Marketer's Space: Leveraging CRM Data for Dynamic Content and Personalized Campaigns

Marketer's Space: Leveraging CRM Data for Dynamic Content and Personalized Campaigns


Hello Marketers!
Welcome back to another post in Marketer’s Space! We’re excited to continue our series on the many advantages of integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation (ZMA). This series is designed to help you unlock the full potential of your CRM data and show you how it can enhance your marketing efforts. In the past weeks, we’ve looked at how to create targeted lists and segments using CRM data. We also discussed how you can set marketing goals and measure ROI effectively by utilizing the insights from your CRM.
This week, we’ll look at how you can use the CRM data directly in your marketing campaigns. Whether it’s crafting highly personalized email or SMS campaigns, or creating engaging WhatsApp messages, we’ll explore how Zoho CRM data works hand-in-hand with ZMA to transform your multi-channel campaigns into meaningful, personalized conversations with your audience.

Using CRM Data Across Multi-Channel Campaigns


You can seamlessly use CRM data within your campaign content to create highly personalized communications across channels. For instance, you can bring CRM data into your Email, SMS, and WhatsApp campaigns. In email campaigns, you can personalize the subject line and pre-header text by including the CRM Lead Owner’s Name and CRM Lead Owner’s Email. For SMS campaigns, you can personalize the message content using relevant CRM data to make it more engaging. Similarly, in WhatsApp campaigns, you have the flexibility to customize both the header text and the message content to ensure each communication feels tailored to your audience.

Maximizing Personalization with Custom Fields and CRM Integration

When integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation (ZMA), you’re not just syncing standard contact data—you can also create and sync custom fields to bring in more tailored customer information. These custom fields allow you to structure your data effectively and use it within Dynamic Content and Merge Tags to personalize campaigns without creating multiple versions. Let’s see how you can set up and use custom fields for better targeting.
  1. Create a Custom Field in Zoho CRM – Define a field that stores relevant customer information, such as Customer Type with values like “High Profile” or “Important Customer.”
  2. Create the Same Custom Field in ZMA – Ensure consistency by replicating the field type in Zoho Marketing Automation.
  3. Map the Fields During Sync – When setting up the sync between CRM and ZMA, match the CRM custom field with the corresponding ZMA field to ensure seamless data transfer.
Now, this mapped data can be used in your campaigns through Dynamic Content and Merge Tags.

What is Dynamic Content?

Dynamic Content, available in the email template builder, allows you to create a single campaign that adapts to different audience segments based on the conditions you specify.
Idea
This feature supports various content types, including text, images, text with images, and even buttons, dynamically changing them for each recipient.
When integrated with Zoho CRM, you can use Account Tags like Industry, Rating, Account Type, Account Name, Annual Revenue, Number of Employees, SIC Code, Website, and Account Owner to tailor your campaigns. Apart from these tags, you also have custom fields synced from Zoho CRM under Predefined Tags, allowing you to further personalize your messages.
Let’s say you want to personalize your email content based on the Industry tag. For contacts in the “Technology” industry, you could display the message: “Explore our latest tools designed for tech innovators.” And for contacts in the “Healthcare” industry, the email could say: “Discover solutions tailored for healthcare professionals.”
Similarly, you could tailor visuals, CTAs, or even button text based on a custom field tag. For instance, you can create a custom field in Zoho CRM to track membership status and sync it with Zoho Marketing Automation. During a sale, you can use Dynamic Content to show an exclusive banner for members with a message like:
“Members get exclusive deals—shop now!”
Additionally, you can add a CTA button, so members see:
“Browse Member-Only Discounts”, redirecting them to the exclusive sale section.
Meanwhile, non-members would see the standard sale content, ensuring a seamless yet personalized experience for every recipient.
By leveraging dynamic content with CRM tags, you ensure every recipient gets a message that feels personal and relevant, driving better engagement and response rates.

What are Merge Tags?

Merge Tags are a powerful feature available in the campaign text editor that directly pulls data from Zoho CRM and replaces it as text in your content. These tags ensure seamless personalization by dynamically adding CRM details to your campaigns.
These are the types of merge tags that are pulled from CRM:

1. Account Tags:
  • Industry
  • Rating
  • Account Type
  • Account Name
  • Annual Revenue
  • Number of Employees
  • SIC Code
  • Website
  • Account Owner
2. CRM Merge Tags:
  • CRM Lead Owner Email
  • CRM Lead Owner Role
  • CRM Lead Owner Street
  • CRM Lead Owner City
  • CRM Lead Owner State
  • CRM Lead Owner Country
  • CRM Lead Owner Zip
  • CRM Lead Owner Phone
  • CRM Lead Owner Fax
  • CRM Lead Owner Mobile
  • CRM Lead ID
  • CRM Account ID
3. Lead Merge Tags:
Custom fields synced from Zoho CRM can also be used as Merge Tags. These are listed under “Lead Merge Tags”, allowing you to include additional personalized details that are unique to your CRM setup. This makes it easy to insert customized data directly into your content, ensuring a highly personalized experience for every recipient.

Suppose you are creating an email campaign and want to include the CRM lead owner’s name in the greeting. You can use the tag $[CRM:CONTACTOWNER]$ in your email content.
Content in Editor:
Hello $[CRM:CONTACTOWNER]$,
We noticed you’re interested in exploring solutions for your business in the $[AF:ACCOUNT_TYPE||]$ sector. Our team has tailored options just for you!
Content Seen by Recipient:
Hello John,
We noticed you’re interested in exploring solutions for your business in the Technology sector. Our team has tailored options just for you!
Let’s say you want an entire sentence to be different for each customer based on past interactions. Instead of sending a generic message, you can create a custom field in Zoho CRM with the Text Area field type, which supports values of up to 2,000 characters. The sales team can manually update this field with a personalized message or any important update from their last conversation with the customer. During the sync with Zoho Marketing Automation, create a custom field with the same Text Area field type in ZMA and map it to the corresponding CRM field. This custom field can now be inserted as a Merge Tag in your campaign content. 
Content in Editor:
“Hi [First Name],
We’re excited about your journey with us. $[CRM:PERSONALIZED_MESSAGE]$ Let us know if you need any help along the way.”
Content seen by recipient:
For one customer, the email might read:
“Hi Alex,
We’re excited about your journey with us. Your premium subscription is now active, and you can explore all the advanced features. Let us know if you need any help along the way.”
For another, it could be:
“Hi Sarah,
We’re excited about your journey with us. Our team has scheduled your product demo for Tuesday and will share the meeting link soon. Let us know if you need any help along the way.”
This allows marketers and sales teams to collaborate seamlessly, ensuring that every email feels personal, relevant, and directly tied to past conversations—without manually drafting individual messages for each contact.
This level of personalization ensures each recipient feels directly addressed, improving the overall impact and engagement of your campaigns.

Why Marketers Should Integrate Zoho CRM with ZMA

Integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation is a game-changer for marketers looking to enhance their campaigns and maximize their ROI. Zoho CRM is a treasure trove of customer insights, from basic details like names and contact information to advanced metrics such as deal statuses and account types. By integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation, you can leverage this data to create highly personalized and relevant campaigns across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. The integration also streamlines workflows, ensuring that your marketing and sales teams are always on the same page.

Stay tuned as we continue this series, where we’ll uncover more benefits of integrating Zoho CRM with ZMA. Until then, happy marketing!

Regards,
Pearlin Nitika
User Education | Zoho Marketing Automation

    • Recent Topics

    • FSM integration with Books

      Hi, I have spent a few months working with FSM and have come across a critical gap in the functionality, which I find almost shocking....either that, or I am an idiot. The lack of bi-directional sync between Books and FSM on Sales Orders/ Work Orders

    • How to close an estimate ?

      Hello, I have created estimates, and converted them to invoices to get 50% payment. Now I have 2 cases where the estimate stills shows status partially invoiced, however: 1. for one of them, project stopped half way, so the remaining part will never be

    • Power up your Kiosk Studio with Real-Time Data Capture, Client Scripts & More!

      Hello Everyone, We’re thrilled to announce a powerful set of enhancements to Kiosk Studio in Zoho CRM. These new updates give you more flexibility, faster record handling, and real-time data capture, making your Kiosk flows smarter and more efficient

    • Sharing Tickets to a team within a department

      Hi there, We have a need for one department to be able to share tickets to a specific team within a department, I'm wondering if this is possible? All the shared tickets are going into the 'Shared Tickets' view for the whole department but is there a

    • How do you print out the invoices comments

      I have some invoices where i need to print out the comments that show when reminders and etc were sent how do we print those out in Zoho Books.

    • Unable to load a specific image

      Hi I am trying to upload an svg file, which reports that there is "a problem with the file", but does not say what sort of problem. I can't find anything which says which files are supported, so it may be it does not support svg. (which would be a real shame) The file itself will open in either Firefox or Chrome without problem. For the moment I am using a png file, which does not zoom well of course. David

    • Why does the Address field show the wrong map location even with a correct Pincode?

      I am noticing an issue with the Address field map in Zoho Creator. When I enter a city name that exists in multiple locations within the same state, the map sometimes points to the wrong area even if I have entered the correct Pincode. Currently, it seems

    • Uploaded files are not included when using "Include user submitted data" in Email Notification

      In Send Email notification workflow in Zoho Creator, there is an option called "Include user submitted data" which allows the email to contain all the form submission details. However, when this option is enabled, files or images uploaded through File

    • Books <-> CRM synchronisation with custom Fields

      Hello, We are synchronising Books Customers with CRM Accounts. In CRM Accounts I set up last year a "segments" multiselect field shown below In Books, I set up a custom multi-select field with the same value as in the CRM And set up the synchronisation inside Books. Want to synchronise the Books Segments with the CRM Segments, but the later doesn't exist, and another non-existing is there ?! First, I don't understand where the field Segmentation is coming from. Second, I set CRM Segmentation to sync

    • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

      Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

    • Archive Option in Conversation View

      Hello, I have a suggestion\request to add an "Archive Thread" button in conversation view of Zoho Mail. The best suggestion I have is to put an "Archive Thread" button next to the "Label Entire Thread" button in conversation view. Most users don't just

    • Outlook/Hotmail Blocking Zoho SMTP IPs (S3150)

      We are currently facing a serious deliverability issue with Zoho SMTP while sending transactional OTP emails for our production application. Emails sent to Outlook / Hotmail addresses are being rejected with the following error: 550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately,

    • Outlook is blocking incoming mail

      Outlook is blocking all emails sent from the Zoho server. ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately, messages from [136.143.169.51] weren't sent. Please contact your Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list (S3150). It looks

    • Track Marketing Automation Campaigns in Zoho CRM

      Hello, I've been searching but haven't found the exact answer to this question. I am looking to track Marketing Automation email campaigns and activities inside of Zoho CRM. Use Case: Action: Prospect Submits A Lead Form Outcomes: Prospect created in

    • Zoho Social API for generating draft posts from a third-party app ?

      Hello everyone, I hope you are all well. I have a question regarding Zoho Social. I am developing an application that generates social media posts, and I would like to be able to incorporate a feature that allows saving these posts as drafts in Zoho Social.

    • Temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation.

      We have suddenly started receiving the following Mail Delivery Status Notification: Diagnostic-Code: 4.7.650 The mail server [136.143.184.12] has been temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation. For e-mail delivery information, see https://aka.ms/postmaster

    • Incorrect Functioning of Time Logs API (Version 3)

      We need to fetch the list of time logs for each task for our company internal usage. We are trying to achieve it by using the next endpoint: https://projects.zoho.com/api-docs#bulk-time-logs#get-all-project-time-logs Firstly, in the documentation the

    • IMPORTANT: It doesn´t search for letters with portuguese characters.

      Some of my articles have for example the word "vídeo". But if I search for "vídeo" it doesn´t find them. If I search for "video" it does find them. Idealy, it should find the articles either way. But if I have to choose, it would be better to find the

    • IMPORTANT: It doens´t show full article name on search - Should add line break

      When we search for articles, it doesn´t show the full name. There should be a line break so the user can see the full article name, otherwise the user can´t know if that´s the article he/she is looking for. This is very important, otherwise the user has

    • Zoho Books - Payment Gateway - Revolut

      Hi Books Team, My feature request if to include the popular platform Revolut as a payment collection option on invoices in Zoho Books. Please upvote if you are also looking for this option.

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | January 2026

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From e-filing Form 1099 directly with the IRS to corporation tax support, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. E-File Form 1099 Directly With the

    • Kaizen #233 - Generating AI-powered Follow-up Emails Using CRM Functions and Widgets

      Hey everyone! Welcome back to another interesting post in the Kaizen series! Sales teams regularly capture interaction notes in CRM after speaking with prospects. However, drafting a follow-up email that reflects the conversation context can be repetitive

    • Connect Bank in Zoho Books

      Can I connect UOB or Ariwallex in Zoho Books?

    • Using MPN across multiple SKUs and inventory tracking

      I have several different SKU's that share a common MPN and would like to track inventory by MPN. SKU1 has MPN1 assigned SKU2 has MPN1 assigned Here is an example If I start with 5 of MPN 1 in stock I want each SKU1 and SKU2 to show as 5 in stock, If I

    • Extend Zoho Canvas Customization to Zoho Creator Forms and Reports

      Currently, Zoho Canvas allows users to design and customize the UI of Zoho CRM modules with a much better visual experience. This helps organizations create cleaner layouts, improve usability, and design interfaces that match their workflows. However,

    • Marketing Tip #1: Optimize item titles for SEO

      Your item title is the first thing both Google and shoppers notice. Instead of a generic “Leather Bag,” go for something detailed like “Handcrafted Leather Laptop Bag – Durable & Stylish.” This helps your items rank better in search results and instantly

    • Feature Enhancement Request – Text Formatting Options in Item Description (Zoho Books/Quotes Module)

      Dear Zoho Development Team, Greetings from Radiant360 Integrated Technical Services LLC. We would like to bring to your attention a functional limitation we've encountered within the Item Table / Quote Description section of Zoho Books (and Zoho CRM Quotes).

    • ZOHO Books Query

      Good day, Can someone please advise. I recently migrated from ZOHO Invoice to ZOHO Books. No that I want to use the inventory on Books I cant as all my items have transaction history. The person I spoke to at ZOHO said I need to create a new Company profile

    • Best way to schedule bill payments to vendors

      I've integrated Forte so that I can convert POs to bills and make payments to my vendors all through Books. Is there a way to schedule the bill payments as some of my vendors are net 30, net 60 and even net 90 days. If I can't get this to work, I'll have

    • ZOHO.CRM.UI.Record.open not working properly

      I have a Zoho CRM Widget and in it I have a block where it will open the blocks Meeting like below block.addEventListener("click", () => { ZOHO.CRM.UI.Record.open({ Entity: "Events", RecordID: meeting.id }).catch(err => { console.error("Open record failed:",

    • Removing To or CC Addresses from Desk Ticket

      I was hoping i could find a way to remove unnecessary email addresses from tickets submitted via email. For example, a customer may email the support address AND others who are in the helpdesk notification group, in either the TO or CC address. This results

    • inventory removal at packing list or shipment.

      currently our system is set to remove inventory at invoice. This is creating an inventory nightmare? Is it possible to change the settings to remove the item from inventory at either the packing slip stage or shipping the item.

    • Is there a way to configure dark mode for Campaigns emails that go out to customers?

      I've found a lot of information on how to configure dark mode for my (The user) personal Zoho workspace and email, but is there any way to edit dark mode settings on emails that we send out to customers via campaigns?  We sent out a test email the other

    • How to add employee and not invite them to log in?

      I want to add 50 employees, but invite them only when everything will be configured and ready. Is it possible? Should we create employee profiles and then convert them later? Thank you,

    • How do I import Connected Records for a Deal?

      Can you point me to an example of the CSV file that would add related records to an existing CRM Deal? I imported a Deal, then tried importing a connected record using a unique ID that references the Deal ID, but it doesn't attach it to the Deal rec

    • How is Your eCommerce Experience w/Zoho Inventory?

      First off, I'm SUPER grateful for the advent of Zoho Inventory and now the Zoho Commerce Suite. Overall, Inventory is a great product, especially for customers without an eCommerce presence. For eCommerce companies (especially those shipping more than ~10 packages/day), however, there are certain drawbacks that keep my clients from moving over to Zoho Inventory: Cons: 1. Invoice + Package Creation from Shopify/Other eCommerce Integrations: Zoho Inventory makes the somewhat perplexing decision to

    • Ability to Use Both AND and OR When Creating Rules (Advanced Conditions)

      I'd like to be able to use more complicated logic when setting up rules. E.g. in Zoho Mail, I can choose "Advanced conditions (AND/OR) to create a rule that can be applied to multiple subject lines from the same sender. But in Zoho TeamInbox, I will have

    • Zoho Desktop App- Unable to Minimize/Freezes

      I'm having issues with my Zoho Mail desktop app (PC). When go on my desktop and open the app this is what happens: - Unable to minimize and close app (in the screenshot attached you can see at the top right there is no option to minimize/close) - Unable

    • Zoho Invoice Zapier Integration

      Is there still a way to use Zapier with Zoho Invoice? I've read online that that migrated to Zoho Books or Billing but since I am just using Invoice I can not find a Zapier Connection anymore.

    • Conect chat of salesiq with zoho cliq

      Is there any way to answer from zoho cliq the chat of salesiq initiated by customers?

    • Next Page