Zoho CRM is Zoho’s flagship application that can help you boost sales and streamline your marketing and customer service processes. It’s widely used by companies both big and small, in a variety of industries. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, your business can benefit by implementing Zoho CRM. In this article we’ll discuss some of the top features.
As you probably already know, CRM stands for customer relationship management and the application can be used to keep track of your leads and deals, lower sales and marketing costs, build a database of customers and create detailed reports to help you make better business decisions. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
So, let’s take a look at all the benefits that Zoho CRM can bring to your business.
1) Lead Management
Zoho CRM offers efficient lead management that’ll lower your costs and boost sales. Create a systematic process that helps you sift and sort through all incoming leads and place them in appropriate quality buckets.
It helps you detect the people who are most likely to become paying customers. This means your sales team will always know who to engage to make a sale! Let them use smart web forms and a live chat, scan business cards, connect with leads via multiple channels, create targeted email campaigns and more to get the most out of every lead.
You don’t have to waste any more time on leads that were never going to buy in the first place.
2) Deal Management
Keep track of your deals, see where they stand and close them more easily. Create customized sales pipelines for different audiences and keep an eye on your competitors to make sure you’re always sending out the best offer. Zoho CRM deal management tool also lets you quickly view your deals, and analyze past ones, so you always know which deals need the most immediate attention. If you’re looking for a tool to help you increase your selling opportunities – this is it.
3) Account and Contact Management
Account management capabilities in Zoho CRM are great for managing your business relationships with other legal entities.
It helps you detect sales opportunities, sort through the accounts according to certain criteria and build meaningful relationships. See everything in one place, get key insights and keep track of your transactions.
On the other hand, Contact management helps you build better relationships with individual people so they can become returning customers. Use the CRM to communicate across multiple channels, including emails, live chats, calls and social media. Get notified about your contacts’ actions to respond in a timely manner. B2B companies can use both the Account and Contact management modules of Zoho CRM to handle their communication with individual people as well as other businesses. But if your business is all about B2C, then just the Contact module will be enough for you.
4) Analytics and Reporting
Take your business in the right direction with detailed data analysis and reporting. Track your sales cycles and measure their success. Create charts, templates and custom reports you can easily export and share with others. Get a general overview or dive deep into the details. Don’t forget to combine your reports for more context, compare different metrics to detect any correlations and always know where you stand with your KPIs!
This is one of the Zoho CRM top features you’ll want to use the next time you have to make a big business decision.
5) Process Management
Creating a reliable sales process gives your sales team the consistency they need to keep performing well. From qualifying leads to closing deals, Zoho CRM helps you manage your sales process from start to finish and makes it easy to keep an eye on the progress of every sales team member. Create Blueprints to set up every step of the sales process and implement them consistently. Streamlining your process by using blueprints will eliminate the need for micromanagement and enable you to get better sales results.
6) Workflow Automation
Automation is king when it comes to saving time. Create Workflow rules to offload repetitive tasks from your employees and set conditions to trigger them at just the right time. Send welcome emails, order and delivery confirmations or automatically create a new contact in the CRM when you receive a new email. Get reminded that deals are stuck in a certain stage longer than they should be or that estimates sent to clients are near or past their due date. You can also use automation to schedule tasks, update fields or create a custom action that your business needs.
7) Marketing Automation
Your marketing team can also benefit from automation. Zoho CRM can help them create more effective marketing campaigns by targeting the right audience and attract higher quality leads for the sales team. Automatically collect data on every interaction with a lead so you can always have a tailored approach and increase sales. Track the success of your campaigns and measure your ROI – take note of what works so you can do it again.
8) Territory Management
Are you doing business in different states or regions? Do you have multiple product lines? If so, Zoho CRM territory management lets you segment your customers according to geography, different products or other relevant criteria. This means you can analyze revenue and sales activities across set territories, manage resources and create sales forecasts. Set sales goals and see which teams are your best performers.
9) Forecasting
Keep your sales team on track by creating realistic forecasts and goals. Use the data on past results and achievements and combine them with real-time data, like active deals currently in the pipeline, to assign targets and forecast expected revenue. This approach will keep your targets achievable and your sales team will stay in the sweet spot of being challenged and motivated. Also, Zoho’s AI can help you make better forecasts based on historical data.
10) Customization
One of the best Zoho CRM top features is that it’s highly customizable! Any business can adjust it to its needs, be it by using the language and currency of your customers or by creating custom layouts and forms to gather information that’s most relevant for you. Design your own processes and pipelines, easily filter the CRM data to find just what you need and decide which notifications you want to receive to stay in the loop.
11) Canvas Design Studio
Would you like your software to look more dynamic and less like a sterile, boring database? Well, Canvas Design Studio in Zoho CRM lets you design your own interface look. Use the simple drag and drop logic to create your own interface designs, stay on brand and create a more positive user experience for your team. If you don’t want to create your own visual look from scratch, use one of Zoho’s templates and make adjustments as needed!
12) Omnichannel Communication
Potential customers are everywhere. This is why Zoho CRM implemented omnichannel communication on its platform, so you can meet your prospects where they’re most comfortable – and still have all the key information in one place. You can keep track of interactions across all channels and preserve all the context your sales team can then use to build better relationships with customers. Handle all your emails, calls, live chats on your site, embedded forms and even your interactions on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram profiles! All from one place.
13) Team Collaboration
Zoho CRM won’t just make your customer relationships easier to manage. It can also encourage collaboration among your teammates to help them create solutions faster. Create Feeds – channels where your team can discuss deals, share updates and work on ideas. They can also use chat when they need instant help and get the attention of a specific person by tagging them. Make team collaboration easier for everyone! You can keep track of interactions across all channels and preserve all the context your sales team can then use to build better relationships with customers. Handle all your emails, calls, live chats on your site, embedded forms and even your interactions on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram profiles! All from one place.
14) Data Security
When you collect and manage hefty amounts of data, you have to take measures to keep the data safe. This is why Zoho CRM provides you with plenty of data security measures you can choose to implement. Encryption, IP restrictions, audit logs and two-factor authentication will let you protect sensitive data, prevent unauthorized access and keep everything safely stored and backed up. Zoho CRM also helps you stay HIPAA and GDPR compliant.
15) Mobile Apps
Stay in the loop even when you’re out of the office with Zoho CRM mobile app. Keep in touch with leads and your team, access important information wherever you are and use your analytics dashboard to make smart decisions even on the go.
Do you have important meetings to go to? Let your mobile app plan the best route to take. And while you’re at it, scan your potential customers’ business cards and transfer the data automatically into the CRM.
16) Integrations
Just like any other great app, Zoho CRM can be integrated with a number of other apps you’re already using to make it even more useful.
Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Shopify, MailChimp, WhatsApp, Zoom and Dropbox are just some of the 3rd party integrations with Zoho CRM. It can also be integrated with other Zoho apps.
How Can Zoho CRM Boost Your Business?
Almost any business can benefit from Zoho CRM features we described in this article.
It can boost your sales by helping you detect high quality leads and giving you all the context and data you need to turn them into won deals. Manage your customers’ information, keep it safe and use it to build meaningful relationships and increase trust in your brand.
Create your own processes, separate leads according to your criteria and customize the tool to your taste. Automate your workflows and marketing efforts. Help your team even more by encouraging collaboration and letting them engage with customers via various channels. Integrate with other apps and do all of the above even on the go!
