Marketing Automation SMS Costs Are Confusing and Not Accurate

I am a Zoho One user, and I am incredibly confused by the projected Marketing Automation costs. I have opened up several tickets and even had a virtual meeting with a representative, and no one can explain to me the cost of a credit. I am redirected to articles and screenshots that contradict one another. 

Upon logging into MA and going to SMS settings, you're told that a MA campaign costs approximately 15,000 SMS credits. After much back and forth via a ticket (because you can't purchase these yourself), it was explained that I would need to purchase the 15,000 credit add-on. See screenshot below. 

The link referenced in the email is this article. 

I am then directed by support to purchase the add-on for the prices in the screenshot below. 

These prices contradict one another, as the article says that 1664 credits are equal to $4, meaning that one credit = $0.0024. However, the screenshot above provided by support puts the cost of one credit at $0.0288. This is more than 10x the cost quoted in the article. I brought this up in the support ticket, but continued to receive the same responses linking me to the article and also sending me the screenshot of the cost table. Eventually, I was able to have a support call with a representative, but while I thought I received clarification, it's evident that I did not. I purchased 15,000 credits just to move things along. 

I registered my brand and was charged 1664 credits as stated. (Registration took 14 days, instead of the quoted 7 and I had to email every day for an update past the deadline.) 

Today, I've moved forward to register my campaign and am met with a quote of 18720 credits to submit my campaign. 

I am directed to buy MORE credits, but remember, I can't even add these credits myself.... so now I've had to submit yet another ticket to request to purchase more credits. 

For some reason, despite being quoted at $0.0288 per credit in the screenshot (which would have made 15,000 credits $432), I was only charged 203.82, which I imagine is some sort of pro-rating, as there are less than 6 months left on my annual subscription. However, if the credits are one time use and not renewable by month, why is there pro-rating involved? 

At this point, I've spent $203, and have submitted a ticket for another 15,000 credits (which I do not know how much they will cost me).... and I've yet to send a single text message despite working through this for more than a month. I feel scammed by this product and support team while I'm being peppered for updates from my team and boss and have nothing to show them from the last months. 

• Topic Participants

• AnneDella Hines

• Kevin S

  

• Sticky Posts

• How to Add Users to your Organization in ZohoMail?

  A better clarity so you can create other users to start using Zoho Mail. You can directly Add Users from the Control Panel to your Organization. You can invite users with the existing email address. If the person (user) already uses ZohoCRM, then you can import users from Zoho CRM. You can also import them using a .csv file. (if you are planning to add them in Bulk)  In this topic, We will be discussing on how to Add and Invite users only.  The Import options are self explanatory. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Recent Topics

• # 2 Why do we need a billing system when accounting covers billing?

  In today's evolving financial tech stack, businesses use a mix of tools to manage their day-to-day operations, from invoicing to full-fledged accounting. While accounting platforms typically come with built-in invoicing features, specialized billing systems

• How to insert an Excel/Zoho Sheet table in a chat?

  Hello, is there a way to paste an excel/zoho sheet table to a conversation without loosing table lines. I tried to paste a piece of a table and all the columns and rows were gone. How to easily paste a table without a need of sending a file? Katarzy

• Mass Update Application Status

  How to update application statuses of Multiple Applications at once? Is that possible? If not then why please consider adding it It can save hours of manual work Thats the only Option I see

• Free webinar: Streamlining customer service paperwork with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Desk

  Hi there! Wondering how to bridge the gap between digitized customer service and business paperwork? Attend our free webinar to learn how you can do this by connecting Zoho Sign, our digital signature app, with Zoho Desk, our online customer service help

• Mail Search Not Working

  Hello, Mail search is not working at all. I've tried Chrome and Mozilla. I can try and search for an exact term, or even an email that is 1st in my email list. All search does is sit and spin, or it comes up with no results. I've also tried it on my android

• Cannot Send Email to a Gmail Account

  Hello, I have a zoho-hosted email account, alex@chirochannelnetwork.com that has trouble sending to gmail accounts.  But not all gmail accounts, only some of them. I've tried to figure this out with clients, and they don't appear to be going into their

• Unblock ME

  info@pentekykloi.gr Unable to send message;Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked. Learn more. I purchase additional storage

• The Social Wall: July 2025

  Hello everyone! July has brought some exciting new updates to Zoho Social. From powerful enhancements in the Social Toolkit to new capabilities in the mobile app, we’ve packed this month with features designed to help you level up your social media presence.

• Cannot Print Landscape with Zoho Sheet

  I am noticing that when using the Zoho Sheet desktop for Mac, that even when selecting landscape as the print option, once you choose "Print", a second system dialog opens that automatically makes the view portrait again, and does not allow printing in

• Power of Automation : Enhancing custom date field calculations by excluding Weekends and Holidays

  Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:

• Stock count by bin location

  Is there a configuration to make a stock count by bin or area and not by product. these is useful to manage count by area Regards

• Temporary Outage in Zoho Cliq Affecting US Users – July 23, 2025

  We experienced a service disruption in Zoho Cliq that impacted core functionality for users in the US region. The issue occurred between Jul 23, 2025, 06:54:00 PM IST and 07:13:13 PM IST, lasting approximately 19 minutes. To restore service stability,

• portal.assignUserInProfile - Não esta adicionando

  Estou encontrando problema com este comando portal.assignUserInProfile Não esta incluindo o usuário no portal Alguém pode me dizer o que pode ser thisapp.portal.assignUserInProfile("teste@gmail.com","Customer");

• CRM emails vs Campaigns

  Please help me understand this. I am having a difficult understanding of "Campaigns" sent through CRM (real emails) or Zoho One (blast "potentially junk" emails) This is what I currently think emails sent via CRM are "real" emails sent through linked real personal email accounts and therefore are more likely to get delivered.  We use this for critical updates for our "Approved " accounts and certain other preferred statuses emails via Campaigns are sent through the Zoho server (like MailChimp, Campaign

• Setting up property management in Zoho Books

  Hi, I run a property management business that manages property complexes. There are multiple owners, some owning more than one property on the same complex. My role is to manage the fees they pay for maintenance of common areas, such as the swimming pool

• Reverse proxy

  We have a web application in the creator platform. When I launch a particular DNS, I would like that DNS to redirect to the web page of the application in creator app. Has anyone achieved it and if yes, please share how to do it.

• Still client need to download .exe?

  Hello, the client for use zoho assist need everytime download .exe file and launch it?

• Splitting a ticket's entire thread

  Hi, When you split a ticket it only splits the individual reply that you clicked "Split as new ticket" on. Is it not possible to split the entire ticket thread from that point into the new ticket (every reply from the split point forward)? Or is there

• Editing the text on the Help Center home page

  Is it possible to edit the "Welcome to Help Center" message anywhere? This one: We'd like to be able to tailor it a little more ourselves.

• WHMCS for Zoho Flow

  Can we use WHMCS for Zoho flow?

• Online meetings through Calendar Booking form with options

  This is great to see and particularly for those users who don't have Zoho BOOKINGS. The shame of it all though is that it could have been better. Why do we have to set up separate booking forms for each type of meeting and for each online conferencing

• Agents permission per department

  Hi Team, can I setup permission for each agent what they can do in each department, for example I want account department agents to only have view access to support department tickets and not allowed to assign or reply to clients. I am sure this would

• CRM notes

  I want to be able to add notes to a task that do not necessarily get rolled up into an account or contact.   For example, I tasks to work on a Court Order for John Doe divorce account.  There might be lots of updates (in the form of notes) that employees

• Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

  Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child

• Function #8: Add additional charges to invoices

  Here goes one of the highly sought-after custom functions in Zoho Books. If you find yourself needing to apply additional charges to customers on their invoices (say credit card surcharges, or fuel charges applicable to customers from a certain region,

• Alternative / optional Position

  How do you create an alternative position or an optional position (article) in offers?

• جمود في الصفحة عند حفظ عمل

  عندما اقوم باضافة ايقونة الى صفحة النموذج تجمد الصفحة ولا تعمل وتصبح مثل المظلة احدث الصفحة لا تعمل انتظر قليلا لا تعمل اقوم بنسخ رابط الصفحة والصقه في الرابط فيعمل

• ZOHO Books Canadian payroll Integration

  Hello, I know ZOHO books doesn't have Canadian payroll and I dont believe its coming anytime soon. My question is there a Canadian payroll software that could be integrated with Zoho Books? Thank you HD

• Create a draft in reply to an email via Emails API

  Hi, I’d like to use the outgoing webhook to automatically create a draft reply to incoming mail. How can I use the Emails API to create a draft reply that is linked to an existing email thread? I couldn’t find the relevant method in the documentation.

• Zoho Desk Time Tracking and the Salary Privacy Issue

  Hello colleagues, Just wondering if anyone did hit the same wall? In the Desk, when the agent-specific hourly rates are enabled (Zoho Desk → Setup → Time Tracking → Billing Preferences), these Time Entries are being displayed in the Ticket History tab.

• How to Delete, Disable, or Remove Streams from the Mail App?

  Is there a way to remove Streams from the mail app sidebar? I get too many notifications, it doesn't add any value to Zoho's functionality (especially since you can just make comments inside an email), and is distracting. I do not want notifications/alerts

• Delay in MX updates

  Hi, I set MX Records 12 hours ago, and I am receiving email normally, but I still get notification MX record is not pointing correctly. Error: The MX records of your domain is not yet pointed to Zoho Mail. Why there is a delay in detecting MX records,

• Bigin iOS and macOS app update: Link email messages to pipeline records.

  Hello everyone! In the latest version of the Bigin iOS(v1.11.9) and macOS(1.8.9) app, we have brought in support for an option to link email to pipeline records. This helps you to view emails specific to a deal, especially when a contact is associated

• make.com integration

  Just wondering if anyone on Zoho One account connecting apps to Make.com We're on Canadian server (.com) and when connecting to Make.com, it keeps having error of Invalid Client ID. I have contacted both Zoho and Make and both sides said it's not an error

• Article Numbers for KB articles

  Hello, I was wondering if it's possible to turn on article numbers/ part numbering for KB articles. If this is not already a feature, we'd like to request it. Frequently a solution will require multiple articles so tracking which articles are referenced

• Refund Request ,Zoho Mail Subscription (zoho suport is not replying)

  Hi Zoho Team, I recently subscribed to the Zoho Mail yearly plan, but after evaluating it, I found that the interface does not suit my workflow. I’ve already canceled the subscription from my end. As I’m well within your 30-day refund window, I’m requesting

• File Encryption - Zoho Desk iOS app update

  Hello, Everyone! We have now introduced the 'File Encryption' option within the Zoho Desk app as part of the HIPAA Compliance. This option allows the user to encrypt the attachments within the Desk mobile app, which acts as an additional layer of security.

• Data encryption - Zoho Desk iOS

  Hello, Everyone! In the recent iOS version(v2.8.23) of the Zoho Desk app, we have supported data encryption. As a part of HIPAA Compliance, the Zoho Desk mobile app now allow users to encrypt the Desk mobile database as an additional layer of security.

• Notify Admin when a user forgets to check-in or check-out at the designated time.

  Hello, I would like notify the Admin via email when a user forgets to check-in or check-out at the designated time. What is the best way to setup this email notification?

• Assistance Needed with Prospect Conversion Issue

  Hi, I attempted to convert a prospect to an account, but received a pop-up notification indicating that the contact information matches an existing contact. I selected the option to add it to the existing contact, but it appears the prospect was not successfully

• Next Page