ActiveCampaign vs. Zoho CRM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ActiveCampaign
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
ActiveCampaign is presented as an AI-first marketing platform for marketers, agencies, and entrepreneurs. It uses Active Intelligence for goal-aware automation and personalized experiences across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. ActiveCampaign integrates with 950+ apps and generates insights to optimize every workflow.
$19
per month
Zoho CRM
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Zoho CRM is a simple, very low-cost CRM option for the smaller end of the SMB segment. The product has several useful integrations with other products, including QuickBooks, and Google Apps and Google Docs. The product also has an integrated project management module.
$14
per month
Pricing
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Editions & Modules
Starter
$19
per month
Plus
$59
per month
Pro
$89
per month
Enterprise
$159
per month
Standard
$14.00
Per User/Per Month
Professional
$23.00
Per User/Per Month
Enterprise
$40.00
Per User/Per Month
Ultimate
$52.00
Per User/Per Month
Plus
$57.00
Per User/Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup fee$14 /user/month
Additional DetailsActiveCampaign offers a discount for annual billing of up to 20%. Services included in all plan tiers: ActiveTraining Community access Contact migration Customer enablement workshops Video tutorials Chat and ticket support Knowledge base & help guides
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Considered Both Products
ActiveCampaign
Chose ActiveCampaign
much more user friendly than these other alternatives.
Chose ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign focuses much more on automation and email marketing. It also has highly advanced customization in both marketing campaigns and contacts, allowing them to tag and send content based on the interaction that the contact has had. ActiveCampaign offers custom email, …
Chose ActiveCampaign
Being a small business, the automations combined with the ability to integrate into our API / website was the real gamechanger.
Chose ActiveCampaign
You have a better personalization tool with ActiveCampaign and also it has a better performance on analytics and custom reports. We choose ActiveCampaign over the rest because it better satisfies our needs as a marketing agency, and also it has a better performance with our …
Chose ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has a lot of features over other tools
So, the good thing about this software is that integrate some other software function in a really good platform (a bit expensive, but worth it)
How easy is to set up campaigns, automation, landing pages, forms, etc.. make it …
Chose ActiveCampaign
It's easier to use than most, it has a broader trigger options for drip campaigns, great tagging and segmenting systems, the pipelines are easy to use, the best customer service, and the best drip campaigns layout. We rarely experience bugs.
Chose ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is cheaper with just as much (if not more) capability. Mailchimp is very easy to use, but so is ActiveCampaign. They have very similar uses, so it's all preference. Mailchimp seems to continuously raise their prices, but I am happy with the cost of …
Chose ActiveCampaign
It is very simple and much more friendly. It allows integration with my marketing programs. In the cost-benefit ratio it has greater advantages. I like its dashboard, it is easy to work with. The other platforms have made the mailing process difficult, increasing your cost per …
Chose ActiveCampaign
Infusionsoft was terrible for us, but other than Infusionsoft every other CRM product I've used seemed better (from a sales perspective) than AC. HubSpot I think is the nice middle between user-friendly and simple for a company of our size. Again, if you are smaller than we are …
Zoho CRM
Chose Zoho CRM
  1. I started with Infusionsoft (now Keap) years ago. Quite expensive to on-board ($2K+ in training) plus monthly fee was $179. Abandoned after 8 months because it could not allow me to invoice clients by the hour.
  2. I Googled "alternatives" to Infusionsoft. I found Podio. It was …
Chose Zoho CRM
We went with Zoho CRM because of the affordability and so we can increase our contact limit without costing us too much - that's the main drawback with CRMs like ActiveCampaign, Hubspot and Cloze - they get costly as you increase contact limits, so I feel they're more for …
Chose Zoho CRM
ActiveCampaign is easier to start with a scale up, I did it on my own without a consultant and enjoy using it everyday now.
Chose Zoho CRM
While some of these other tools can act as a basic CRM, it has strengths in other areas, like mass email campaigns. Zoho is great for data manipulation and quoting/invoicing. But Zoho strengths are, at the same time lack results in the email marketing component because of its …
Chose Zoho CRM
To be honest this tool was already implemented at the company when I started with them. But what I can tell, is that I've worked with multiple CRM tools in the past and Zoho is the best one. It's a piece of cake to work with the tool, it's really flexible, the learning curve is …
Chose Zoho CRM
Our company switched from the Salesforce CRM to Zoho CRM because Salesforce was much too complex. We were able to set up some good reports, but no one could ever find anything in Salesforce. I also was unable to edit any copy in there, for example, we had drip campaigns that I …
Features
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.4
683 Ratings
10% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor8.1600 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content7.6535 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content7.6485 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages6.4351 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing9.0394 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.6541 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.9649 Ratings00 Ratings
List management9.5668 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences10.0589 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
8.3
536 Ratings
6% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing automation9.2502 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading8.4366 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management9.0408 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks7.5361 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead segmentation and distribution7.512 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.9
384 Ratings
28% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Calendaring9.9304 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing9.9288 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.4
292 Ratings
1% below category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.6259 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration7.2254 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
7.6
645 Ratings
4% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.6614 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.6602 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.6389 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
9.1
504 Ratings
20% above category average
Zoho CRM
-
Ratings
API8.8402 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals8.4274 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability7.8430 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com9.894 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM9.961 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with SugarCRM9.957 Ratings00 Ratings
Third-party software integrations9.132 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.1
288 Ratings
4% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings8.4279 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings8.1266 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings8.1196 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings8.4253 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings8.0248 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings8.2203 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings7.9203 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings7.8249 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings7.8192 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.8
221 Ratings
2% above category average
Case management00 Ratings8.0213 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings7.4172 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings8.1189 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.1
266 Ratings
5% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings8.2261 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings8.1219 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.2
263 Ratings
7% above category average
Task management00 Ratings8.3248 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings8.0180 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.2242 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.1
258 Ratings
7% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings8.0216 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.0235 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings8.3249 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.9
277 Ratings
3% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings8.3275 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings7.9222 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings7.5178 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings8.0203 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.2
266 Ratings
2% below category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.2231 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.1261 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
7.9
165 Ratings
6% above category average
Social data00 Ratings8.0164 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings7.9156 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.2
210 Ratings
10% above category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings8.4207 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings8.0138 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
ActiveCampaign
-
Ratings
Zoho CRM
8.2
230 Ratings
8% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings8.2230 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Small Businesses
Vbout
Vbout
Score 10.0 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.1 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
PFL Direct Mail Platform
PFL Direct Mail Platform
Score 9.1 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(695 ratings)
8.3
(312 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(25 ratings)
7.6
(42 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(57 ratings)
8.0
(172 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(5 ratings)
8.9
(7 ratings)
Performance
7.3
(5 ratings)
8.4
(8 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(41 ratings)
6.5
(69 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(1 ratings)
5.8
(8 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(14 ratings)
5.4
(16 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(4 ratings)
5.1
(114 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(21 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(4 ratings)
7.1
(5 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.0
(5 ratings)
6.3
(6 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(7 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(4 ratings)
8.1
(13 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.3
(4 ratings)
8.2
(13 ratings)
User Testimonials
ActiveCampaignZoho CRM
Likelihood to Recommend
ActiveCampaign
I've been using ActiveCampaign since around 2018-2019 and I've always been satisfied with the software. It's simple to use, connects with the other tools I use and makes it easy for me to duplicate automations, email templates and workflows as I need to. On top of that, any time I've had an issue (which I think is around twice in the past 5/6 years), the customer service has always been super helpful and my issue has been resolved quickly.
Read full review
Zoho
Interfacing with our target clients at the correct minute is crucial in today's society. Another valuable include is its capacity to coordinated with other programs. It helps me in keeping track of the every day work emails I send to my colleagues or get. Zoho CRM makes it straightforward to consequence or send out information agreeing to our needs. Zoho makes a difference keep in mind individuals by means of e-mail and pop-ups, which dispenses with the issue of overlooking follow-ups and reminders. This not as it were helps within the organization of this incredible instrument but moreover within the execution of data.
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Pros
ActiveCampaign
  • Collects and filters emails from various lead magnets exceptionally well (especially if a user wants to re-sign up to the same lead magnet and go through it again, they can)
  • Super easy to use email creation that is aesthetically pleasing and user friendly
  • Easy email sequences and user classification from a large range of opt in trigger options
Read full review
Zoho
  • Hooks into our website and can import data from forms.
  • Has great automation tools built in.
  • Reporting features are great.
  • Easy to learn, makes it easy for us to onboard new users onto it.
  • Fairly customizable. We have fine tuned it to work the way we need it to.
Read full review
Cons
ActiveCampaign
  • It took me a while to get to understand where to find things, and I used a free online course from a consultant who specialises in AC to help me get the foundations set up more easily. That said, there were lots of onboarding workshops, which were good. It just felt like it required a lot of different angles of learning to just get started.
  • The customer support took longer than other software to get back to me via email, though once I found the chat option for my most recent query, that was fast.
  • I've ended up switching to another programme where more software is more naturally integrated, and the AC equivalent is included in the price, along with many other types of software. However, design-wise, ActiveCampaign is much better.
  • I also had a problem with a form used on my WordPress website, which has a BuddyBoss platform - the colours on the form would be overridden by colour choices for the website, so they were hard to read (pink text on purple background instead of the gold text it was meant to be)
  • I couldn't always find the templates I was looking for or how to access them for automation-based emails. I think when I used it, there was a new type of template for newsletters that weren't available for automations, so I had to recreate it, which added time.
Read full review
Zoho
  • Need some way to switch a field type without losing the pre-existing data.
  • The settings controls should be broken out differently - I don't like that I can't keep some users from exporting all contact records (i.e., the entire Contacts module) because if the export function is turned off, the export function of Reports for those same modules is also blocked.
  • Frustrating that only 3 custom lookup fields are allowed per module in our license.
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Likelihood to Renew
ActiveCampaign
I am committed at the moment. Rebuilding the automations I have would be a huge time drain. Plus the cost of learning a new system and the risk to deliverability of porting a 6,000 person list to a new platform. Also, AC offers everything I need ast a reasonable (but a little high) price. So, why not a 10? Because, early 2023, AC dropped a massive 2x price hike on long-term customers. They knew few would shift, so this feels like a cynical cash grab and left a bad taste, If they do something like this again, this camel will have a broken back.
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Zoho
i have already renewed my subscription twice. I am in the 3rd Year now. I have been using it for a while and have been recommending to my friends as well.. have attended ZOHOLICs the annual program of zoho and it gave me new insights of managing the crm solutoin.
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Usability
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign has been the easiest marketing automation software we have ever used. They provide tips throughout the entire process of anything you are building. Their support team through LIVE CHAT has been extremely fast and helpful. The monthly meetings provided with the enablement team has helped us through several large and urgent needs.
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Zoho
The methodology of the 'out of the box' user interface is fairly easy to learn. In some cases however, the interface is not consistent throughout the software. Upgrades to the interface has certainly improved some of this--- but now we are seeing the same kinds of inconsistencies across Zoho apps, particularly those more recently added to their platform. This issue is not major in that everybody on staff seems able to learn how to work the programs--- it's just annoying and less than efficient when inconsistent user interfaces or inconsistent terms are used in the programs and/or the requisite documentation.
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Reliability and Availability
ActiveCampaign
I haven't experienced application errors or unplanned outages at all. Active Campaign is ultra reliable and I would not be using them if that were the case. Also, the helpful emails they send are welcomed and informative, and present very practical tips and guidance for using the platform. They're always demonstrating new features and I'm thankful for that.
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Zoho
In my many years using Zoho, I think there were only 1 or 2 days when there was something happening and I was not able to log in. Sure, it wasn't fun and we all panicked a bit, but right after that, all was well and work-life continued. Being cloud based, I'm never worried about losing my iPhone, iPad or Laptop as I know I can log in anywhere on any device and workflow won't stop.
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Performance
ActiveCampaign
Oh my gosh, Active Campaign's performance gets an A+++ in my book. The pages load quickly and so do the reports. I haven't noticed any slowdowns when it's integrating with other programs and it performs excellently on all levels.
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Zoho
I don't recall every having any issues with a page not loading due to it being a Zoho issue. Anytime I've had any issues with something being wonky, I clear cache and that has always solved the problem. Or a simply computer reboot and we're back, hard at work. Look, I don't expect any product to delivery 100%, 100% of the time but if I had any consistent ongoing issues, I would have left many years ago. I still keep my eyes open to what is new but after a quick evaluation, I know Zoho will long be my home.
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Support Rating
ActiveCampaign
This might be the best part. The chat support lady offered to make a video to help me solve my problem. I worked in customer service for years and I've never done that, lol. So, if they're offering things like that, I can only imagine that they'd be able to handle most any issue you throw at them.
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Zoho
We did the training and that was a huge waste of money. The information provided was basic and the instructor was sloppy (he even forgot to turn off his mic when he used the restroom - no one should ever hear what we heard). I offered up a 9 because we were able to find what we needed on your website.
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In-Person Training
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
Zoho
I attended a Zoho-Holics event in Austin, TX, several years ago, and it blew my mind. So many industries were represented using Zoho in so many different ways. It was unbelievable all that I learned from that experience, as there were features that I wasn't aware of that I immediately started using. Best of all, the trainers were patient and knowledgeable
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Online Training
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
Zoho
There is an endless supply of YouTube videos from Zoho and the many Zoho partners/consultants. Plus, Zoho has it's own library of training videos and webinars to learn from plus an entire community at the ready to answer any questions. While Zoho has been available for many years, there are constantly new training videos and webinars available for the novice and the experienced users.
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Implementation Rating
ActiveCampaign
Very satisfied with our implementation in our professional medical practice, allowing us to be on top of client service, and not miss out on crucial information and insights. Marketing is often neglected in professional practices and ActiveCampaign solved this problem with aplomb.
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Zoho
When you switch CRMs, you can automatically assume everything isn’t going to match up correctly. We had used Salesforce for 10+ years and had a ton of data and customizations. It was not a clean transfer, but we were able to sort it all out. The only issue that really bothered me was Zoho support. Even simple questions couldn’t be answered over chat, and we would have some team members try for hours to find the right answer
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Alternatives Considered
ActiveCampaign
I moved to ActiveCampaign from Mailchimp. Admittedly, I was using the free version of Mailchimp, but I had numerous episodes of subscriber data NOT being added to Mailchimp, despite using API to integrate with my mailing list. Obviously, I couldn't pay for clicks and not capture subscriber data, so I had to find something else. ActiveCampaign has been 100% reliable in testing.
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Zoho
Free user access was one reason to use it more than any other software. Also, for a mid-size organization, the Salesforce cost was a little higher, and Pipedrive was almost similar to Zoho. As we were already using Zoho, we found no urgency to switch.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
Zoho
I think Zoho CRM is priced at a reasonable amount. Simply put, you get what you pay for and Zoho does not disappoint. My organization is comfortable with what we pay and pleased with continually renewing the software. The billing frequency is just right. There are no complaints on our end
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Scalability
ActiveCampaign
My web designer told me about Active Campaign and although I don't recall which platform I had before, I LOVE Active Campaign and its user friendliness. The transition was seamless and I've never had a problem with functionality or server failure.
Active Campaign provides so many features, and makes it easy for non-techies to maneuver around the site with ease. They capture information and put it in an easy-to-read format.
At this point, I don't think I'd ever use any other platform!
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Zoho
We're still in the early stages of scaling this across departments. We have high aspirations of doing this, but it takes time to migrate to the new system and to help people get acquainted of doing their work in a different way thru Zoho.
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Professional Services
ActiveCampaign
No answers on this topic
Zoho
In addition to being a user of Zoho CRM, we are a reseller as well. Often, at times our Partners request for on-boarding the platform configuration for them. During such requirements, we have utilized the Professional services team directly from the Zoho CRM team. Our partner feedback was quite positive, throughout.
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Return on Investment
ActiveCampaign
  • I haven't monetized my list yet so no clear ROI but great from a list-building perspective
  • The software is not cheap so at times I feel like I may not be getting the most out of the product because I'm not using all of the features
Read full review
Zoho
  • because we are new to the CRM world, we wanted a product that was reasonably priced, yet had the features we were looking for
  • we have found a much higher customer engagement rate and ROI
  • we used to "lose" customers in our makeshift process. Now, all customers are being attended to.
Read full review
ScreenShots

ActiveCampaign Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Zoho CRM Screenshots

Screenshot of Deals - Cash in on all opportunities. Close more deals. Great sales management is all about prioritizing, tracking, and monitoring the deals in your pipeline. Zoho CRM gives you everything you need to manage deals across territories and sales structures.Screenshot of Activities - Keep track of all the tasks, meetings, calls, events, or activity records. Neatly organize the numerous records along with the activities associated to them such as follow-up, pre sales and post sales activities, phone conversations etc.