Zoho may be the "Holy Grail" of CRMs (and I've been searching awhile!)
September 21, 2021

Zoho may be the "Holy Grail" of CRMs (and I've been searching awhile!)

Susan Dakuzaku | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Professional

Overall Satisfaction with Zoho CRM

I needed a system that would help me manage contact communication and invoicing and would allow me to automate as much as possible. I've worked with a half dozen other CRM systems and this is the first one that seems to manage 95% of my needs within one system because of the integration with other Zoho apps. I've happily described it as the "Holy Grail" of CRM's to my clients. I use it in all aspects of my business. I have since called it the "Swiss Army Knife" of CRMs (seems more apt).
  • Seamless integration with emails so I have a history of communication even if not initiated within the CRM.
  • Customization of fields and layout is nice for quick access to important information.
  • Honestly, the BIGGEST plus is it's integration with the other apps. Zoho Invoice is better than my previous system (that I used for 6 years) and Zoho Meeting has advantages over Zoom. All integrated with the need for Zapier.
  • Zoho One (all the Zoho apps) is costing me less than 2 of my previous tools combined.
  • Navigation can be a little daunting because there are so many options. So not as intuitive to use.
  • Events are really important in my business & wish there was more ability to schedule recurring meetings for multiple attendees. For example, I cannot schedule meetings every 3 weeks.
  • Meeting reminders are nice but cannot customize text and limited to only 2 days prior.
  • Great ROI! I enrolled in Zoho One which is about 1/4 the cost of another CRM I was using with far more functionality.
  • Awesome features! I've been able to manage 95% of my digital needs in Zoho which is a great time (and money) saver.
  • Learning curve pros & cons. I was able to get up and running pretty quickly but there are SO many features & options I feel it will take me a while to take advantage of all it's capabilities.
Fairly intuitive to use but because of all the features & functions, it will take a while to take advantage of all of them. I'm still relatively new to Zoho but look forward to years of use as well as helping my clients get started with a good CRM.
It is complex because there are so many components but they integrate well. It is a great Return-on-Investment. Better than any of the other options I've investigated by at least a 2-1 ratio.
  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 super flexible and most like a relational database which I liked. I could customize entities and how they related to each other. However I wanted to introduce clients to a CRM and realized this was too complex for them. I still use it for personal information but wanted to find another business tool.
  3. Tried HubSpot for 4 months. It had limitations in what I wanted to do and got pricey to implement automation (which was important to me). I had planned on integrating with Mailchimp automation but spanning multiple platforms did not appeal to me.
  4. ActiveCampaign was the recommended as an alternative to Mailchimp. Tried it for 2 months. Found several "bugs" in the automation and tech support could not tell me if it was user error, software limitation or software bug. Threw in the towel.
  5. Found Zoho. Huzzah!! As mentioned earlier, called it the "Holy Grail" as it had all the features I wanted integrated under Zoho One. At $37/mo, I am now paying less than that for any of the above (except Podio) with more functionality. There is no "one size fits all" but this is as close as I've seen at a great price.

Do you think Zoho CRM delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zoho CRM's feature set?

Yes

Did Zoho CRM live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Zoho CRM go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zoho CRM again?

Yes

My business has many types of clients (1-off projects, on-going support, on-line subscribers, monthly classes) and my ability to manage them all is a plus. So diversity and flexibility is a Zoho specialty. Haven't found a scenario yet that wouldn't be a good fit. I'm about to lead a Zoho support group with members in diverse industries so I will keep you posted!

Zoho CRM Feature Ratings

Customer data management / contact management
9
Workflow management
8
Territory management
Not Rated
Opportunity management
8
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)
9
Contract management
9
Quote & order management
9
Interaction tracking
9
Channel / partner relationship management
Not Rated
Case management
Not Rated
Call center management
Not Rated
Help desk management
Not Rated
Lead management
8
Email marketing
8
Task management
8
Billing and invoicing management
9
Reporting
8
Forecasting
Not Rated
Pipeline visualization
Not Rated
Customizable reports
Not Rated
Custom fields
8
Custom objects
Not Rated
Scripting environment
Not Rated
API for custom integration
Not Rated
Not Rated
Role-based user permissions
Not Rated
Single sign-on capability
Not Rated
Not Rated
Social data
Not Rated
Social engagement
Not Rated
Marketing automation
Not Rated
Compensation management
Not Rated
Not Rated
Mobile access
Not Rated

Zoho CRM Support

Response time has been generally pretty good. Sometimes communication is a little challenging because I suspect English is a second language for some, but my questions get answered so that is the most important. I've spoken with support, chatted as well as emailed. All have been effective in answering the question.