Automate Subscription Management for CRM Contacts Using Workflows in Zoho Campaigns

Automate Subscription Management for CRM Contacts Using Workflows in Zoho Campaigns

Hello, marketers! Welcome back to Marketer’s Space. In this week’s post, we’ll look at how to simplify subscription management using Workflows for contacts synced from Zoho CRM in Zoho Campaigns. There are multiple ways to assign topics to your contacts:
  • Default assignment at sync: When syncing contacts from CRM, you can either keep them unsubscribed (no topics) or subscribe them to all available topics. This gives you a clean starting point, especially if you plan to collect preferences later.
  • Letting contacts choose: You can send an email campaign with a preference center link, allowing contacts to choose the topics they’re interested in. Their selections are automatically reflected in their topic subscriptions.
  • Manual updates via CRM: If your sales team collects customer interests during conversations, they can record them in custom CRM fields such as a field called “Interests.” These fields can hold one or more interest values like sale, product launch, or newsletters. Once these contacts are synced into Zoho Campaigns, you can build a Workflow that reads this data and automatically subscribes each contact to the relevant topics.
In this post, we’ll look at how to use custom CRM fields and Workflows in Zoho Campaigns to automate topic assignment based on customer interests.

Why automate subscription management?   

When both your sales team and your customers update subscription preferences, manual handling can get messy. Automating this process ensures that:
  • Your contact lists stay up-to-date
  • You remain compliant with email regulations
  • You send only relevant emails to the right audience

Sync CRM contacts with a targeted list   

To begin, sync your Zoho CRM contacts to a specific mailing list in Zoho Campaigns. This list will serve as the foundation for your targeting and automation.
Here’s how you can set it up:
  • Go to Settings > Apps > Zoho CRM and connect your account.
  • Then navigate to Contacts > Sync Services > New Sync.
Choose the CRM module you’d like to sync (e.g., Leads, Contacts or custom modules ) and map it to a mailing list in Zoho Campaigns.

Once the sync is set up, you can trigger Workflows using:
  • List Entry – Triggers when a contact is added to the synced list.
  • Field Update – Triggers based on changes to mapped CRM field values.

This setup ensures your Workflows respond dynamically to CRM data and list activity.

Capture interests directly in Zoho CRM   

Your sales team can log customer interests in a custom CRM field (e.g., Interests). This might include values like:
  • Sale
  • New Product Launch
  • Exclusive Content
These values become the key to targeting contacts with relevant content.

Create topics in Zoho Campaigns   

To align campaigns with user interests, create relevant topics inside Zoho Campaigns.
You’ll find this under Contacts > Manage Topics. 



Consider topics like:
  • Newsletters
  • Member-only updates
  • Sale announcements
  • Product launches

Organizing your campaigns under topics helps contacts manage preferences and improves engagement.

Build your automated subscription Workflow      

Trigger the Workflow   

Use the “List Entry” trigger with your CRM-synced list.
Alternately, use the “Field Update” trigger to filter based on interest fields or subscription status.  

Split based on Interests   

Add the Process Condition component and select the Multi-way option.
  • Branch 1: Interest is “Sale”
  • Branch 2: Interest is “New Product Launch”
  • Branch 3: Interest is empty → default to unsubscribe  

Assign subscriptions automatically   

For each branch, add the “Subscription Management” action component:
  • Branch 1 → Subscribe to Sale Announcements
  • Branch 2 → Subscribe to Product Launches
  • Branch 3 → Unsubscribe from all topics to avoid sending irrelevant emails
This ensures each contact only receives what they opted in for or nothing irrelevant.

Assigning Multiple Topics Using Comma-Separated Values   

If your CRM contacts are interested in more than one topic, you can record multiple interests in a single CRM field using comma-separated values. For example: sale, launch, newsletters
When you use the “contains” modifier, you can match this field against several keywords at once and assign multiple topics in a single branch.

Trigger the workflow 

Use the Field Update trigger and select the CRM field where interests are stored (e.g., Interests). This workflow will activate whenever the field is updated in CRM.

Add the Process Condition  

  • Insert a Multi-way process component and set the condition to: Interests contains sale launch newsletters 
  • Make sure the keywords are separated by spaces so that each word can be evaluated individually. If the contact’s field contains any of the specified values (sale, launch, newsletters), the workflow will take this path.

Assign multiple topic subscriptions 

To that branch, add the Subscription Management action component and add all relevant topics. This ensures:
  • A single contact can be subscribed to multiple relevant topics
  • No interest is missed out during automation

Advanced Use Case: 

Use an additional CRM field like Customer Type (e.g., Member, Non-member). Create a separate Workflow that:
  • Filters contacts with “Member” status
  • Subscribes them to exclusive member-only topics
This lets you send gated content without mixing up audiences.  

Use Segments as an alternative trigger   

Instead of using a list-based trigger, you can create a Segment using criteria like CRM fields or engagement behavior. Then:
  • Trigger a Workflow when a contact is added to a segment using the “Enter a Segment” trigger component
  • Automate topic subscriptions or unsubscribes from there
This is ideal when you prefer dynamic criteria over static list membership.

With Workflows in Zoho Campaigns, subscription management becomes hands-free, precise, and personalized. Whether you’re handling thousands of CRM contacts or running niche campaigns for select groups, this setup keeps your audience segmentation sharp and relevant.

See you soon with more ways to supercharge the Zoho CRM + Campaigns integration. Until then, happy marketing!

Regards,
Pearlin Nitika
User Education | Zoho Campaigns

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • Unable to delete Attachment on Modules/Record

        Hi Team, Could you please check the backend. Looks like today, CRM decided not to allow deletion of Attachment on Modules or Records. No error message but when you click Delete > Move to recycle bin, nothing happens. Please fix ASAP.

      • Filter Multi-Line Properties with Plain Large Text

        To be able to filter fields that feature Plain large text, I am only able to filter on plain small text when you offer 3 separate options.

      • Zoho Mail : Email Outgoing Blocked

        I suddenly received the following message yesterday. I cannot send any mail. Please resolve as soon as possible, I cannot work without sending email. Dear User, We regret to inform you that your email outgoing has been blocked and you will not be able

      • Update date field from one module to the another

        Hi, I have a module called "Cargo". In this module there is a date field called "Fecha ETA". Api name = Fecha_ETA I have another module called "Deals". In this module there is a date field called "ETA 2". Api name = Fecha_Madrid I need to create a function

      • Delete completed tasks

        My completed tasks will not delete. I have tried deleted them all together and one by one. It says they are deleted but they are still showing on my list. Help

      • One user multiple access?

        Hi, I want to know if t is possible to have just one Zoho account for the business and have multiple users access this at the same time?

      • Notebook not working on Windows 11/Atlas OS

        Hello, I jave bought gamer laptop in used condition to make some AI application. I installed Atlas OS to improved performanceds and it is working very well. I have Avast Secutiy as firewall. The whole system is really fast and all my apps work well....but

      • Why are you taking functionality out of notebook?

        We were able to choose a custom sort, in free version. Now it seems that feature is only available if I upgrade. Not a nice trick, shame.

      • Is Zoho Notebook available in any other languge besides english?

        There seems to be no option to change the language of the UI in the web browser version of Notebook, is this the case for all other versions? iOS Android Windows App MacOS

      • Completely blank window

        When I open my notebook application on Windows 10 I get a completely blank window, see the attached .png file. There is no notebook or any hint that notebooks exist. Furthermore, the application always asks me to sign in again *every* time I start it.

      • To be able to create a report sub folder

        Hello Can we request the ability to create subfolders in report folders.

      • Default Lookup Field Value based on Picklist

        How do I change a lookup field value based on another field's value, while creating/editing a record using form? I have a picklist of different types of Loans. For example: PPP, EDIL, Term, etc. When I create a record using the form, if I choose PPP from

      • Unable to create a Zoho Desk ticket from a call in Zoho CRM

        I want to create a Zoho Desk ticket when a new record is created in the Calls module in Zoho CRM. However, I get the following error message when trying to test & debug: We are unable to setup Zoho CRM. Please try again or contact us for further help

      • How to add a discount (percent %) field?

        My particular case it’s regarding the “Opportunities” module. I’ve created a subform to calculate the value of the opportunity, and now I’d like to include a discount field in the form of a percentage. However, no matter how or where I add the "percent"

      • Page HTML to PDF

        Hello everyone, I have a pdf template, but because zoho has limitations in the builder. I made the template in aPages. The question is, how to export the pages as PDF? Thank you very much.

      • Issues with certain CRM, Desk & webhook blocks in Guided Conversations

        Good day I have been attempting to add a block on our guided conversations, which give our customers relavent information based on their queries. The issue is that when I attempt to use a block that fetches data I get the following error popup: Cannot

      • Zoho Sign API lacking clarity

        I'm trying to use Zoho Sign to embed a document for signing into a web application, and the documentation is proving to to be lacking something. Some issues... 1) No clarity if the API only works with a document uploaded through the API -- it would be

      • 【Zoho CRM】キャンバス機能のアップデート

        ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中からキャンバス機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 新たに追加された「可変式ボックス」では、データの表示方法を柔軟にカスタマイズ可能です。画面サイズやデバイスに応じてレイアウトが自動調整されるため、より快適なユーザー体験が実現します。 【目次】 可変式ボックスとは 主要機能の詳細 より高度な可変式ツール 1.可変式ボックスとは 可変式ボックスをレイアウトに組み込むことで、高いカスタマイズ性と柔軟なデザインが可能になり、データの視覚化やユーザーインタラクションがより効果的に行うことができます。以下が可変式ボックスが備える主要な機能の概要です。

      • Notebook for watch no longer in Play store.

        I had to reinstall Notebook on my Galaxy Watch 7. Alas: the app is no longer available in the Play store. What now?

      • move notebooks to another notebook?

        Do I have the ability to add one or more existing notebooks to another notebook? For example, I have an existing notebook named Dog, with several articles in it, and I would like to move it to another notebook called animals?

      • Import from OneNote

        Is there a way to import notes from OneNote? 

      • Add export option that only export one or selected notebooks

        Currently the export function will export ALL data every time, this not only wastes user bandwidth, disk I/O and local storage space, but also consumes more resources on the server. Partial export should be a very basic and easy-to-implement feature.

      • Zoho Creator Mobile app no Default Workspace

        When I use the Zoho Creator mobile app I do not get a default workspace. This is occurring for me and another new user. I believe this is an issue with Zoho One / Zoho Creator. I have tried working with support and it's been over a week of no solution

      • Kaizen #189: Manipulating Multi-Module Lookup (MML) Field using Zoho CRM APIs

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another week of Kaizen. In this post, we explore the Multi-Module Lookup (MML) field in the Appointments module of Zoho CRM. You learn what an MML field is, how it works, and how to use it with Zoho CRM APIs. Table of Contents:

      • Xcode 16.2

        I am facing multiple bitcode enable issue with Zoho. Which version is compatible with xcode 16.2 or version with out bitcode Flutter 3.27.4 pod 'ZohoDeskPortalCore' pod 'ZohoDeskPortalServices'

      • Unable to invite contacts

        Hi! I'm unable to invite contacts as end-users from my trial account. The green pop-up displays "Invited succesfully" but the email never arrives, nor the re-invitation - even though it's "sucessfully" as well. Tried with several e-mail accounts, even

      • Set expiration date on document and send reminder

        We have many company documents( for example business registration), work VISA documents. It will be nice if we can set a expiry date and set reminders ( for example 90 days, 60 days, 30 days etc.,) Does Zoho workdrive provide that option?

      • Refresh Page Or View After Workflow-Triggered Rule

        Good Morning, Is this feature that's discussed on this CRM thread available on Recruit? https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/refresh-page-or-view-after-workflow-triggered-rule

      • Forward, attach, or flag email to an open ticket.

        Hi, when resolving customer requests through tickets in Zoho Desk, it is very common to receive emails from suppliers or third parties in Zoho Mail accounts or email groups that are not registered in the system. Is there any way to forward these emails

      • Need help adding Zoho Vault License

        "Proceed" is grayed our when i try to add 5 more license on our Zoho Vault account. Thanks

      • 'call for best price' option

        Hi guys, Pricing of items that we sell to end-customers changes often, so I don't want to put up a 'static' price, but would like to have the option to 'call for best price', or what-ever the best wording is.. Has anybody got a suggestion on how to do

      • Modifying product search in invoice field

        Hello, I imported my product list in Books. Since I have many products with the same name, but with different order units, and that Books doesn't permit same names in items, I used ID's number has product name, and put the product name in the description.

      • How do I embed the webinar into a webpage?

        All I can seem to do is embed the signup form. This is cheesy. Surely they must have fixed this by now, right? How do I do it?

      • 404 Error When Using record_cursor in ZOHO.CREATOR.DATA.getRecords (js api)

        Iam working on fetching all records from a Zoho Creator report using the Get Records API (V2.1) with the following recursive function: js CopyEdit // Recursive function to fetch records using record_cursor from the response function fetchAllRecords(recordCursor

      • Add haptic feedback when QR / barcode is scanned

        Hi, One of my user has a Creator App and scan QR codes. He suggests a haptic feedback is a great addition to validate that the QR code is effectively scanned and inserted in to the field. He is using an iPad for scanning. Thank you !

      • Input list of records in Lookup

        Salut, I have 2 scripts that input list of records in a lookup. The first on works fine, the second one doesn't and I do not know why. The only differences, is that the first one input in a lookup a list of records from an actual lookup field, and with

      • In line code commenting in Deluge

        A request to enhance readability: currently you can add 'in line' comments for Deluge code, but after you save and reopen, the comments are moved down to the new line. i.e. info "test response"; //this is a info statement for a test response gets changed

      • Delete purchase order

        Buenos días, quisiera su ayuda para retirar los documentos adjuntos, ya que necesito iniciar sesión nuevamente para la venta de unos vehículos.

      • Zoho One Groups and Departments - how are they used ?

        I've seen that Zoho One has the ability to create Groups and Departments, however they don't seem to do anything ? There is no ability to pick up these same groups in ; Zoho Analytics, Zoho Forms, Zoho Vault for just starters . Why aren't the Zoho One

      • Automate Note Creation for Service Appointments

        Hi Latha, I hope you're doing great. Thank you for your continued support in helping resolve previous issues — it's truly appreciated. I'm currently working on automating another workflow using Deluge in the Service_Appointment module. Specifically, I

      • Next Page