CRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.

CRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.




 

Hello everyone!

What sets you apart as a sales person is your ability to add that personal touch to your business relationship with your customers. Sending a gift on a special day, or leaving a note wishing them on their birthdays, are small, yet significant actions that show your customers that you care. And these are actions done without any expectations :) You must be engaging with a lot of customers and it is highly unlikely that they all are your friends on Facebook or some social channel, right? How about keeping a tab on their birthdays from your business tool, Zoho CRM? And how about automating greetings just in case you are too pressed for time to leave a personal note? Besides, this reduces the possibility of your missing out wishing some of your clients. Cool, right? Let me just show you a simple hack that lets you automate birthday greetings to your customers!

Here are the steps:



1. Create a birthday wish template:
Go to Settings->Setup->Customization->Templates->Create a template for Leads/Contacts. You have three options to create birthday templates.


(a) Pre-defined templates:  Find a few pre-defined birthday templates from Create a template -      >C elebration.
(b) Customized templates: Find a few basic models from Create a new template -> Basic   


(c)Customized templates using HTML: Go to 'Insert HTML' option on the top right corner  in the template gallery. Add or edit your code.    

 

2. Create a workflow to automate sending the birthday greetings.

 

a) Go to Settings->Setup->Workflow rules->Create a rule for Contacts.

b) Define the time and date on which the workflow must be triggered, and pick  the Date of Birth field.

c)Choose the date of execution as  Date of Birth field

d)Set the Execution cycle as Every year.

e) Set the "Which records" to “All records” (Or define specific groups and choose to send birthday wishes to that specific clientele (https://www.zoho.com/crm/help/automation/workflow-rules.html - Locate Set rule criteria)

 

3. Define an action to trigger emails to customers on their birthdays.


Go to Instant action->Send alerts->Choose the  birthday template just created->Email recipient is “Contact/Lead: email and save the workflow. This automation rule sends greetings to your contacts every year on their birthday. 



 

 

4. Personalize emails to important clients by creating a custom view showing upcoming birthdays. This is done using formula fields. Let me walk you through the steps:

 

 

1. Go to Setup->Modules->Contacts. Drag and drop a Formula field and paste this in the expression and name it as “Month of Birth” and save the formula.

Month(${Contacts.Date of Birth})

This formula  extracts the month of the date of birth and updates it in this formula field.


Then, drag and drop another formula and paste the below expression and name it as “Day of birth” and save the formula and the layout.

Dayofmonth(${Contacts.Date of Birth})

This formula  extracts the day of the date and updates it in this formula field.





Similarly, consider the above image as reference and create another formula using Dayofmonth(${Contacts.Date of Birth})

 

2. Go to Contacts module—>List view drop down at the top left—>Create view.


3.  Give the criteria as “If “Month of Birth” is 1 and name this view as January and add Day of Month and Month of birth columns in the view. 


4.Sort the day of month in the ascending order.




Now, all the birthdays that fall in January is listed in this view. Create 11 other views for each month. If you feel the custom views are flooding the drop down, just edit this custom view on the 1st of every month and change the month of birth criteria alone. If you have any queries on this, do leave a comment below. Will be happy to help you with it!

 

    • Sticky Posts

    • How to reach the official Zoho Support channels and avoid fake ones.

      Dear Customers, Thanks a lot for choosing Zoho! Our applications are built to help achieve your day-to-day business goals. We are committed to engaging with you, to understand and develop solutions that enhance your productivity.  We are happy and ready to help you use our services effectively. Understanding and avoiding fake support Just like using popular bank names and financial applications for phishing purposes, using Zoho and claiming to be providing Zoho Support or services with false numbers

    • Function #35: Close all tasks associated with a lead and create a new task.

      Welcome back everyone! Last week, we learnt how to close all tasks of a deal depending upon the deal stage. This week, let's look at a custom function that lets you close all of the tasks associated with a lead while simultaneously creating a new task, like when you need to halt all progress towards a lead while the lead is not available at the moment but create a reminder task. Business scenario: The success of a company, in one way or another, is determined by the leads it gets. Each lead is just

    • Zoho CRM Webinar - Redesigning Daily User Experiences with Canvas

      <br> Your users across roles use the CRM for day-to-day tasks that are necessary. Whether they perform their tasks on time, the right way, or at all depends on a lot of factors, including User Experience. Many businesses struggle with rigid layouts,

    • Join us at the Canada ZUG Meetup: What’s New in Zoho CRM

      Hello Zoho Community! Start your year with fresh insights into Zoho CRM’s latest updates and tools. Whether you're a CRM beginner or a experienced user, this meetup is crafted to help you optimise your processes and leverage new features. Explore practical

    • CRM Hack #2: Automate sending of birthday greetings to your customers.

        Hello everyone! What sets you apart as a sales person is your ability to add that personal touch to your business relationship with your customers. Sending a gift on a special day, or leaving a note wishing them on their birthdays, are small, yet significant actions that show your customers that you care. And these are actions done without any expectations :) You must be engaging with a lot of customers and it is highly unlikely that they all are your friends on Facebook or some social channel,

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

        Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

      • Is it possible to enforce a single default task for all users in a Zoho Projects ?

        In Zoho Projects, the Tasks module provides multiple views, including List, Gantt, and Kanban. Additionally, users can create and switch to their own custom views. During project review meetings, this flexibility creates confusion because different users

      • [Free Webinar] Zoho Creator webinars - Learning Table and Creator Tech Connect Series in 2026

        Hello everyone, Wishing you all a wonderful new year! May 2026 and the years ahead bring more opportunities, growth, and learning your way 🙂 We’re excited to kick off the 2026 edition of the Learning Table Series and Creator Tech Connect Series ! Learning

      • Reply and react to comments

        Hi everyone! We're excited to bring to you a couple of new features that'll make your sprint process simpler. A cloud application brings with it an array of social media features that can be efficiently used in your organizational setup. As an agile scrum

      • Restrict Users access to login into CRM?

        I’m wanting my employees to be able to utilize the Zoho CRM Lookup field within Zoho Forms. For them to use lookup field in Zoho Forms it is my understanding that they need to be licensed for Forms and the CRM. However, I don’t want them to be able to

      • Module Customisation - Lookup function not available

        Good evening, Within my business, I can have multiple customers, who have multiple mobile assets. When I set these assets up, I enter information such as vehicle registration, Vehicle identification number (VIN), Unit number, YOM, in addition to others.

      • zoho click, and nord VPN

        Unfortunately, we've been having problems with Zoho Click, where essentially the line cuts off after about a minute's worth of conversation every time we are on VPN. Is there a way we can change this within the settings so it does not cut the line off

      • Zoho Calender

        a) does the clanender in zoho project allow you to see the name of the event in the celnder view, it currently says either "Task (1) or "Milestoen (1)" b) Alternatively does the calender in Zoho project integrate with zoho calender?

      • Matching ZOHO Payments in Banking

        Our company has recently integrated ZOHO Payments into our system. This seemed really convenient at first because our customers could pay their account balance by clicking on a link imbedded in the emailed invoice. Unfortunately, we can't figure out how

      • Team Gamification

        Would love to motivate, engage and encourage our team with our social media posts. Would like to include Gamification features of Social Media in Zoho Social or Marketing Automation. And also bring in Social Advocacy tools/tracking/management to these,

      • 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

      • New Enhancements to Zoho CRM and Zoho Creator Integration

        Hello Everyone, We’ve rolled out enhancements to the Zoho Creator and Zoho CRM integration to align with recent updates made to the Zoho Creator platform. With enhancements to both the UI and functionality, This update also tightens access control by

      • Work Type - Limitation

        Hello, I'm setting up work types and have noticed, a limitation on the parts area to 10 lines. Can this be increased to 20 or greater? In addition to this, when I attempt to add the work type to a work order, the correct labour hours doesn't flow through.

      • Emails sent through Bigin are not posting in IMAP Sent folder

        I have set up my email to work from within Bigin using IMAP.  I am using IMAP so I can sync my email across multiple devices - phone / laptop / desktop / iPad / etc.  I want all my emails to populate my email client (outlook & iphone email) whether or

      • Turning the page for Zoho SalesIQ: 2025 to 2026

        As we wrap up 2025, we would like to take a moment to reflect on what we set out to achieve this year, what we’ve delivered, and where we’re headed next. What we focused on in 2025 This year was all about strengthening the core of engagement and AI, making

      • Stage-probability mapping feature in custom module

        Hi, I'm building a custom module for manage projects. I would like to implement the stage-probability feature that Potentials has. Is this possible?

      • Temporary Outage in Zoho Cliq Affecting US Users – July 23, 2025

        We experienced a service disruption in Zoho Cliq that impacted core functionality for users in the US region. The issue occurred between Jul 23, 2025, 06:54:00 PM IST and 07:13:13 PM IST, lasting approximately 19 minutes. To restore service stability,

      • Why Sharing Rules do Not support relative date comparison???

        I am creating a Sharing Rule and simply want to share where "Last Day of Coverage" (Date field) is Greater than TODAY (Starting Tomorrow). However, sharing rules don't have the option to compare a date field to a relative date (like today), only to Static

      • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

        Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly

      • Problem with Workdrive folders

        I'm having a problem a problem accessing files in a Zoho work drive folder when using the Zoho writer app. The problem folder appears grayed out in the Zoho work drive window in both the online and writer application. However I can open the folder in

      • Send Supervisor Rule Emails Within Ticket Context in Zoho Desk

        Dear Zoho Desk Team, I hope this message finds you well. Currently, emails sent via Supervisor Rules in Zoho Desk are sent outside of the ticket context. As a result, if a client replies to such emails, their response creates a new ticket instead of appending

      • Multi-currency and Products

        One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support.  However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK.  However, we maintain different price lists for each. 

      • 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

      • Send Whatsapp with API including custom placeholders

        Is is possible to initiate a session on whatsapp IM channel with a template that includes params (placeholders) that are passed on the API call? This is very usefull to send a Utility message for a transactional notification including an order number

      • Customer Management: #6 Common Mistakes in Customer Handling

        Managing customers doesn't usually fall apart overnight. More often, slight gaps in the process slowly become bigger problems. Incidents like missed follow-ups, billing confusion, and unhappy customers will lead to revenue loss. Many businesses don't

      • Zoho Desk iOS app update: UI enhancement of picklist and multi picklist fields

        Hello everyone! We have enhanced the UI of the picklist and multiselect picklist fields on the Zoho Desk iOS app to provide a more refined, efficient, and user-friendly experience. We have now supported an option to Search within the picklist and multiselect

      • Zoho Desk iOS app update: Revamped scribbles with Apple pencil kit

        Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce a revamped Scribble experience, rebuilt from the ground up using Apple PencilKit for smooth strokes, proper scaling, and seamless image uploads. Please update the app to the latest version directly from the App

      • Zoho Desk Android app update: Norwegian language support

        Hello everyone! In the most recent Android version of the Zoho Desk app update, we have brought in support to access the app in Norwegian language. We have introduced the Norwegian language on the IM module of the Zoho Desk app as well. Please update

      • Field Description is very small

        Hello, The field Description in the activity is very small. Why don't try open a new window, or a bigger popup, or increase the width of the "popup".  Example:

      • Function #53: Transaction Level Profitability for Invoices

        Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have previously provided custom functions for calculating the profitability of a quote and a sales order. There may be instances where the invoice may differ from its corresponding quote or sales order.

      • Payment Vouchers

        Is there any Payment Vouchers in Zoho? How can we create payment for non-trade vendors, i.e. professional fees, rent, and payment to commissioner income tax?

      • API in E-Invoice/GST portal

        Hi, Do I have to change the api in gst/e-invoice portal as I use zoho e books for my e-invoicing. If yes, please confirm the process.

      • When I click on PDF/PRINT it makes the invoice half size

        When I click PDF / Print for my invoice in Zoho Books, the generated PDF appears at half size — everything is scaled down, including the logo, text, and layout. The content does not fill the page as it should. Could someone advise what causes Zoho Books

      • Search by contain letter in a column

        Hello, everyone I need a filter function that searches by letter in a cell, and it should be a macro. To clarify further, if I have a column with several names and I chose a search cell and what I want is search by a single letter, for example, "a" then

      • Enrich your contact and company details automatically using the Data Enrichment topping

        Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're happy to announce the latest topping we've added to Bigin: The Data Enrichment topping, powered by WebAmigo. This topping helps you automatically enhance your contact and company records in Bigin. By leveraging

      • Easier onboarding for new users with stage descriptions

        Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a recent enhancement we've made to Bigin. You can now add descriptions to the stages in your pipeline. Previously, when creating a pipeline, you could only add stages. With this update,

      • Zoho Books Invoices Templates

        It would be really helpful to have more advanced features to customise the invoice templates in Zoho Books. Especially I´m thinking of the spacing of the different parts of the invoice (Address line etc.). If you have a sender and receiver address in

      • Can add a colum to the left of the item in Zoho Books?

        I would need to add a column to the left of the item column in Books. When i create custom fields, i can only display them to the right of the item.

      • Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

        I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's

      • AI Bot and Advanced Automation for WhatsApp

        Most small businesses "live" on WhatsApp, and while Bigin’s current integration is helpful, users need more automation to keep up with volume. We are requesting features based on our customer Feedbacks AI Bot: For auto-replying to FAQs. Keyword Triggers:

      • Next Page