Scenario: Zylker Inc. sends three different kinds of email — a monthly newsletter, product release notes, and seasonal offers. By creating a topic for each and associating contacts accordingly, a developer who wants release notes but not offers gets exactly that. When Zylker sends an offers campaign, that developer is automatically left out, with no manual list juggling required.

Before you begin

• A default topic already exists. Every Zoho Campaigns organization comes with a default topic called Marketing. Contacts are automatically associated with it, so if a single generic topic is all you need, you don't have to map anyone manually. You'll see the topic-selection options described below only once you've created at least one more topic.
• Topics must exist first. To associate contacts with a specific topic, that topic has to be created. In short: click the Settings icon → under Contacts & Customization click Topics & Preference Management → Add Topic → specify the Name and Description → Save. For the full walkthrough, refer to Creating topics in Zoho Campaigns.
• Only Marketing contacts can hold topics. Topics can be associated only with contacts whose subscription type is Marketing. Non-Marketing and Unsubscribed contacts can't be associated with topics.
• Lawful basis is GDPR-gated. The Lawful basis for communication field appears only if you've enabled GDPR Compliance under Settings → Consent & Privacy → Compliance Settings. If it's off, you won't see this field.
  
  
  

Ways to associate contacts with topics

• While manually creating contacts
• For a single contact — from the contact detail view
• For many contacts at once — in bulk from the list view
• While importing contacts from a file
• For contacts in a list or a segment
• Through signup forms — applied automatically or chosen by the contact
• Through integrations — Zoho apps and third-party sync services
• Inside workflows — using the Subscription Management component

While manually creating contacts

1. From the Navigation Toolbar to the left, click Audience and select Contacts.
2. Click the down arrow beside the Import Contacts button at the top-right and choose Add New Contact(s).
3. Provide data for basic fields like Contact Email, First Name, Last Name, Mobile, and Country in the table.
4. Choose the Subscription Type. To associate topics, set it to Marketing. Then select the Topics the contact is interested in, the Lawful basis for communication, and the mailing list to associate them to.
5. If needed, associate tags to your contact.
6. You can also create topics, lists, and tags on the fly — type the name in the respective field and click the Create option that appears.
7. Click the Add button at the bottom to save the contact.

Notes:

• Either the Contact Email or Mobile needs to be filled, without which you can't create a contact.
• Topics are associated only to Marketing contacts, not to Non-Marketing or Unsubscribed contacts.
• The Lawful basis for communication field appears only if GDPR Compliance is enabled under Settings → Consent & Privacy → Compliance Settings.
• A maximum of 20 contacts can be added manually at once. To add more, import them.
  

When to use this: Manual addition is handy when you want to create a single contact or a handful of contacts quickly and an import file isn't readily available. Keep in mind that every contact you add in one pass will share the same subscription type, topic, and list associations.

For a single contact (contact detail view)

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Contacts.
2. Click the contact's name or email address to open the contact detail view.
3. Go to the Associations tab and open the Topics sub-tab.
4. Click + Associate Topic at the top-right. In the dropdown you can either:

1. Search for an existing topic, select it, choose the lawful basis, and click Save; or
2. Type a new topic name, click the Create button, choose the lawful basis, and click Save.

Note: The Topics sub-tab also shows each topic's category and per-topic engagement metrics, so you can see which subjects this person actually responds to.

For many contacts at once (bulk, from the list view)

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Contacts.
2. Make sure you're in a view that contains Marketing contacts (for example, the Marketing view), since topics can be associated only with Marketing contacts.
3. Select the contacts. You can select specific contacts with the checkboxes, select every contact on the page using the checkbox next to the Contact Email column, or click Select All to select more than 200 across the whole view.
4. Click the Actions button at the top and choose Assign Topics.
5. Select the topics, choose the lawful basis, and click Save.

Note: Bulk actions are specific to the view you're in. If you use Select All in the Non-Marketing view, only those contacts are affected — and since topics can't be applied to Non-Marketing contacts, switch to a Marketing view first.

While importing contacts

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Contacts.
2. Click the Import Contacts button at the top-right.
3. Click inside the dotted box or click the Upload File button to choose a .csv or .xlsx file (up to 25 MB). Use the down arrow beside Upload File to import from Zoho WorkDrive or other cloud services.
4. Choose how to handle duplicates — Overwrite Contacts or Skip Duplicates.
5. Under the Associations section, set the Subscription Type to Marketing.
6. In the Add to List field, choose the mailing lists (up to 10).
7. In the Add to Topic field, select the topics to associate with your Marketing contacts (up to 25). Choose the Lawful Basis for Communication

   as well, if GDPR Compliance is enabled.

   Select a topic and choose the lawful basis after uploading the file

   
   
8. Click Continue at the bottom-right and proceed with field mapping.

Notes:

• Topics are associated only to Marketing contacts, not to Non-Marketing or Unsubscribed contacts. A maximum of 25 topics can be associated.
• During field mapping, if some or all contacts have the Marketing subscription type, associate topics to them using the topic selection and lawful basis fields at the far right of the Subscription Type row.
• For the complete import walkthrough (uploading, mapping, and import summary), refer to How to import contacts in Zoho Campaigns.
  

For contacts in a list or a segment

1. Open the list or segment you want to work with.
2. Click the Contacts tab.
3. Select the contacts using the checkboxes (or select the whole page, or Select All).
4. Click the Actions button.
5. Click Assign Topics.
6. Search for and select the topic name(s), choose the lawful basis, and click Save
   to associate.
   
   
   
   Audience -> Lists -> click a list -> follow the numbers
   
   

Note: Contacts are added to a segment automatically based on its criteria — you can't manually add a contact to a segment. But you can still assign or remove topics for the contacts a segment has already gathered, using the flow above.

Use case: You run a segment of contacts whose Job Title is “Marketer” and who belong to your Newsletter list. Open that segment, go to its Contacts tab, Select All, and assign a Marketing Tips topic in one pass — every current member is associated and a lawful basis is captured for the whole group at once.

Through signup forms

Apply a topic automatically to everyone who signs up

1. Go to the Audience tab from the Navigation Toolbar and click Forms.
2. Open the signup form you want to configure.
3. Click the Edit icon next to the Associated topic option.
4. In the pop-up, select the topic and click Associate. Every contact who submits this form is now associated with that topic.

Let contacts choose their own topics (multiple topic selection)

1. Go to the Audience tab and click Forms.
2. Create a new form (click Create Form and choose the Long Form template) or edit an existing long form.
3. Enable Multiple Topic Selection under Add Special Elements. If prompted to enable multiple topic subscription, click Go Ahead.
4. Drag the topics you want onto the form (into the Drag & Drop your topics here area).
5. Click Save and Proceed once finished.

Note: Multiple topic selection is available only in the Long Form signup form type.

Through integrations (Zoho and third-party apps)

1. Click the Settings icon at the top-right.
2. Under Integrations, click Apps.
3. Find and open the app you want to integrate with, and begin the integration setup.
4. Set the Subscription Type to Marketing, so that topics can be associated.
5. In the Topics (or Assign Topics) field, select the topics to associate with the incoming Marketing contacts, and choose the lawful basis.
   

   
   

   Select topics to associate to contacts in sync page.

   
   

   
   
6. Complete the integration setup and field mapping.

• Zoho apps: Zoho CRM, Bigin, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Creator, Zoho Backstage, Zoho Meeting, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Contacts, Zoho Docs / WorkDrive.
• Third-party apps: Salesforce, HubSpot, SugarCRM, MS Dynamics, Google Contacts, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, Evernote, Eventbrite, GoToWebinar, Unbounce.

Inside workflows (Subscription Management component)

Letting contacts associate themselves with topics

Viewing contacts associated with a topic

Using the filter under Contacts

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Contacts.
2. Click the Filter button at the top-right.
3. In the slide-in panel, open the Topics category, choose the condition (for example, subscribed to / is), and select the topic. Topic association is also available under the Associations category.
4. Click Apply to see the matching contacts.

Contact detail view

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Contacts.
2. Click the contact's name or email to open the detail view.
3. Open the Associations tab and select the Topics

   sub-tab. You'll see every topic this contact is associated with, along with its category, the contact's status, and engagement metrics.
   

   
   

   Click a contact -> Associations tab.

   
   

Creating a segment

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Segments.
2. Click Create at the top-right and choose Segment.
3. Give the segment a Name, then set the Criteria to Topic is / in and select the topic name.
4. Click Save. The segment now holds every contact associated with that topic and refreshes automatically as associations change.

Removing topics from contacts

In bulk (from the list view, a list, or a segment)

1. From the Navigation Toolbar, click Audience and select Contacts. (You can also do this from the Contacts tab inside a list or segment.)
2. Select the contacts (specific, whole page, or Select All).
3. Click the Actions button and choose Remove Topics.
4. Select the topics to remove and click Save.

Notes, tips, and FAQs

• Only Marketing contacts can hold topics. If a contact's subscription type isn't Marketing, the topic options won't appear. Change the subscription type first.
• The default Marketing topic is automatic. Until you create a second topic, contacts map to the default Marketing topic and you won't see the association options.
• Contacts can hold multiple topics. A single contact can subscribe to as many topics as apply to them.
• Lawful basis is GDPR-gated. The Lawful basis for communication step appears only when GDPR Compliance is enabled under Settings → Consent & Privacy → Compliance Settings.
• Unmapped Marketing contacts can be skipped. Because topic campaigns send only to associated contacts, a Marketing contact with no relevant topic may not receive the email. Associate contacts with a topic to keep them reachable.
• Multiple topic selection needs a Long Form. The self-service topic picker is available only in the Long Form signup form type.