Kaizen 216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

Welcome to another week of Kaizen!

For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are operating in a vacuum.

What happens when a high-value deal is finally flagged, or a new social media post is published? How does the team know to take the next crucial step? How does the system connect with your team? Through Automatic Actions-the vital link between automation and people.   

The actions include:

1. sending email notifications
2. assigning tasks to users
3. updating fields
4. communicating with third-party applications by sending instant web notifications, etc.

In this post we will focus on Email Notifications.

After bringing structure and visibility to workflows using the custom admin dashboard, the system administrators at Zylker seek to include Workflow Actions so that details of the actions associated with each workflow can be managed from the dashboard itself. Including Email Notification details to Zylker's dashboard ensure the right people receive clear, actionable email alerts at the perfect moment.

This update to the dashboard will allow system admins to:

1. audit the existing email notifications,
2. create new email notifications,
3. update existing email notifications, and
4. clean up inactive and unwanted email notifications.

STEP 1: Discover and audit existing email notifications

To get details of email notifications in the system the admins use GET email notifications API. This gives us the required information about email notifications in the system. 

Request URL: 

GET {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/email_notifications

Response JSON: 

{     "email_notifications": [         {             "template": {                 "name": "VP Alert - High Value Deal",                 "id": "6660682000001292005"             },             "reply_to_address": {                 "resource": {                     "id": "5843104000000424686"                 },                 "type": "user"             },             "created_time": "2025-02-26T14:35:51+05:30",             "lock_status": {                 "locked": false             },             "editable": true,             "module": {                 "api_name": "Deals",                 "id": "6660682000000002181"             },             "related_module": null,             "deletable": true,             "recipient_count": "3",             "source": "crm",             "created_by": {                 "name": "Alex Rivera",                 "id": "6660682000000501002"             },             "feature_type": "workflow",             "modified_time": "2025-07-06T16:15:58+05:30",             "associated": true,             "name": "VP Alert - High Value Deal",             "modified_by": {                 "name": "Alex Rivera",                 "id": "6660682000000501002"             },             "id": "6660682000000000353",             "from_address": {                 "resource": {                     "id": "5843104000000424686"                 },                 "type": "user"             }         },    //more records omitted for brevity     ],     "info": {         "per_page": 200,         "count": 2,         "page": 1,         "more_records": false     } }

STEP 2: Create new email notifications

The admin seeks to create a new email notification when a deal is lost. For creating the email notification first the admin should create an email template in Zoho CRM. 

Lost Deal Email Template

For creating an email notification, admin uses Create Email Notification API.

Request URL: 

POST {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/email_notifications

Input JSON: 

{   "email_notifications": [     {       "template": {         "name": "Lost Deal",         "id": "5843104000006629014"       },       "module": {         "api_name": "Deals",         "id": "5843104000000002181"       },       "related_module": null,       "feature_type": "workflow",       "bulk_email": false,       "recipients": {         "to": [           {             "details": {               "api_name": "${!Deals.Owner}",               "id": "5843104000000002555"             },             "type": "merge_field"           },           {             "details": {               "api_name": "${!Deals.Owner.Reporting_To}",               "id": "5843104000000256015"             },             "type": "merge_field"           },           {             "resource": {               "name": "Patricia Boyle",               "id": "5843104000000424672"             },             "type": "user"           }         ]       },       "name": "LostDealNotification"     }   ] }

Response:

{     "email_notifications": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "id": "5843104000006646001"             },             "message": "alert created successfully",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

Key Fields:

1. Basic Fields

1. name: A unique identifier for your notification (e.g., "LostDealNotification")
2. feature_type: Set to "workflow" for automation-triggered notifications from workflow. 
3. template: The ID and name of the email template you created earlier
4. module: The ID and API_name of the module this  email notification applies to.
5. bulk_email: bulk_email field indicates whether the email notification will be sent a single mass email with all recipients displayed. When this key is set as true, you can add recipients in CC and BCC

2. Recipients 

The recipients object determines who receives the notification. The possible recipients to an email notification are indicated by the to, cc and bcc keys. These  type field inside these keys indicate the type of recipient, with possible values including merge_field, group, role, role_and_subordinate, territory, territory_and_subterritory, emails, user (applicable for team modules), and profile (applicable for team modules).

You can use three main strategies to add recipients:

1. A. Dynamic Fields (Merge Fields) 

           Use "type": "merge_field" to dynamically pull email addresses from the record:

{   "type": "merge_field",   "details": {     "api_name": "${!Deals.Owner}" // Sends to the deal owner   } }

1. B. Specific Users or Groups or Roles or Territories

          Use these options to send notifications to specific people

{   "type": "user",   "resource": {     "id": "5843104000000424672"  // Patricia Boyle's user ID   } }

1. C. Direct Email Addresses

          Use "type": "emails" for fixed email addresses:

{   "type": "emails",   "details": {     "emails": ["customer.success@zylker.com"]   } }

STEP 3: Updating an email notifications  

Zylker noticed a troubling pattern in their sales analytics. They were experiencing a much higher deal loss rate compared to the same period last year. The management brought in Mark Stevens, a Sales Strategist who specializes in analyzing lost deals. His first request was simple: "I need to see every lost deal as it happens to spot patterns in real-time."

Rather than creating new work flow rules or actions, the admin simply updates the existing email notification for lost deals to include Mark.

Request URL to update the lost deal email notification: 

POST {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/email_notifications/5843104000006646001

Input JSON: 

{     "email_notifications": [         {             "recipients": {                 "to": [                     {                         "details": {                             "api_name": "${!Deals.Owner}",                             "id": "5843104000000002555"                         },                         "type": "merge_field"                     },                     {                         "details": {                             "api_name": "${!Deals.Owner.Reporting_To}",                             "id": "5843104000000256015"                         },                         "type": "merge_field"                     },                     {                         "resource": {                             "name": "Patricia Boyle",                             "id": "5843104000000424672"                         },                         "type": "user"                     },                    {                         "details": {                             "email": ["mark.stevens@zylker.com"]                         },                         "type": "emails"                     }                 ]             }         }     ] }

Response:

{     "email_notifications": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "id": "5843104000006646001"             },             "message": "alert updated successfully",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

After analyzing two weeks of lost deal notifications, Mark identified a pattern in the lost deals: over 80 percent of the recent losses were concentrated in the one industry - healthcare. He found that healthcare prospects consistently raised concerns about HIPAA compliance and data security protocols and that Zylker's sales team were not addressing them effectively. He made suggestions to train the sales team so that they can confidently address these specific requests.

STEP 4: Deleting email notifications  

Any unwanted or redundant email notification can be deleted using Delete Email Notifications API.

Request URL to delete an email notification: 

DELETE {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/email_notifications/5843104000006645001

Request URL to delete multiple email notifications: 

DELETE {api-domain}/crm/v8/settings/automation/email_notifications?ids=5843104000006645001,5843104000006645002

However, notifying alone is not sufficient. It should be followed with actionable tasks. In the next post, we will explore Workflow Tasks APIs.

We hope that you find this post on Actions - Email Notifications APIs useful. If you have any feedback, or if there are any pain-points that you would like us to address in our Kaizen series, please let us know in the comments, or reach out to us via support@zohocrm.com. 

Previous Kaizen : Kaizen #213 - Workflow APIs - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 | Kaizen Directory

• Topic Participants

• Mable Mary M P

  

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

• Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

• Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

• Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

• Recent Topics

• Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

  Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

• The Social Wall: January 2026

  Hello everyone, We’re back with the first edition of The Social Wall of 2026. There’s a lot planned for the year ahead, and we’re starting with a few useful features and improvements released in January to help you get started. Create a GBP in Social

• Pipeline: Copying rulesets from one data source to another

  When creating and editing data pipelines, it would be really helpful to be able to copy the ruleset from one data source and 'paste' it to another. This would save time and reduce manual mistakes.

• Doubt about maximum email reach

  Good morning, greetings. This is Bramdon García from EDULABS S.A.S ESP, located in Colombia. I'm writing to inquire about the possibility of sending an email to 35,000 people simultaneously. Our company has a Zoho account, but we'd like to know if there's

• Zoho calendar not working in browser

  Hello, I am new to Zoho. I have two accounts for two separate businesses. In one of them, calendar loads in a browser no problem. However, if I use this account (sairfeetmusic.co.uk) calendar does not load. I also cannot add it to my Thunderbird Lightening

• Authentication Failure when adding POP3 accounts

  Hi everyone, I am a new user currently migrating from Gmail to Zoho Mail. I decided to make the switch following Google's decision to discontinue POP3 fetching. I previously used Gmail as my primary mail hub, and Zoho seems like the perfect alternative

• Trident Application Folder

  Hi, How to choose installation folder for Trident, by default it gets installed in C drive. How to change drive?

• Email disappeared to specific contact

  Good afternoon, this morning I emailed somebody. This email isn’t showing up in my sent folder. They sent me a response which I clicked on and it disappeared immediately. Why could this be?

• Create an Eye-Catching Announcement Widget for Your Help Center

  Hello Everyone! In this week’s edition, let’s explore how to keep your customers updated with exciting news in the Help Center. See how ZylkerMobile wowed their customers by bringing updates right to their portal. ZylkerMobile, the renowned brand for

• Updating records through Zoho Sheets View doesn't update timeline or trigger workflow rules

  I have noticed that when i update a series of record with the zoho sheets view (see here http://d.pr/i/ahnR) it doesn't update timeline history or trigger workflow rules. I am using it in the Deals module. Looking forward for some more info. Denis

• Mail Search should allow grouping by conversation like Gmail.

  Having switched from gmail I have found the search function hard to use. Mostly because mail is not grouped by conversation in search. If I search for a word when looking for a conversation had with someone then sometimes 10 emails will come up from the

• Updation of Old Browsers Versions for Zoho CRM

  We have upgraded the default browser version for CRM to facilitate features like widgets and scripts that are often implemented aside from advanced functionalities for various business requirements. The latest version is aimed to provide better performance

• Project-Based Inventory Consumption and Proforma Invoice in Zoho ERP

  While working with customers across different industries, we have identified a few functional questions and gaps that commonly arise—especially for project-based and service-oriented businesses. Many organizations, such as those in shipping, construction,

• Zoho Desk domain Mapping not Working Showing CNAME Error

  I have created the subdomain and created the Cname as well as its instracted on the Zoho website  but when i try add the domain on help desk its showing error msg : Make sure you've mapped the CNAME entry and linked it to desk.cs.zohohost.com.au on your

• Founders using Zoho — are you leveraging Zoho Campaigns + Zoho Social for thought leadership… or just sending emails?

  I’ve noticed something interesting in the Zoho ecosystem. Many founders use Zoho Campaigns and Zoho Social for basic marketing—newsletters, scheduled posts, and announcements. But very few are using these tools strategically to: • Position themselves

• IMAP stopped working after enabling 2 factor authentication

  IMAP stopped working after enabling 2 factor authentication. Is there any solution for this?

• Rename Service Report

  Some of our customers are requesting the name of the service report PDF to be in a specific format, for example, instead of REP-001.PDF some are requesting to include their name like customername.pdf. is that possible?

• Outgoing emails rejected due to SpamCop RBL listing (IP 136.143.188.12)

  Hi All, I am writing to report a deliverability issue affecting outgoing emails from my Zoho Mail account. Recently, several messages sent from my domain (example.com) to external recipients have been rejected with the following error message (redacted

• Share Record Ownership in Zoho Recruit

  We’re introducing User Fields in Zoho Recruit designed to make collaboration easier when multiple team members need to work on the same record. With User Fields, you can extend record ownership beyond a single user and enable smoother teamwork across

• Recherche d'un développeur

  Bonjour, j'ai un projet de SAAS sur une base de zoho créator et zoho CRM et je recherche un développeur qualifié français pour créer l'application créator (fonctionnel et graphique) et les workflow et blueprint de CRM

• Customer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account

  Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, they

• Cloning a Pick List

  I have an existing Pick List in my Contacts that I want to drop into my Leads. Is there a way to copy or clone the field with it's accompanying Pick List? Thanks for your time. Moderation Update: While we are yet to support cloning action of modules and

• I wish to upload 40000 Resumes in Zoho Recruit Database. Can I do this in batch of 1000 Resumes ?

  I would like to upload thousand or few hundred of resumes in Zoho Recruit in one go. Please let me know how can I do this Or migrate my 40000 resumes from previous ATS to Zoho Recruit.

• Zoho Writer for Proposals

  Hi, one of the things we've struggled with since moving to Zoho ecosystem is our proposal software Qwilr does not integrate well. It surprises me Zoho doesn't have proposal software but given all the capabilities of Zoho Writer, I'm wonder if anyone is

• Custom Fonts in Zoho CRM Template Builder

  Hi, I am currently creating a new template for our quotes using the Zoho CRM template builder. However, I noticed that there is no option to add custom fonts to the template builder. It would greatly enhance the flexibility and branding capabilities if

• Foutmelding bij uitvoering/opslaan functie 'Left expression is of type TEXT and right expression is of type NUMBER'

  Hoi! Ik heb een workflow (zie bijlage) die wordt getriggerd zodra de verwachte weekomzet van een bedrijf wordt aangepast naar een bedrag hoger dan 0. Op dat moment moet een functie (zie bijlage) gaan berekenen wat het benodigde kredietlimiet moet zijn.

• Hoe kun je Nederlandse loonstroken boek in Zoho Books?

  Beste Community, Heeft er iemand een idee hoe je standaard loonstroken kunt inboeken in Zoho Books? Ik ben benieuwd hoe jullie dit doen en wat de mogelijkheden zijn.

• Unable to Filter Retail Sales Orders & Need Paid/Unpaid Filter – Zoho Books

  Hi Zoho Team, Recently you introduced Retail – Standard and Retail – Premium templates for Sales Orders. However, in the Sales Order module we still cannot filter or segregate Retail Sales Orders separately from normal B2B sales orders. Because of this,

• Service op locatie organiseren met Zoho FSM: waar lopen organisaties tegenaan?

  Bij organisaties met service teams op locatie merken we vaak dat de complexiteit niet zozeer in de planning zelf zit, maar in wat er rond die planning gebeurt. Denk aan opvolging na interventies, consistente servicerapporten, en het bijhouden van installaties

• Possible to delete the "Big Deal Alert" in Zoho CRM?

  Hi, Is it possible to delete the "Big Deal Alert" in Zoho CRM? My company has no need for it and I want to remove it to clean up my email templates list. Thank you. Moderation Update: Currently, the option to delete the "Big Deal Alert" template is in

• Allow selection of select inactive users in User data fields

  Hello, We sometimes need to select a previous employee that has an inactive account in the User data field. For example, when doing database cleanup and indicating actions are done by a certain employee that weren't filled out when they were part of the

• [Webinar] Top 10 Most Used Zoho Analytics Features in 2025

  Zoho Analytics has evolved significantly over the past year. Discover the most widely adopted features in Zoho Analytics in 2025, based on real customer usage patterns, best practices, and high-impact use cases. Learn how leading teams are turning data

• Do buttons and vba msgbox work on mobile, specifially the iPhone zoho sheets app?

  In Zoho sheets on the web, I inserted a button and assigned a VBA macro to it. It pops up a msgbox with some text. When I go onto the iPhone mobile zoho sheets app, the button is there. When I click on that button, the spinning asterisk appears for a

• [Webinar] Solving business challenges- Handling the challenge of transitioning to Zoho Writer from legacy tools

  Moving to Zoho Writer is a great way to consolidate your business tools and become more agile. With multiple accessibility modes, no-code automation, and extensive integration with business apps and content platforms, Zoho Writer helps solve your organization's

• How can I effectively manage a website with your help?

  I’m wondering if it’s possible to develop a custom website with specific features using Zoho as an alternative platform. My goal is to create a website similar to https://tmsim.ph, with the same kind of functionality and user experience. I would truly

• Introducing the Yes/No field: Binary decisions made beautiful

  Greetings, form architects! What would you do when you need a simple yes/no answer on your form? Normally, you add a Radio field. Type Yes. Type No. Until now. The new Yes/No field is purpose-built for binary decisions. It is preconfigured, visually consistent,

• Move email between inboxes?

  Is it possible to move emails from one team inbox to another? We would like to be able to have a single "catch-all" inbox for incoming requests, and then move the email to the appropriate department inbox. I was hoping we would be able to accomplish this

• The power of workflows in Zoho Marketing Automation - Video Webinar

  In this Zoho Marketing Automation video webinar, our experts walk you through: Why you may want to create marketing workflows How to create marketing workflows Use Zoho CRM data and apply workflows to automate your marketing strategy How workflows can

• Zoho CRM's sales trend and sales follow-up trend dashboards are now customizable

  Dear Customers, We're here with good news! Sales trend and sales follow-up trend are two system-defined dashboards that help you understand trends and anomalies in your sales outreach and conversion efforts. They use Zia's intelligence to identify patterns

• Introducing Rule-Based AI Coding Assistants for Zoho Finance Widgets

  Hello customers, We’ve introduced rule-based AI coding assistants to speed up Zoho Finance widget development. You can try them out in Cursor AI and GitHub Copilot. This helps you build widgets quickly using simple prompts, while ensuring the generated

• Next Page