Overall Feedback after 35 days of trial period with lots of ups and downs.

Overall Feedback after 35 days of trial period with lots of ups and downs.

Hey Guys,
with this post I want to give you an overall feedback of what I recognized during the past 35 Days of trial.
This feedback is written by someone who worked for more than 10 years as trainer and consultant for one of leading CRM providers for veterinary hospitals and I have a very good IT understanding.

First of all: The Suite provided by Zoho One and its apps are awesome. I've never before seen such a wide range of apps with great features! Very big complement! I did really deep dives into CRM, Desk, Project, Marketing Hub, Campaigns, Flow, Creator and Books. Further I played around with SalesIQ, Sitebuilder, Social, Mail and PageSense.

Each of those do a really good job - even so I recognized some critical weaknesses here and there. - I guess some of the supporters of each App are already afraid if they read my name, I raised a lot of requests and suggestions within the last weeks.

I'm a nerd, so my understanding of software is usually very well and its easy to get my hands on it. But for sure, such a wide range of functionality can't be always self explaining. Therefore I like, that most applications are very well documented, even the API description are well maintained. Webinars, YT Videos and the help resources as well as this forum helped me a lot to gain a good understanding. 

However, with all the good things, there are two major weaknesses which relate to the whole suite of Zoho One:
"ZOHO One is not one!"
I guess you guys work with very independent teams on sprints or something similar and from being 10 years in software business I know it is not easy. BUT:
Please take care of these both points for your future development. Whenever I got really upset or frustrated, it was because of one these points:
1. Unique user experience
2. Persistant Integration of other Zoho Services

In Details
1. Using different apps is a nightmare, because every app is has a different user interface. Best example is the individual way into the settings menu: Sometimes it's a gear ⚙️ icon on the right top corner, sometimes on the left top corner, sometimes you need to lookout for two crossed tools and as this is not enough sometimes you need to click on your account picture to get to the settings. Similar behavior you can find for switching between the applications. Those are just very easy examples, but it continues with how lists and forms are displayed.

For another example compare the functionality and capabilities of creating a Modul in CRM vs creating a Module in Creator. I know it makes sense to give someone more flexibilities in Zoho Creator but why don't you provide the same events and trigger? Why can't I add a "on Form Load" event in Zoho CRM? Why cant I populate the entries of a dropdown field via Deluge function like in Creator? Why cant I provide a filter for Lookup field in CRM?

Why can't I see my tasks from Zoho Desk in Zoho CRM?

Why does addresses have sometimes different Labels? like: Zip and Postcode? Sometimes there is Street1 and Street2, sometimes Address1 and Address2. 

Why is there a PHP wrapper for CRM, but for most other Apps not? Why does Marketing Hub not provide an API?

2. The integration of the different apps is a nightmare at least (but most-likely not only) for beginners who want to have an intense hands on on the whole suite of apps. At first, I thought there is just one Client Record where each application references its individual informations to. But it is ridicules bad: It is a nighmare of one-way sync, two-way sync, push and pull operations. Some in realtime, some with several hours in between of two sync. For some I can quiet good configure the field mapping and can even provide custom data (e.g. the leadsource) and for some I just can enable some random style "add lead to crm". As leads and contacts are coming from different sources and are edited from different interfaces all those connections are terrible to understand (in their dependences) and get fucked up very easily.


Many thanks for reading till here! Even so there are questions above, I'm not asking for individual answers. Please just take this feedback as a very qualified suggestion list for the future. I kind of know why the things are as they are (individual product development, independent teams, outdated and new technology in older and newer developments). Whoever this does not prevent you from being able to work on both points if you decide to.
From my point of view this is very critical as your app universe wont shrink, it will grow further but if you forget the baseline you won't be able to provide a better universe than the self created Zapier-integration-multi-provider-app-universes out there.

Even so I don't want individual answers, please correct me if i'm wrong at some point.
Last but not least, if you as User/Consultant/Partner share my opinion, please comment and like  

    • Sticky Posts

    • How to Add Users to your Organization in ZohoMail?

      A better clarity so you can create other users to start using Zoho Mail. You can directly Add Users from the Control Panel to your Organization. You can invite users with the existing email address. If the person (user) already uses ZohoCRM, then you can import users from Zoho CRM. You can also import them using a .csv file. (if you are planning to add them in Bulk)  In this topic, We will be discussing on how to Add and Invite users only.  The Import options are self explanatory. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    • Recent Topics

    • text length in list report mobile/tablet

      Is there a way to make the full text of a text field appear in the list report on mobile and tablet? With custom layouts, the text is always truncated after a certain number of characters.

    • Zoho Creator customer portal limitation | Zoho One

      I'm asking you all for any feedback as to the logic or reasoning behind drastically limiting portal users when Zoho already meters based on number of records. I'm a single-seat, Zoho One Enterprise license holder. If my portal users are going to add records, wouldn't that increase revenue for Zoho as that is how Creator is monetized? Why limit my customer portal to only THREE external users when more users would equate to more records being entered into the database?!? (See help ticket reply below.)

    • Link Contacts to Billed Accounts

      Hello, I want to do a survey on all my customers of 2025. For that I want to select all contacts linked to accounts who where billed in 2025. How to I create this link to I can then use Zoho Survey with this database of contacts?

    • Export all of our manuals from Zoho Learn in one go

      Hi, I know there's a way to export manuals in Zoho Learn, but I want to export everything in one go so it won't take so long. I can't see a way to do this, can I get some assistance or is this a feature in the pipeline? Thanks, Hannah

    • Historical Sales Info - Blend with Finance Invoice Line Items, Access in CRM and Desk

      My company has been using Zoho One since 2021, with sales data going back through 2020. However, we have been in business much longer, and we have historical sales information that we want to have at our fingertips when talking with customers (usually

    • Pre-Zoho Sales Info - Best Way to Add to Desk / CRM

      My company has been using Zoho One since 2021, with sales data going back through 2020. However, we have been in business much longer, and we have historical sales information that we want to have at our fingertips when talking with customers (usually

    • Shift-Centric View for Assigning and Managing Shifts in Zoho People

      Hello Zoho People Product Team, Greetings and hope you are doing well. This feature request is related to Zoho People - please don't move it to zoho one! We would like to submit a feature request regarding the shift assignment and management view in Zoho

    • CRM function REST API response format

      Is there a way to control the JSON response returned by the CRM function REST API? If I call a function using either OAuth or an API key it returns a 200 OK response with a string in the format shown below. I am using a particular feature of an external

    • 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

    • Unable to Access Application:

      Whenever I try to access my application from the desktop, say I am editing it and want to test something in the desktop environment I get: An error has occurred. An internal error has occurred. Please check the URL , or try refreshing the page I can edit

    • Cannot see Application from Lookup field

      Hi all, I am trying to access data for an application on our account via a lookup field; however, the application doesn't appear in the dropdown at all. Can anyone shed any light on this, please? I have asked Zoho support; however, they're just as confused,

    • Cannot see correct DNS config for mail after moving domain to another provider

      I have moved my domain from one provider to another and after that zoho mail stopped working (expected). Problem is, zoho mail admin panel still shows (10 hours after move) that all records are correct while I haven't changed anything in my domain DNS

    • Zoho CRM Meetings Module Issues

      We have a use-case that is very common in today's world, but won't work in Zoho CRM. We have an SDR (Sales Development Rep) who makes many calls per day to Leads and Contacts, and schedules meetings for our primary Sales Reps. He does this by logging

    • Zoho Books integration sync from Zoho CRM does not work

      Hi Zoho Community & Zoho Support We just tried to get a sync some products into Zoho Books from CRM using the native sync and we're getting an error: "It looks like some mandatory fields you're trying to map are empty. Please provide valid field names

    • P & L Sub-categorized accounts

      How can I show sub-categorized Income and Expense accounts on the P & L report?

    • Report showing Bill Details with Project and Sales Invoice Number

      Hi There, I am hoping that someone can help, I am looking for report that can show the bill and expense details along with project its as assigned to and the invoice number that the sales has been raised in. The goal is I can filter a customer/project

    • Advanced Payment for Inventory Items with serial numbers

      Hello, We sell equipment that we track the unique serial numbers on using Sales Orders. We can charge the customers an advanced payment, then the balance on delivery. We cannot figure out a way to do this in Books/Inventory: - Cannot part invoice a SO

    • Is it possible to restrict ZCRM user to see only custom views created by administrator

      I have segmented data in my CRM and I want to allow different users to be able to see only parts of it based on some criteria. I've tried to create and share a custom view, but then there is always an option for user to see all open lead for example.

    • Issues Logging into ZOHO

      Hello, one of my coworkers is having issues logging into ZOHO, she has requested a code when entering and the email is correct but she has not received the code. can you help us with this?

    • Google Fonts Integration in Pagesense Popup Editor

      Hello Zoho Pagesense Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Pagesense’s popup editor with Google Fonts support. Current Limitation: Currently, Pagesense offers a limited set of default fonts. Google Fonts

    • Add Popup Rejection Metrics to Reports

      Hello Zoho PageSense Team, We would like to request improved reporting for popup interactions. Current Limitation: PageSense currently provides conversion data, but there is no clear visibility into: Popup rejections Popup closes (✕ button clicks) Dismissals

    • Ability to Reset / Reinitialize Popup Cookies

      Hello Zoho PageSense Team, We would like to request the ability to manually reset popup cookies. Current Limitation: At the moment, it is not possible to initiate a new popup cookie from the our side. Visitors who rejected or closed a popup will not see

    • Control Popup Cookie Expiration Duration

      Hello Zoho PageSense Team, We would like to request an enhancement related to popup cookie management. Current Limitation: Currently, PageSense popup cookies remain active for 365 days, and this duration cannot be modified by us. If a visitor closes or

    • Clone / Export Popup Design Across PageSense Projects

      Hello Zoho PageSense Team, We hope you’re doing well. We would like to request an enhancement that allows popup designs to be reused across different PageSense projects. Problem Statement: Currently, Zoho PageSense allows popups to be duplicated only

    • Are there settings for hyperlinks?

      Clicking a hyperlinked cell in Sheet creates this little pop-up with the actual hyperlink inside. Is it possible to have a 1-click link where if you click the cell it opens the link directly with no pop-up?

    • Automatically include all ticket attachments in the ticket resolution email

      Hello Zoho Community, We are implementing Zoho Desk in a real customer-facing production environment and have run into a limitation that is becoming a blocking requirement for our clients. The problem When a ticket is closed or resolved, Zoho Desk sends

    • Finding text within a ticket: Expand All or Search this Ticket

      The auto-collapse feature within a ticket is nice for screen scrolling, however it makes it difficult to find text within the ticket if the email is collapsed. In fact you cannot find text if it is collapsed. I would like to propose a feature that allows

    • Books & Desk. Client mapping

      Hi, I’ve been using Zoho Books for several years and am now looking to improve my customer service. I'm experimenting with Zoho Desk and want to sync and map my client data from Zoho Books. However, it seems that mapping requires both contacts to have

    • String handling

      If I cut a currency string from a quote and try and paste it into the Deal "Amount", it will fail unless I manually delete any commas. Dollar signs are no problem, but comma's seem to fail. Please correct this Input Validation error.

    • Feature Request - Allow Customers To Pick Meeting Duration

      Hi Bookings Team, It would be great if there was an option to allow customers to pick a duration based on a max and minimum amount of time defined by me and in increments defined by me. For example, I have some slots which are available for customers

    • Support for Custom Fonts in Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to use custom fonts in the Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal. Currently only the default fonts (Roboto, Lato, and Montserrat) are available. While these

    • YouTube Live streaming? how to? Zoom has this feature, built-in. Can't find it on zoho meetings.

      YouTube Live streaming? how to? Zoom has this feature, built-in. Can't find it on zoho meetings.

    • Feature Request - A Way To Search Item Groups

      Hi Inventory Team, I can't find any way to filter or search by fields of Item Groups. It would be great to see that functionality added. I have a use case where a single product might come from 5 or more suppliers and each supplier's item is an Item in

    • Feature Reqeust - Include MPN In Selectable FIelds

      I have noticed that the MPN is not available to show in the list view of Items. Please consider adding it as EAN, UPC and ISBN are all available, so it doesn't make much sense to exclude this similar option. Thanks for considering my feedback.

    • Feature Request - Option To Hide Default System Fields on Items

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, As far as I know it is not possible to hid some of the defult system fields on Items, such as UPC, MPN, EAN, ISBN. A good use case is that in many cases ISBN is not relevant and it would be an improved user experience if we could

    • Making an email campaign into a Template

      I used a Zoho Campaign Template to create an email. Now I want to use this email and make it a new template, but this seems to be not possible. Am I missing something?

    • Campaigns does not work!

      I am running into so many problems trying to use Zoho Campaigns, that I am seriously considering dropping the app from my (shrinking) list of Zoho applications I actually use. Apart from having to fight the software trying to create a design and email,

    • Feature Request - Make Available "Alias Name" Field In Item List View

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, I have noticed that the "Alias Name" field does not appear on the list of selectable columns in the Customise Columns feature in the Items module. This would be very useful to see for businesses who are using the Alias Name field

    • Marketing Automation

      L.S. Marketing Automation is and has always been part of the Zoho One bundle - according to the information provided on the Zoho Website. Why when I open Marketing Automation do I get the following message?: "Your trial has expired. We hope you enjoyed

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • Next Page