Been using Zoho for 2 years. As a whole I love it but the mail integration by any of the available offerings is weak to the point that I consistently evaluate alternatives to Zoho. Here is what I have discovered - some of the limitations of the two approaches, and an appeal for support to get Zoho to invest significant effort in upgrading the options for mail integration INCLUDING SUPPORT FOR MAC PLEASE - some of us use two platforms !!
Outlook Mail only on Windows - the problem is that you can only import 1 mail at a time even for the same contact. eg want to import 10 emails to one contact record - you have to do 10 imports !! Sync with contacts/calendar and tasks is confusing to the say the least and there are consistent issues with the 64 bit option. On the upside Zoho support has always been prompt and courteous, even doing support calls over the weekend. However as someone who uses a Mac and a PC - I get really pee'd off with Zoho's ill thought through mail integration. Ive been banging on about it for 18 months to no avail, so come on everyone add your comments to the cause please.
Zoho MailAdd-on is not the panacea they make it out to be.
1. CRM entry is a link from Mail client. Delete the original mail and you delete the mail entry in the CRM record. How you supposed to keep your mail box a) organised/tidy, b) a reasonable size if you want to keep ALL customer correspondence for several years if not forever ?
2. You cant "select" which contact you want a mail to be referenced against. As an IT solutions sales rep I often receive emails about an account/opportunity from a 3rd party and want to save this email pointing to the relevant opportunity (potential in Zoho speak) or lead/account but the mail add-on auto files it against the email ID from where the mail came from.
Finally you cant automatically make all emails show to all users when using Zoho Mail Add-on. There is a very confusing drop down menu..... and it never remembers your preference so you have to remember to use it before tearing your hair out thinking you lost a seriously important email. cant help feeling they rushed this add-on out with out thinking the required functionality through.
eMail integration and management is Zoho's Achilles heel without any question