Marketer's Space: Streamline marketing and sales by integrating ZMA's Planner with Zoho CRM

Marketer's Space: Streamline marketing and sales by integrating ZMA's Planner with Zoho CRM


In a competitive market, clear goal-setting and seamless campaign execution are crucial for marketing and sales alignment. When integrated with Zoho CRM, Zoho Marketing Automation's Planner enables marketers to create, manage, and measure campaigns effectively with comprehensive reporting and goal tracking.
This post covers how to use ZMA's Planner to manage campaigns, track budgets, and view activities by stages via the Kanban board. You'll also learn to track ROI with reports, set goals, and view contacts segmented by CRM insights in the Contacts tab.

Adding activities to ZMA's Planner online and offline

ZMA's Planner bridges the gap between digital and traditional marketing campaigns by enabling you to add and manage activities across multiple channels.

Digital activities

You can associate existing email campaigns or create new ones within the Planner. For instance, a marketer can configure an email campaign promoting a new product and track its engagement metrics. Similarly, they can add, configure, and directly monitor SMS campaigns.

Offline activities

Add activities like trade shows, events, or print ads to give marketers the flexibility to manage all campaigns in one place, including generating shareable short URLs and downloadable QR codes for use in physical stores.

Let's look at an example to see how adding activities to Planner works.

Let's say you're a marketer planning a product launch campaign targeting sales qualified leads (SQLs). Using ZMA's Planner, you create an email campaign and configure it directly, as well as track link clicks and email engagement metrics to gauge interest levels. One of your sales executives uses the Planner's contact filters to identify SQLs who have interacted with your campaign and then personalizes follow-ups to close deals faster.

Tracking progress with the Kanban board

The Planner's Kanban board visualizes campaign progress under stages like the following:
  • Ideating
  • Yet to start
  • In progress
  • Scheduled
  • Completed

You can also add custom stages to suit your campaign needs.


Why is this valuable to marketing and sales teams?

This segmentation ensures that campaigns are on schedule, providing clarity for both marketing and sales teams. For example, if a campaign is “In Progress,” the sales team knows when to prepare for lead engagement.

The Budget tab: Monitoring campaign finances

The Budget tab is vital for tracking the following:
  • Total budget
  • Total expense
  • Acquired leads
  • Cost per acquisition

It also provides insights through views that cover budget split, expense split, budget versus expenses, and detailed breakdowns of how budgets and expenses are distributed.

Setting goals with CRM data

ZMA's Planner enables you to define goals using metrics like the following:
  • MQL to SQL conversion rat
  • Count of SQLs, MQLs, and raw leads generated
  • Lead count by stage
  • Average lead score and location
  • Count of leads that have moved up a stage
  • Email engagement and leads engaged via Planner
  • Website visits by source, referral URL, location, and type (new or returning)
  • Organic and social website visit count
  • Website engagement metrics, including page views and visit types
It also includes CRM-related goal metrics like the following:
  • Leads closed (won or lost)
  • SQL to Closed Won conversion rate
You can also drill down into categories and set numerical targets for granular tracking. These insights provide a comprehensive view of marketing performance and help align efforts with sales goals.

Let's say you've set a goal to achieve 100 closed-won deals in Q4. Using the Planner, you track your count of closed-won leads and align your marketing activities to support this target. With CRM data integrated, you can ensure your campaigns focus on high-quality leads and help both marketing and sales teams stay aligned and meet their shared goals effectively.

The Reports tab: Actionable insights for ROI

The Reports tab consolidates key metrics, such as the following:
  • Existing leads reached and leads engaged (also shows how many contacts have achieved your plan's primary goal.)
  • Revenue and deals stats: Revenue generated and deals closed won
  • Expense and ROI stats: Campaign expense, ROI, and Channel-Wise ROI.
  • Website and location stats: Consolidated views of website visits by region.
For example, let's say you review reports to evaluate the success of your campaigns. For example, the Channel-Wise ROI report helps you identify which marketing channels delivered the highest returns and therefore serves as a guide for your future budget allocations.

Contact engagement with ZMA's Planner

The Contacts tab shows engagement at every level:
  • Leads reached
  • Leads engaged
  • Contacts closed with won deals
You can also create a contact segment within the Planner by selecting the "Segment Filter" icon.

Let's say your sales executive uses the Contacts tab to filter for “leads engaged” and focuses on SQLs who've interacted with the campaigns. This enables them to prioritize warm leads and boost conversion rates.

The integration with Zoho CRM enhances the Planner by providing valuable insights that enable marketers to set precise goals and track performance effectively. It bridges the gap between marketing and sales, ensuring both teams are aligned and focused on shared objectives. With access to detailed metrics, marketers can craft more impactful campaigns while the sales team benefits from higher-quality leads and actionable insights that help close deals efficiently.

Stay tuned for more posts on ZMA's Zoho CRM integration. Until then, happy marketing!

Regards,
Pearlin Nitika
User Education | Zoho Marketing Automation


      • Sticky Posts

      • Marketer's Space: Streamline marketing and sales by integrating ZMA's Planner with Zoho CRM

        In a competitive market, clear goal-setting and seamless campaign execution are crucial for marketing and sales alignment. When integrated with Zoho CRM, Zoho Marketing Automation's Planner enables marketers to create, manage, and measure campaigns effectively

      • Introducing automation and utility conversations in WhatsApp marketing

        We’re excited to announce the addition of two new features to our WhatsApp integration: Automation and Utility conversations. These enhancements will allow you to streamline your marketing efforts and engage with your customers more effectively by automating

      • Tip of the week 02 - The art of 'seeing' your leads

        What's the last page that your lead visited before signing up for your brand? What was the page that first convinced your lead to explore more about you? Where are your leads coming in from? Well, these are some perennial questions today's marketers live upon. And, knowing the answers to these questions is crucial, considering the vitality of leads in every business. In the journey of finding lead opportunities, it's important to understand that every detail about a lead is useful. While the channels

      • Zoho Marketing Automation Update: Topics, Contacts, and List Management

        At Zoho Marketing Automation, our highest priority is making it easier for you to use our product to accomplish your business goals. With that in mind, we are updating three of our pivotal features: Topic, Contacts, and List Management.   These existing

      • Important: Zoho MarketingHub is now Zoho Marketing Automation

        Hello Everyone,   We hope you all are doing well. We'd like to notify you that we have rebranded Zoho MarketingHub to Zoho Marketing Automation. We'll discontinue using the term "MarketingHub" from May 26, 2021. However, there will be no changes in the

        • Recent Topics

        • How to Automate Form Creation and Workflow Setup in Zoho Creator?

          Does anyone have ideas on how to create a form workflow that can perform the following functions automatically when a new submission is received for the existing form? Create a new form and report Create a new page Generate a new form workflow for the

        • How can i use edit url in the html snippet dynamically using parameter ? after clicked on that value

          after clicked on that value ..  How can i use edit url in the html snippet dynamically using parameter ?  for each record their corresponding record will open..  Can we have sample url for the same ?

        • Sales without Invoice refund

          I have a sales without invoice in my stripe account from April. This is a double entry as the customer paid the invoice and that was recorded in Stripe. I cannot delete it as it was included in a VAT return. I need to remove it or refund it to balance

        • Updating sum of subform

          I encountered another problem for updating of sum of fields in a subform. on a main form (Make_claim), I have a dynamic drop down (approved_budget_purpose) list to which filters the the items display in a subform (expense_claim_history1). In the subform,

        • IP Addresses for Whitelist

          Hi,  Where can I get a list of the IP addresses I need to whitelist for accessing Zoho Desk? TIA

        • Ability to rename community tabs as own preference

          Current zoho desk community tabs unable to rename however i see it has as suitable standard for most communities But it will be more better and beneficial if possible to modify(rename) then we can use the community for various purposes and able to change them as very convenient for, various product & services various fields organizations push(add) many topics types into one community instead host several community forums or portals. Setup > Channels > Community > Preference > Topic Type This's an

        • How to a customise the support email id to our custom domain

          we need to have support email address in our custom domain email id. how to do it?

        • Enhanced Anti-Spam Capabilities for Zoho Desk

          Dear Zoho Team, We appreciate the existing feature in Zoho Desk that detects and automatically marks suspicious email tickets as spam, moving them to the spam tickets view. Additionally, the ability to auto-mark associated contacts as spam is helpful.

        • How to Associate multiple contacts with deal in Sales Inbox

          Hello, I have many deals that have multiple potential customers associated with a single deal, for example an engineer and a manager. The manager is the Deal's primary contact in CRM and the Engineer is added to the deal in the "Contact Roles" Associated

        • Trying to sort tickets in "Status" mode by age

          Struggling with an odd issue, hoping someone can help. Trying to use the basic "Status" ticket-view, but can't find the setting that will put the oldest tickets at the top of each "Status" column. I found this in other ticket-view options (classic, compact,

        • Why is Zoho Meeting quality so poor?

          I've just moved from Office 365 to Zoho Workplace and have been generally really positive about the new platform -- nicely integrated, nice GUI, good and easy-to-understand control and customisation, and at a reasonable price. However, what is going on

        • Associate all "Active" users to a newly created project... (Zoho Projects API Documentation lacking)

          Today I spent almost 3 hours trying to do something which I discovered has been asked for for over 14 years in Zoho Projects, that is when a new project is created to assign all active users to the project. My first thought was, okay this should be fairly

        • (MAJOR ISSUE?) Chat GPT integration. Wrong endpoints in API integration for embedding models.

          There seems to be a issue with the API endpoints with the ChatGPT, Zoho Flow integration. When using the model 'text-embedding-ada-002' the endpoint should be v1/embeddings but instead it's v1/chat/completions. Here's an example of the history on a failed

        • Undocumented System Variables

          Hi, The documentation that I'm aware of for Zoho Analytics system variables is found here. However, I don't see the system.timeline.date.from and system.timeline.date.to variables listed. Where can I find a list of all the system variables in Zoho Analytics

        • Top Menu Disappeared from Blog Page

          Hi, Our top menu disappeared at Blog Posts page. However, it's still visible any other page on the website. I attached two screenshots, so it can be understood clearly. How can we bring back top menu? Thanks, K.

        • UK payroll entries

          Hey guys, Nett payroll payments are imported direct into the bank, using an external payroll system (will be glad for Zoho to have a UK payroll app) At present I have monthly recurring bills for HMRC which are auto entered & paid when due. This seems

        • Calculating Active Months and Recurring Monthly Revenue

          Hi everyone, as part of my offering I have a membership community that people pay monthly for. This is hosted on Squarespace. In my Zoho CRM I have added a field for the date a person becomes in active. This means there is a "closing date" which is the

        • Accounting on the Go Series:58-Effortless Compliance: Download XML for Invoices & Credit Notes on Mobile

          Hi there! In Mexico, XML files are crucial for electronic invoicing and fulfilling SAT (Tax Administration Service) requirements. These files ensure your transactions are accurately recorded and tax-compliant. Now, you don’t need to rely on the web app

        • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - November 2024

          Hello everyone! Welcome back to the November edition of the Developer Community Monthly Digest. Dive in to explore the upcoming events, hands-on training sessions, exciting product updates, insightful discussions, and more to keep you informed and inspired!

        • Process FOR loop for subform items in the order of the manual sorting

          Hi Guys, I have searched everywhere and tried everything, but I still not able to resolve one particular challenge. I have a subform in my Invoice with rows for each item. I made it so that we can change the order of the items manually. I need to be able

        • Address Input and Map Functionality Challenges in Zoho: Need Advice

          I just started using the Zoho ecosystem for my business. Everything seems to be working fine, except for the map features built into the applications. It's quite difficult to input an address when creating a new lead. Some of you might suggest using extensions

        • Accounting on the Go Series-57: Effortlessly Add and Manage Bank Accounts from the Zoho Books Mobile App

          Hi all, Great news for our users in the US and Canada! Managing your finances just got a whole lot easier. Zoho Books has always made it seamless to integrate bank accounts and fetch feeds automatically. Now, we’re taking it up a notch—directly from the

        • Foreign currency Bank Account month end revaluation

          I have a question i have 2 bank accounts one in USD and the other in EUR , how to make the month end journal entries for exchange rate revaluation , also how to maintain the exchange rates daily on Zoho books for the foreign currencies . I made transfer

        • Zoho Forms Integration with Sign

          Hi there, following recent feedback that Zoho Sign is really not very useful friendly when using a mobile device I am exploring integrations with Zoho Forms. I have managed to create a form and integrate this into Sign pretty easily when a form is just

        • [Free Webinar] Creator Tech Connect Series - Product Release Updates in Zoho Creator

          Hello Everyone! We welcome you all to the upcoming free webinar on the Creator Tech Connect Series. The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar that runs for around 45 minutes. It comprises technical sessions in which we delve deep into

        • Need code format to specify default values

          Can someone please direct me to the code syntax or the proper translation per the instructions circled below. These instructions don't seem correct.

        • A quicker way to provide accountants access to Zoho Books, similar to Xero and Quickbooks

          Hey guys, I'm finding the procedure to give access to an external accountant to Zoho Books less than ideal. Having to create an account by Zoho instead of myself, and then wait for it to be given a license to then pass to the accountant seems a bit time

        • Introducing color coding feature of picklist fields in Meetings

          Dear All, Greetings! As part of the ongoing UI enhancement, we are excited to introduce color coding of picklist fields in Meetings. 'Meetings' is a great way to collaborate with peers and stay productive. You can block the calendar, invite participants,

        • Importing old Invoices into Zoho Books - Hitting the limit

          I'm currently working on importing historic invoices and payments made records from one Zoho Books premium instance into another however i'm hitting the 25,000 per year limit issue, these invoices go all the way back to 2019, and i understand that generating

        • Accounting on the Go Series-56: e-Way Bill Module in the Mobile App – A Handy Solution for Indian Businesses

          Hello everyone, Managing e-Way bills just got more convenient with the Zoho Books mobile app! For businesses operating under the GST regime, e-Way bills are essential for tracking the movement of goods. Previously, you had to log in to the web app to

        • Why Zoho Campaigns have massive more limitations like other software?`

          Hello, it was a time we managed +300 zoho campaigns accounts. But after only 3 years we handle now only +70 accounts. The reason? Because other solutions integrate much faster new functions. And not only this: They do not only release a new function -

        • Limit tasks per due date

          I am trying to figure out a way to limit the number of Tasks users can set on any given due date. But the number of tasks will differ for different users. Example - User 1234 will be permitted 100 tasks on each due date User 5678 and User 9012 will be

        • ZOHO CRM API changing timestamp format

          I'm working on integrating ZOHO CRM API with USM anywhere. USM anywhere supports only a few timestamp formats. the current timestamp format( yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss±HH:mm) is not supported by USM. Is there a way I can change this format to for example(yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss)?

        • Formula field update

          In a Blueprint, I have a stage called 'Plan inspection date'. At this point there is a fork, which depends on the number of days between now and the installation date. If there are less than 21 days, then the inspection should be planned urgently, if

        • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

          Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of

        • Accounting on the Go Series-55: Seamlessly Add New Vendors While Creating Transactions from Scanned Documents

          Hi there! We’ve made handling documents and vendors in Zoho Books even simpler. Now, when you upload a document and scan it, if the app detects a vendor that isn’t already in your organization, you don’t have to leave the page to add them manually. With

        • Surpress Zoho warnings in Customer Portal

          I'm experimenting with the Customer Portal. When I log in as a customer, this message shows up, completely covering the menu bar at the top. Can such messages be surpressed? I know, it is very easy to get rid of it, but when I demonstrated the portal

        • Default Sorting on Related Lists

          Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created

        • Send email to all contacts related to a module

          My use case: I have a module named products, the records of which contains a related list of contacts associated with subscribing to that product. In cases where i need to trigger emails manually to give specific unprecedented updates of that product,

        • Function #28: Automatically calculate Customer Loyalty points

          Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! Today, we're excited to share a workflow designed to streamline the management of loyalty points. Many businesses offer incentives or rewards in the form of loyalty points to their customers as a way to

        • Next Page