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

      • Error message that says only images and no text

        I filled out a template for a weekly newsletter with text and images throughout but when I click save and next an error message comes up that says "Campaign content has only images and no text" which is not true at all. I have no idea how to fix this issue and don't know where the problem is. 

      • Contacts Don't Always Populate

        I've noticed that some contacts can easily be added to an email when I type their name. Other times, a contact doesn't appear even though I KNOW it is in my contact list. It is possible the ones I loaded from a spreadsheet are not an issue and the ones

      • Cannot add zoho email to gmail acc

        I'm trying to set up my zoho mail to connect to my gmail acc but no matter what I try I always get this problem. What should I do now? Password is up-to-date. Authentication failed. Please check your username/password. [Server response: 535 Authentication

      • 553 Relaying disallowed - Invalid Domain

        I have this error "553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain" when sending an email to any email address. But I still receiving email from other emails. I checked MX, DKIM, SPF and it's ok. Could you check and help? Thanks

      • Turn off Organization Contact List

        We need to be able to turn off the Organization Contact list for some of our staff. Once the Organization Contact list is turned off for a user, we would then like to be able to create a list of contacts on per user basis that would not be editable by

      • Unable to send massage Reason 553/ Relaying Disallowed. Invalid Domain

        Cant sed massages from my email. All massages from my domain received the same issue Unable to send massage Reason 553/ Relaying Disallowed. Invalid Domain

      • Kaizen #194 : Trigger Client Script via Custom buttons

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another interesting and useful Kaizen post. We know that Client Scripts can be triggered with Canvas buttons and we discussed this with a use case in Kaizen#180. Today, let us discuss how to trigger Client Script when a

      • Make record entry more organized with the Sections component in Wizards

        Hello everyone! Wizards in Zoho CRM have always helped you break long record-detail pages or large sets of fields into multiple screens, making data entry smoother and more user-friendly. Now, we’re taking a major step forward with a new Sections component—giving

      • GSTIN Public Search API

        Does zohobooks have an api using which i can search GST numbers and get their details?

      • External @zoho.com mail stopped working today, yesterday no issues

        Hello, Over a sudden mail stopped being delivered to inbox. Domain is standard zoho.com worked no problem yesterday, today nothing in inbox. Sent several test emails from corporate account & from gmail.com, logs show acceptance by zoho mail server, but

      • Suggestion: Smart Purchasing Module for Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books

        Suggestion: Smart Purchasing Module for Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books As an active user of Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books, I’ve noticed that the suite already provides valuable tools for managing inventory, analyzing trends, and processing purchase orders.

      • Adding bank details to the contact through API

        How to add bank-related information to the contact while creating it using API? The account number needs to be encrypted before sending it through API but not sure how to encrypt and get those values. Please guide me in this.

      • average cost display

        Hello there, I'm using the average cost valuation method, and the cost price shown in the Items menu should reflect the latest WAC (Weighted Average Cost). However, it doesn't update automatically. Is there a way to display the current average cost without

      • Apple Mail issues

        Dear Sir or Madam, I am trying to configure my Zoho mail account to Apple Mail. It is not working. It seems to need more information (perhaps a path prefix?) than is shown in your tutorial (<www.zoho.com/mail/help/apple-mac-imap.html>). After plugging

      • Assistance Required for Migrating Data from Odoo Inventory to Zoho Inventory

        Hi Team, I previously used Odoo Inventory to manage my stock and transactions, and I’ve now moved to Zoho Inventory. I’d like to migrate my data from Odoo—including product details, stock, purchase, and vendor information- into Zoho Inventory for continuity

      • I need my entire Zoho Account (mail/organization) deleted!

        Hey! I used zoho for my email aaron@aaronglass.me with domain forwarding/mx all that. I got rid of the mx info on my godaddy account and still Google won't let me sign up with my aaron@aaronglass.me email. (I'm moving to Google for business) SO! I was

      • Error: "Invalid Element warehouse_id" when sending order to Zoho

        i'm getting the error "Invalid Element warehouse_id" when trying to send an order to Zoho via API. Has anyone faced this issue before? How can I fix it?

      • No way to sell individual and case units smoothly in Zoho

        Currently, Zoho Inventory handles inventory primarily at the case level, which can be challenging for businesses that frequently need to break down cases into individual units for retail sales or smaller shipments. Although Zoho Inventory currently supports

      • How to handle multiple languages (Resume parser, Job opening, job board, career site) ?

        We are looking to bring Zoho Recruit to a market that needs to support 2 languages. The first thing we need to make sure is that the Candidate be flag with the language they speak. This is easy enough make a custom field that as the desire languages.

      • Shipping Labels

        Hi, Can we generate Packing Labels for manual shipping same as the format as Airway Bill in zoho books or inventory?

      • Unit Measurement Sign,

        Dear Zoho Support Team, I hope you are doing well. We recently purchased Zoho Inventory based on recommendations of your team that “it would be a great fit for our Shopify operations”. However, we are currently facing several urgent issues that require

      • Leadchain into a custom module

        Hello ZOHO Community ! is it possible to put the leads collected by leadchain into a custom module instaed of leads module ? Best wishes Niels

      • Urgent: How to Bulk Upload Images in Zoho Inventory? Any Workarounds?

        We are currently onboarding 5,000+ items from Shopify into Zoho Inventory, but we’re struggling with the lack of a bulk image upload feature. Right now, we have to manually upload and assign images one by one, which is extremely time-consuming and inefficient.

      • Can I automatically update COGS and Inventory account when creating an item?

        I have been trying to get Zoho to update the other two fields when I update one (Sales Account, COGS account, and Inventory Account). I know this seems like not a huge time saver, but I am all about efficiency and being an independent taproom, I create

      • I'm looking for a Microsoft List alternative in Zoho One to manage large lists of repetitive tasks

        I've used Microsoft Lists to manage lots of tasks that need to be completed several times for different users. We started with a large spreadsheet and then discovered lists, which worked pretty well. I was wondering if there is a similar products in Zoho,

      • Zoholics Europe and UK Awards 2025: Honouring our loyal customers!

        We're excited to announce that at this year's Zoholics events across Europe, we're holding customer awards for the first time ever! This is your chance to shout about the amazing things you've created, connected, or achieved with Bigin! And if you win,

      • Fillable template with dynamic tables?

        Is there a way to build a fillable template so that users can add rows to a table? To describe what I'm trying to accomplish the table has 3 sections; a header row, some number of rows with custom information, and a summary row with totals. I can't figure

      • How to store API keys in zoho?

        Hi everyone, I'm currently building an integration using Zoho Flow and I need to securely store several API keys that will be used to make external service calls from my flows. I would not like to hardcode the values in the code of custom function. What's

      • Zoho RPA is now available in your Zoho One bundle!

        Hello All! Of late, it's been quite a stint of new app integrations in Zoho One. This announcement pertains to the addition of another Zoho application, the most sought-after Zoho RPA - Robotic Process Automation, to the bundle. What is Zoho RPA? Zoho

      • is there an easy way to embed a zoho analytics report into a widget (or inside the "account" page) of Zoho CRM

        Hi, I have built a report that is specific to an account in Zoho CRM but I would like this to be built into the Zoho CRM front-end. I have looked at the widget concept but it seems quite complicated (see attached screenshot but I need to filter this view

      • Bigin iOS app update - Introducing Card Scanner and initiating WhatsApp conversations using pre-approved templates.

        Hello everyone! In the latest iOS (v1.11.3) version of the Bigin app, we have introduced the following features: Card Scanner Initiating WhatsApp conversations. Card Scanner: Our new Card Scanner feature extracts contact information from business cards.

      • Introducing card scanner in Bigin Android app

        Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce the card scanner feature on the latest Android version(1.7.26) of the Bigin app as well. Card scanner extracts contact information from business cards and allows you to save them as contacts in Bigin. You can

      • Full RTL and Hebrew Translation Support for Zoho Creator User Portal (Including All System Pages, Templates, and MFA Screens)

        Dear Zoho Creator Team, We kindly request comprehensive support for right-to-left (RTL) languages, particularly Hebrew, across the entire Zoho Creator user portal. This includes system-generated pages, templates, and multi-factor authentication (MFA)

      • ZUG real estate virtual meetup 2025: Sign documents, collect payments, and automate workflows with Zoho Sign

        Hi there! Are you in real estate and looking for a secure, compliant way to manage all your paperwork? In such a fast-paced industry, timing, compliance, and client trust are everything. Handling paperwork has always been a challenge, whether you're finalizing

      • OCR (Optical Character Recognition), automatisation des PDF et autres améliorations de Zoho RPA

        Zoho RPA est une plateforme d'automatisation des processus robotiques conçue pour accélérer et simplifier vos workflows. Elle permet de connecter facilement vos applications cloud à vos systèmes existants, même ceux qui ne disposent pas d’API, afin d’automatiser

      • 📞 Call + 💬 WhatsApp + 📲 SMS in Zoho CRM – All in One Place!

        We’re excited to introduce HelloSend, a powerful communication extension for Zoho CRM that brings SMS, WhatsApp, and Voice Calling directly into your CRM workspace. Whether you're in sales, support, or service delivery, HelloSend helps you connect with

      • Automation#24: Auto-Update custom field from Accounts to Tickets

        Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Community Learning Series! This episode dives into how Zylker Techfix streamlines account-related ticket references. Previously, employees had to manually check account details to retrieve specific customer information,

      • Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | May 2025

        Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications this May. Zoho Mail Increased Preset Limit for Reminder and Snooze Options Preset limits for the Reminder and Snooze options

      • Outlook 365 ('classic') won't connect to Zoho email

        New computer, fresh install of Office desktop. On the old computer Outlook was working fine with Zoho, retrieving/sending mail, etc. On the new one I can't connect the accounts in Outlook--Outlook just keeps popping up the box asking for a password. All

      • login email

        Never logged into email says last log in never loged into

      • Next Page