Spotlight series #32: Turn CRM data into personalized presentations

Your CRM already has the information you need: customer names, company details, deal information, contact details, and more.

But when that information needs to go into a presentation, the process often becomes very tedious. You copy details from CRM, paste them into a presentation, update the next record, and repeat the process all over again.

What if your presentation could use the data that's already in your CRM?

This is where things get interesting.

Your presentation template is already designed and ready to go. The layout stays the same. Your branding stays the same. The story stays the same.

Only the details change.

That's the idea behind Merge Fields in Zoho Show.

Instead of creating a new presentation every time or manually replacing customer information, you can bring data from your CRM into your presentation and personalise it based on the records you choose.

Create personalised presentations without starting over

Think about a presentation you regularly create for customers.

Maybe it includes the customer's name, company, account details, deal value, or other information from your CRM. You could create a separate presentation for every customer, or you could create one template and let the data do the changing.

With Merge Fields, you can add fields to your presentation for the information that varies from one record to another.

For example:

Welcome, {{Contact Name}}

Your current deal value: {{Deal Amount}}

The template stays the same, while the CRM data fills in the details for each customer.

Turn one presentation into multiple presentations

This is where a simple presentation template can become much more useful.

Let's say you're preparing account review presentations for a group of customers. The structure is identical, but every customer has different information.

Instead of duplicating the presentation and updating each copy, you can use the same template with different CRM records.

Select the records you need and merge the data to bring the customer-specific details directly into the appropriate presentation.

What stays the same? Your presentation.

What changes? The data.

So, how do you bring it all together?

Start with your presentation template and add Data Fields wherever you want CRM information to appear. Once your fields are in place, connect your CRM data and choose the records you want to use.

Note: Data Fields store numerical or alphanumeric values that you can access and use throughout a presentation. Each data field is specific to the presentation in which it is created

When you merge the fields, the information from those records flows into the corresponding fields in your presentation.

It's as simple as that: Your template provides the structure, and your CRM provides the details.

Keep your presentations consistent
One of the biggest advantages is that you don't have to maintain customer information in two places.

The information already exists in your CRM. Merge Fields lets you use that information where you need it, in your presentations.

That can come in handy when creating:

Customer presentations
Account reviews
Sales proposals
Deal summaries
Customer-specific reports
Other presentations based on CRM records

And because the presentation itself comes from a single template, your branding and design stay consistent across every version.

One template can go a long way

The next time you're about to duplicate a presentation just to change a few customer details, remember there's another way.

Create the presentation once, add the fields that need to bring in relevant CRM data, and use Merge Fields to create versions tailored to different records.

Less copying. Less updating. More value from every presentation you create.

Hope you found this article helpful. Try out Merge Fields and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

For more information, refer to this help article on Merge Fields.