zoho CRM working for you?

CRM Adoption: What It Is and Why Your Business Needs It

Published on: September 16, 2021Category: Certified Zoho Consultants, Zoho CRMLast Updated: June 13, 2023 Comments: 0

Is Your CRM Working for YOU?

Here’s what you should know about CRM adoption, to ensure that you are maximizing this tool. 

[caption id="attachment_5440" align="alignleft" width="400"]Planning A CRM Project It’s not uncommon to spend months planning a CRM implementation project. If you’re already down that road make sure the CRM adoption rate is high, this survey can help![/caption]

It can be difficult, overwhelming, and time consuming for users to learn a new CRM system, and sometimes that’s even after training. Most organizations spend months or longer researching and planning to bring on a new CRM or software. Then they begin to ramp up, perform initial training, and finally send their users out into ‘the wild.’ Your hope is everyone in your organization will be wildly successful with this new tool, and business operations will be better than ever!

With highly proficient teams, this shouldn’t be a concern, but we all know that every team is not highly proficient.  

In the real world where capabilities across teams vary, it is inevitable that different users will use the new systems in different ways – and to varying degrees of success. 

Some members of your team will not take to the new CRM at all!

This is low user adoption.

You might think, “well, that’s their problem if they don’t use the tools provided to make their work easier. We gave them training!” But trust us, we know you’ve probably made a decent investment in time and resources to implement this tool. You deserve to get the most out of it. You likely had the intention of equally balancing the goals of making your staff the best they can be, AND giving yourself and business operators the essential insights based on CRM data. 

But perhaps your CRM  just hasn’t taken hold.

If you suspect this might be the case in your organization, it’s time to take a closer look.

What is User Adoption?

[caption id="attachment_5441" align="alignright" width="400"]CRM Users Adoption What is CRM Adoption? A high level of CRM user adoption means that users are successful in their goals by using a software product. [/caption]

This is really straightforward, so we’ll share it quickly. 

User adoption is the process of ensuring that a system user can be successful in their goals by using a software product. 

In this case, we’re talking about how successful your teams are in being able to attain their objectives using your current CRM. This includes how quickly it becomes a routine tool, and how much users like it and want to keep utilizing it.

Consider your teams across Customer Service, Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Leadership when observing for user adoption.

Then consider if all teams used the tool to its full potential, and fully adopted the CRM.

What does great user adoption look like? With that data at hand, you have the power to create accurate dashboards and better forecasts, and you can empower your businesses’ leaders with the information they need to grow and make their teams successful. Win – Win!

Using Your CRM to its Full Potential

Curious if your CRM users on the teams we mentioned above are in a murky area of user adoption? You can make sure you’re getting the most of your CRM investment with this quick CRM User Adoption Checklist – it’s just 20 questions!

Take a look and get the info you need in order to assess whether or not it’s time to take action and realign around your CRM.

Is there potential for your CRM to work better for your organization? Take the CRM Adoption Survey and find out where you stand.

Take the CRM Adoption Survey

Zoho August 2021

Zoho Updates, New Features, and Issues | September 2021

Published on: September 2, 2021Category: Certified Zoho Consultants, Zoho Bugs, Zoho CRMLast Updated: July 20, 2023 Comments: 0

Welcome back again to your Zoho Updates September 2021. In the past month, we’ve seen a number of improvements across Zoho Books and Zoho CRM. In this digest you’ll find time saving new features, how CRM is making user experiences even more customizable, and how Zoho Desk is making the ability to relate contacts to multiple accounts simpler!

Discover Zoho’s Latest: What’s New – September 2021

New Features & Improvements from Zoho

Zoho CRM

  • New feature in CRM allows you to assign the record owner through a Workflow. You may now define conditions in Workflows, and the owner will be assigned when the condition is met. Zoho says, “Records can be assigned to users, roles, users who create or modify records, or to those mentioned in the Assignment rule criteria.” Additionally, “owner assignment will be triggered ONLY from the first workflow rule that it matches. For the subsequent workflows, all other actions except owner assignment will be executed.”

  • Adding Users to Zoho CRM just got easier with the ability to import up to 1000 users at a time. Admin profiles and those with Manage User permissions can now import users into their organizations account using .xls, .xlsx, or .csv file types. Learn more from Zoho’s help article on this topic.

  • Webform Analytics in CRM has new metrics and charts available. Metrics for time spent on fields, field correction rate, drop rate, and the order that fields are filled can be put to use in your analytics. You now also have access to device source for form submissions. Individual form analytics now display average time spend and the abandon rate in submissions. Having this information available helps in analyzing your form success rates and adjusting forms for better engagement.

  • Expanded capabilities including Subform Fields now exists when you map dependency. Previously only fields from the layout were available to be mapped.

  • Zoho introduced their new CRM designer called Canvas, calling it “the industry’s first CRM design studio. “This no-code, drag-and-drop design studio is built into Zoho CRM and allows users to create contextual, immersive experiences for their teams.” Learn more about it from Zoho.

  • Email status updates make filters more straightforward so finding who responded to your messages possible. The Latest Email Status filter now includes “Responded” as an option. Use this and “Opened and Not responded” to segment your contacts for better communication messaging, for example positioning follow ups.

  • If you have questions or need help setting up any of these, ZBrains Support is here for you!

Zoho Desk

  • Have you ever needed to associate a contact with multiple accounts? Now you can select to enable this Accounts feature in Zoho Desk, and select to relate a single contact to multiple accounts. You can learn more here.

Zoho Books

  • Custom Reports in Books gives you the capability now to save your customizations. Find them instantly and use them again and again. There’s increased flexibility around user control, for example, who can view, export, or schedule custom reports.

  • New from Zoho Books, “Once you reconcile an account, you can now print the reconciliation details as well. You can print the the transaction details, transaction type, deposits and withdrawals.”

  • Increased capabilities to select the customer advance accounts for tracking and recording excess payment, and configure the default account for tracking excess payments.

ZOHO UPDATESApplication Updates from Zoho

Zoho Desk

  • The Community module in Zoho Desk has three updates this past month including:
      • Assigning category visibility to “agents only.” This makes topics in these categories internal and visible to agents only.
      • New key category metrics are now available including: # of forums, @ of topics and comments received, % of topics created under each topic type, and more.
      • Increased functionality around controlling the ability to choose who can post and reply to topics in a category.

Zoho BugsIssues Notices from Zoho

 Zoho Creator

  • Creator rolled out a set of minor fixes product-wide including: bugs related to adding and deleting fields in forms, issue with record detail view in blueprint, a minor issue in file preview, and several additional minor issues.

Have a question we didn’t answer here?  If you have questions or would like to connect with one of our consultants, schedule below. We’re also available by phone, just call our offices at (888) 207-4111.

Connect with a Consultant

Zoho Updates from ZBrains

Zoho Updates, New Features, and Issues | August 2021

Published on: August 4, 2021Category: Certified Zoho Consultants, Zoho Bugs, Zoho CRMLast Updated: May 10, 2023 Comments: 0

This month, we saw just a handful of new features and improvements in our Zoho Updates August 2021. These are primarily for Zoho CRM and Books, and there were a few bug fixes in Creator. We think you might be interested in the update regarding Zoho CRM attachments, and its integration with tools like Google Drive and OneDrive.  Additionally, if you’re a Books user, hopefully you’ve seen the addition of in-app messaging from Cliq.

Get all the details for What’s New, Zoho Updates August 2021. 

New Features & Improvements from Zoho

Zoho CRM

Zoho Books

  • Zoho Cliq chat bar is now available in Books. Enjoy even more seamless communication with your colleagues in the app you’re using, without having to switch tabs.
  • You can now set tax preferences for your vendors and customers in Books. “A major update in the customers and vendors module is the ability to assign tax rates. You can assign these tax rates while creating or editing existing customers or vendors. So, the next time you create a transaction for them, the tax rate will be automatically applied to your line items.”
  • Books improvement lets you create and associate budgets to individual branches or regions of your organization. To associate budgets to your branches: Go to Accountant > Budgets > New Budget > Select a branch. If you have questions or need help setting up this function, ZBrains Support is here for you!

 

Zoho BugsIssues Notices from Zoho

 Zoho Creator

  • The Creator team shared many bug fixes this past month ranging from “minor bug fixes related to pivot chart and table sync issues,” to transition and highlight issues in Blueprint.
  • Another change in place for the maximum length of decimal fields. The field type used for decimal, percent and currency will now max at 16, versus 19 digits in Zoho Creator. Technical limitations are the reason for this updated, and once the change is in place, values longer than 16 digits will be rounded off.
  • Previously, Count as a Percentage or Fraction in Creator pages would not display as anticipated when a record was empty. A recent bug fix resolves this issue.
  • Finally there were minor bug fixes performed, related to subform workflows and pivot reports.

 

General Zoho Ecosystem Updates

In case you missed it during prior months: Important information from Zoho regarding price changes can be found here. If you have questions about this change or wish to schedule a consultation to discuss, please contact us using the form at the end of this article.

Have a question we didn’t answer here?  If you have questions or would like to connect with one of our consultants, schedule below. We’re also available by phone, just call our offices at (888) 207-4111.

 

Connect with a Consultant