- A loyal customer might be praising your product in a forum.
- A frustrated user could be posting a harsh review on a public site.
- An excited partner may have left a comment on your campaign.
- A domain expert might be deconstructing your product.
- A prospect could be inquiring about pricing before ever contacting you.
These conversations are your business's reality in the outside world. However, most businesses rely only on responses from known sources like surveys, support tickets, and emails to analyze their customer experience (CX) stance.
While they are your customers' truths, these direct responses are often limited in terms of purpose. That is, support tickets are limited to specific problems, emails are limited to their specific contexts, and each survey response is limited by its options. These are instances of feedback, but they don't capture the whole CX picture.
For a 360° picture of your CX, you need a setup that gives you insights from both inside and outside your business's purview. That's why in Zoho CRM we introduced the ability to use your
market as a data source in a
previous update, which enables you to associate the module that stores customer reviews as a data source so that customer reviews outside your business are also included in your CX analyses.
However, your customer experience is not limited only to your customers; it applies to anyone who's getting to know your business.
So today, we bring to you the ability to track comments submitted by consumers that are not in your contact list, who we'll call unknown responders.
There are a number of ways you can source these reviews and responses and import them into VoC. The illustration depicts a few:
With these facilities in place, let's understand how tapping into anonymous reviews could help your business using a few use cases:
Understanding the market's pulse: Determine pricing and positioning
Let's say you own a real estate brokerage that deals with premium properties in the Bay area. Before launching a one-of-a-kind property into the market, you'd like to gauge the market's interest while simultaneously assessing their expectations so you can determine your pricing and positioning strategies. Accordingly, you roll out a few mystery advertisements on a video streaming platform and host anonymous surveys on your website.
By subjecting these reviews to CX analyses, you're able to identify market sentiments, common expectations, opinions, and more. This gives you an opportunity to develop the right messaging and positioning strategies even before you list the property.
Give the market what it wants: Curate trending solutions
Or let's say you're a DIY holiday planner that offers a wide range of travel packages. In addition to your seasonal package, you also curate destinations based on conversations and engagement data from your social media handles. You can bring in comments, DMs, hashtags, and mentions from followers who aren't necessarily customers into your CRM, as well as collate suggested locations, identify sentiments and intents, and assess volume to determine what the market wants from your business.
Assess product demand before the rollout date
Businesses can anticipate product demand based on the acceptance the market shows. You can use responses to your campaigns, surveys, blogs, and more to compare the level of purchase intent between your customers and the market. Accordingly, you can plan production, open pre-order reservations, and more.
Between your market and your business lie your prospects—the people that try your product before making purchase decisions. As prospects interact with your product, they develop opinions, and their feedback can introduce insights your business hasn't discovered yet. Compare these findings with those of your customers and market, incorporate fixes in your roadmap, and keep evaluating and enhancing your product's user experience while you convert them into customers.
Analyze brand reviews submitted to resellers, affiliates, or aggregators
Your partners, affiliates, resellers, and aggregators often stand in for your brand in their local markets. You can channel reviews from their customers into your VoC to conduct collective CX analyses.
- Be it a user with a stealth social handle predicting what’s new in your business
- Or, an avid follower contributing business ideas in your social profile
- An exploring prospect curious to try out your product
- A customer that isn't dealing with your brand directly.
These sources offer a wealth of insights that you didn't realize existed in the outer world. By tapping into these reviews, you can:
- Bring your prospects' expectations, concerns, and doubts into your system even before they enter your pipeline.
- Witness how the market compares your business with your competitors.
- Compare how your prospects and customers talk about your business.
- Assess churn risk and forecast outcomes.
- Devise strategies and prevent pitfalls.
All you have to do is to map the module where you store your reviews—regardless of whether you use it in your VoC configuration or not—and choose the review field. VoC will then be able to show insights that include these anonymous reviews.
There–that's all you need to get anonymous reviews in your VoC analyses. At Zoho CRM, we realize the influence customer experience has in the sales pipeline, and to accelerate conversions, we're developing more CX-focused updates as part of VoC. We hope you try them out in your organization and let us know how you like them, as well as what kinds of enhancements you're looking for, so we can improve our VoC portfolio.
Availability: VoC is available in trial mode for organizations in the following editions and DC.

Release plan:
- This enhancement is open for customers in US, IN DCs. Customers in EU, AU, and SA DCs will get this enhancement shortly.
- Resources: Next gen doc | CRM 1.0
That's all for now. See you soon 👋
Thanks and have a good one!
Kind regards,
Saranya Balasubramanian
Recent Topics
日本語フォントの選択肢拡充についての要望
日本語フォントの選択肢がとても少ないと感じたことはありませんか? 多くのアプリ(たとえば Invoice)ではフォントが1種類しかなく、正直あまり使いやすい・見た目が良いとも言えません。 そろそろ、もっと多くの日本語フォントを追加してほしい、そしてすべてのアプリで同じフォント選択肢を使えるようにしてほしいと、私たちユーザーが声を上げる時期だと思います。 ご存じのとおり、現状ではアプリごとにフォント周りの仕様にほとんど一貫性がありません。 みなさん、一緒に要望を出していきましょう!
Ask the Experts 26: Brighten every customer interaction with Zoho Desk all year long
Hello everyone, Greetings and welcome to Ask the Experts 26. As we wrap up 2025, we are excited to invite you to the 26th episode of our Ask the Expert series. 🎄The Merry Metrics Edition = Best of Zoho Desk [Best Practices + Holiday Automation + Year-End
Painfully Slow Zoho mail
Since yesterday Zoho Mail seems to have starting functioning very slowly and having a few bugs. It's slow to open mails, slow to send, slow to change between email accounts. Sometimes clicking on a particular folder (eg Sent folder) stops working and
Emails sent through Bigin are not posting in IMAP Sent folder
I have set up my email to work from within Bigin using IMAP. I am using IMAP so I can sync my email across multiple devices - phone / laptop / desktop / iPad / etc. I want all my emails to populate my email client (outlook & iphone email) whether or
GPS tracking only or Check out facility
Dear Team, Zoho CRM is quite robust CRM but till date i was waiting for the feature of having GPS tracking of Sales employees which is a common demand by all customers for thier field sales executives. We cover them by saying that CRM provides Checkin
Can I use a Standalone CRM Function as the Callback URL For Async Export Data API?
I am creating an export job using this API https://www.zoho.com/analytics/api/v2/bulk-api/export-data-async/create-export/view-id.html There is a "callbackUrl" key in the CONFIG object. I tried copying the URL for a standalone function in CRM which can
Discount on the transaction level in POS
"Is it possible to apply a discount on the total bill before tax in Zoho POS?" I want to apply a discount on the total transaction amount in Zoho POS, but the discount should be calculated before the taxes are applied. Is there an option to do this in
Zoho DataPrep switching Date Format
When using a pipeline that is importing Zoho Analytics data into Zoho DataPrep, the month and day of date fields are switched for some columns. For example, a Zoho Analytics record of "Nov. 8, 2025" will appear in Zoho DataPrep as "2025/08/11" in "yyyy/MM/dd"
Create Tasklist with Tasklist Template using API v3
In the old API, we could mention the parameter 'task_template_id' when creating a tasklist via API to apply a tasklist template: https://www.zoho.com/projects/help/rest-api/tasklists-api.html#create-tasklist In API v3 there does not seem to be a way to
Introducing Dedicated Modules for Plans, Addons, and Coupons in Zoho Billing
We’ve enhanced the way you manage Plans, Addons, and Coupons in Zoho Billing. Previously, all three grouped together under Subscription Items. Now, each one has its own dedicated module, giving you a cleaner and more intuitive experience. This update
Send Automated WhatsApp Messages and Leverage the Improved WhatsApp Templates
Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're excited to announce a major upgrade to Bigin's WhatsApp integration that brings more flexibility, interactivity, and automation to your customer messaging. WhatsApp message automation You can now use
Converting Sales Order to Purchase Order
Hi All, Firstly, this code works to convert a sales order(SO) to a purchase order (PO) via a button, however I am running into an issue when I convert the SO where the values from the line items are not pulled across from the SO to the PO. The ones in
Gain control over record sharing with portal users through our new enhancement: criteria-based data exposure
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! Portals is a self-service avenue through which your clients can access and manage their direct and related data in Zoho CRM. This empowers them to be more independent and enables them to experience a sense of transparency
Jobs at multiple locations
Hi A lot of times we have same job open at multiple locations. So I would like an option where we can create a job and choose multiple locations. Currently we have to create individual jobs for each location. If we can create one job and mention multiple
From Zoho CRM to Paper : Design & Print Data Directly using Canvas Print View
Hello Everyone, We are excited to announce a new addition to your Canvas in Zoho CRM - Print View. Canvas print view helps you transform your custom CRM layouts into print-ready documents, so you can bring your digital data to the physical world with
Passing the CRM
Hi, I am hoping someone can help. I have a zoho form that has a CRM lookup field. I was hoping to send this to my publicly to clients via a text message and the form then attaches the signed form back to the custom module. This work absolutely fine when
Tag Adding Option in Kanban Card Customization Bigin CRM Mobile App
I would like to request an option to add and display tags on Kanban cards in the Bigin CRM mobile app. This feature would make it easier to categorize deals and quickly identify priorities while working on the go.
Empowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM
Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individuals
Canva Integration
Hello! As many marketing departments are streamlining their teams, many have begun utilizing Canva for all design mockups and approvals prior to its integration into Marketing automation software. While Zoho Social has this integration already accomplished,
Ticket Status email
Good day, This was discussed in the past, but it would be helpful if we could have the system assign a custom response to a status. We have various statuses for tickets, e.g. "closed due to no response", or "Pending Status", it would be helpful for the
WhatsApp Voice Message Sending Option in Bigin CRM
I would like to request a feature that allows users to send WhatsApp voice messages directly from Bigin CRM. This would help improve communication efficiency and make it easier for teams to respond quickly to customer inquiries.
CRM: hosting a single html file in Zoho and displaying it as a widget
I have seen that CRM offers the option of uploading a web project to Zoho itself and displaying it as a widget in CRM. The instructions then talk about setting a development environment with Node and developing an application to upload to Zoho. But I
Synchronise item image between Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books/Inventory/CRM
Here is a blindingly simple idea to tie several Zoho products together. Zoho - please include a method to synchronise the item image (or images) from one Zoho application to another. For example, if you upload an item image in Zoho Inventory, a user should
How to change position button transtition of Blueprint?
Hi Everyone, Look at my screenshoot, it is possible move the reject button to the right? I couldn't find that setting in the blueprint. Thank you.
Marketer’s Space - WhatsApp Pricing Update: What Marketers Need to Know and Do
Hello Marketers, Welcome back to Marketer’s Space! WhatsApp made changes to their pricing model on July 1, 2025, moving from conversation-based pricing to a per-message pricing model. This week’s post focuses on what these changes mean for your WhatsApp
Zoho Desk Limitations
Good day, all, I would like to know whether others share my frustration with some of Zoho's limitations. Don't get me wrong, I like Desk (and I also have a subscription for Analytics), I have been with them for close to 10 years, and unfortunately, I
Multi file upload
Hi, I just wonder if one could upload multiple files in one shot, say between one and three files, without adding multiple File Upload fields? Thanks, Alalbany
Sorting Descending in a lookup
I have a case number lookup on multiple forms. I need the most recent added to appear at the top of the lookup or as the list of cases grom it's too much to scroll. Is there a way to have a look up sort descending?
Can we add custom fields to portal community profiles?
How do we add custom fields to our profile pages in our portal community? If we have the ability to add custom fields, will we be able to access those fields via API? We want to use our Desk community in our help portal as our primary community and would
Auto-upload Creator Files to WorkDrive
Hi everyone, I’m working on a workflow that uploads files from Zoho Creator to specific subfolders in Zoho WorkDrive, as illustrated in the attached diagram. My Creator application form has two multi-file upload fields, and I want—on successful form submission—to
Asap Widget 2.0
Where's the documentation for the new ASAP widget? https://www.zoho.com/desk/developers/asap/#introduction this one is outdated How can we dynamically navigate between different views? How can we prefill ticket forms using ASAP 2.0?
Update date & time when a cell is edited
Hi All, I am desiring to have a cell update with the current date and time when another cell is edited. Any ideas? Thank you
CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive
Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files
Can the Trigger be changed?
I'm afraid I already know the answer, but here goes... After activating a workflow (under Campaigns > Automations), Then later choosing to Edit the workflow, Can the Workflow's Trigger be changed? Currently the entire Trigger section + options are gone
Marketer's Space: Proven tips to improve open rates – I
Hello Marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space! In this week's post, we'll discuss the ever-important concept of open rates. This will be a multi-part series, as we have a range of topics to cover. Open rates—which measure the percentage
Holidays
Hi; For defining Holidays, you need to add logic to handle the year as well as the month & day. We need to be able to enter Holidays for the next year. I need to add a holiday for January 2, 2017, but I can't until January 1st, which is a Sunday and we
Creating Custom PDF Template from Form
I am trying to create a custom PDF from form submissions. I have the standard subscription and it indicates that PDF forms are included. I cannot find anywhere to create PDF forms. I try to follow the instructions from here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/forms/form-settings/pdf-settings/pdf-editor/articles/creating-your-own-pdf-template#Creating_your_template_from_the_scratch
Important Update: Facebook Metrics Deprecation & Impact on Zoho Analytics
Dear Zoho Analytics users, Facebook has deprecated a set of metrics from the Facebook Pages Insights API, effective November 15, 2025. As a result, these changes will affect any reports and dashboards in Zoho Analytics that rely on Facebook Pages data.
Quick Copy Column Name
Please add the ability to quickly copy the name of a column in a Table or Query View. When you right-click the column there should be an option to copy the name, or if you left-click the column and use the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut it should copy the
Conditional Field Visibility in Bigin CRM
I would like to request support for conditional field visibility within Bigin CRM. This feature should allow administrators to configure show/hide rules for fields based on predefined criteria (e.g., field values, picklist selections, stage changes,
Next Page