Marketer's Space: Leveraging CRM Data for Dynamic Content and Personalized Campaigns

Marketer's Space: Leveraging CRM Data for Dynamic Content and Personalized Campaigns


Hello Marketers!
Welcome back to another post in Marketer’s Space! We’re excited to continue our series on the many advantages of integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation (ZMA). This series is designed to help you unlock the full potential of your CRM data and show you how it can enhance your marketing efforts. In the past weeks, we’ve looked at how to create targeted lists and segments using CRM data. We also discussed how you can set marketing goals and measure ROI effectively by utilizing the insights from your CRM.
This week, we’ll look at how you can use the CRM data directly in your marketing campaigns. Whether it’s crafting highly personalized email or SMS campaigns, or creating engaging WhatsApp messages, we’ll explore how Zoho CRM data works hand-in-hand with ZMA to transform your multi-channel campaigns into meaningful, personalized conversations with your audience.

Using CRM Data Across Multi-Channel Campaigns


You can seamlessly use CRM data within your campaign content to create highly personalized communications across channels. For instance, you can bring CRM data into your Email, SMS, and WhatsApp campaigns. In email campaigns, you can personalize the subject line and pre-header text by including the CRM Lead Owner’s Name and CRM Lead Owner’s Email. For SMS campaigns, you can personalize the message content using relevant CRM data to make it more engaging. Similarly, in WhatsApp campaigns, you have the flexibility to customize both the header text and the message content to ensure each communication feels tailored to your audience.

Maximizing Personalization with Custom Fields and CRM Integration

When integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation (ZMA), you’re not just syncing standard contact data—you can also create and sync custom fields to bring in more tailored customer information. These custom fields allow you to structure your data effectively and use it within Dynamic Content and Merge Tags to personalize campaigns without creating multiple versions. Let’s see how you can set up and use custom fields for better targeting.
  1. Create a Custom Field in Zoho CRM – Define a field that stores relevant customer information, such as Customer Type with values like “High Profile” or “Important Customer.”
  2. Create the Same Custom Field in ZMA – Ensure consistency by replicating the field type in Zoho Marketing Automation.
  3. Map the Fields During Sync – When setting up the sync between CRM and ZMA, match the CRM custom field with the corresponding ZMA field to ensure seamless data transfer.
Now, this mapped data can be used in your campaigns through Dynamic Content and Merge Tags.

What is Dynamic Content?

Dynamic Content, available in the email template builder, allows you to create a single campaign that adapts to different audience segments based on the conditions you specify.
Idea
This feature supports various content types, including text, images, text with images, and even buttons, dynamically changing them for each recipient.
When integrated with Zoho CRM, you can use Account Tags like Industry, Rating, Account Type, Account Name, Annual Revenue, Number of Employees, SIC Code, Website, and Account Owner to tailor your campaigns. Apart from these tags, you also have custom fields synced from Zoho CRM under Predefined Tags, allowing you to further personalize your messages.
Let’s say you want to personalize your email content based on the Industry tag. For contacts in the “Technology” industry, you could display the message: “Explore our latest tools designed for tech innovators.” And for contacts in the “Healthcare” industry, the email could say: “Discover solutions tailored for healthcare professionals.”
Similarly, you could tailor visuals, CTAs, or even button text based on a custom field tag. For instance, you can create a custom field in Zoho CRM to track membership status and sync it with Zoho Marketing Automation. During a sale, you can use Dynamic Content to show an exclusive banner for members with a message like:
“Members get exclusive deals—shop now!”
Additionally, you can add a CTA button, so members see:
“Browse Member-Only Discounts”, redirecting them to the exclusive sale section.
Meanwhile, non-members would see the standard sale content, ensuring a seamless yet personalized experience for every recipient.
By leveraging dynamic content with CRM tags, you ensure every recipient gets a message that feels personal and relevant, driving better engagement and response rates.

What are Merge Tags?

Merge Tags are a powerful feature available in the campaign text editor that directly pulls data from Zoho CRM and replaces it as text in your content. These tags ensure seamless personalization by dynamically adding CRM details to your campaigns.
These are the types of merge tags that are pulled from CRM:

1. Account Tags:
  • Industry
  • Rating
  • Account Type
  • Account Name
  • Annual Revenue
  • Number of Employees
  • SIC Code
  • Website
  • Account Owner
2. CRM Merge Tags:
  • CRM Lead Owner Email
  • CRM Lead Owner Role
  • CRM Lead Owner Street
  • CRM Lead Owner City
  • CRM Lead Owner State
  • CRM Lead Owner Country
  • CRM Lead Owner Zip
  • CRM Lead Owner Phone
  • CRM Lead Owner Fax
  • CRM Lead Owner Mobile
  • CRM Lead ID
  • CRM Account ID
3. Lead Merge Tags:
Custom fields synced from Zoho CRM can also be used as Merge Tags. These are listed under “Lead Merge Tags”, allowing you to include additional personalized details that are unique to your CRM setup. This makes it easy to insert customized data directly into your content, ensuring a highly personalized experience for every recipient.

Suppose you are creating an email campaign and want to include the CRM lead owner’s name in the greeting. You can use the tag $[CRM:CONTACTOWNER]$ in your email content.
Content in Editor:
Hello $[CRM:CONTACTOWNER]$,
We noticed you’re interested in exploring solutions for your business in the $[AF:ACCOUNT_TYPE||]$ sector. Our team has tailored options just for you!
Content Seen by Recipient:
Hello John,
We noticed you’re interested in exploring solutions for your business in the Technology sector. Our team has tailored options just for you!
Let’s say you want an entire sentence to be different for each customer based on past interactions. Instead of sending a generic message, you can create a custom field in Zoho CRM with the Text Area field type, which supports values of up to 2,000 characters. The sales team can manually update this field with a personalized message or any important update from their last conversation with the customer. During the sync with Zoho Marketing Automation, create a custom field with the same Text Area field type in ZMA and map it to the corresponding CRM field. This custom field can now be inserted as a Merge Tag in your campaign content. 
Content in Editor:
“Hi [First Name],
We’re excited about your journey with us. $[CRM:PERSONALIZED_MESSAGE]$ Let us know if you need any help along the way.”
Content seen by recipient:
For one customer, the email might read:
“Hi Alex,
We’re excited about your journey with us. Your premium subscription is now active, and you can explore all the advanced features. Let us know if you need any help along the way.”
For another, it could be:
“Hi Sarah,
We’re excited about your journey with us. Our team has scheduled your product demo for Tuesday and will share the meeting link soon. Let us know if you need any help along the way.”
This allows marketers and sales teams to collaborate seamlessly, ensuring that every email feels personal, relevant, and directly tied to past conversations—without manually drafting individual messages for each contact.
This level of personalization ensures each recipient feels directly addressed, improving the overall impact and engagement of your campaigns.

Why Marketers Should Integrate Zoho CRM with ZMA

Integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation is a game-changer for marketers looking to enhance their campaigns and maximize their ROI. Zoho CRM is a treasure trove of customer insights, from basic details like names and contact information to advanced metrics such as deal statuses and account types. By integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation, you can leverage this data to create highly personalized and relevant campaigns across email, SMS, and WhatsApp. The integration also streamlines workflows, ensuring that your marketing and sales teams are always on the same page.

Stay tuned as we continue this series, where we’ll uncover more benefits of integrating Zoho CRM with ZMA. Until then, happy marketing!

Regards,
Pearlin Nitika
User Education | Zoho Marketing Automation

    • Recent Topics

    • Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector

      Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connector

    • Free Webinar : Unlock AI driven business insights with Zoho Inventory + Zoho Analytics

      Are you tired of switching between apps and exporting data to build customized reports? Say hello to smarter & streamlined insights! Join us for this exclusive webinar where we explore the power of the Zoho Inventory–Zoho Analytics integration. Learn

    • Import Function: ONLY update empty fields

      When setting up an import from a spreadsheet to CRM, there is a checkbox "Don't update empty values for existing contacts" (see screenshot below). While I see some limited benefit from this functionality, I think there should also be an "ONLY update empty

    • Begin the year with best practices in the Zoho Desk mobile app : Part 2

      In focus: Optimizing collaboration and supervision Let's begin 2026 with Part 2 of our tips series on driving your ticketing operations at your fingertips. In Part 1, we explored streamlining operations within tickets. This helped individuals at Omniserve

    • How to update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records

      Hello Zoho CRM, How do I update "Lead Status" to more than 100 records at once? To give you a background, these leads were uploaded or Imported at once but the lead status record was incorrectly chosen. So since there was a way to quickly add records in the system no matter how many they are, we are also wondering if there is a quicker way to update these records to the correct "Lead Status". I hope our concern makes sense and that there will be a fix for it. All the best, Jonathan

    • JWT Token authentication problem that sometimes generates infinite redirect loops

      Description : Nous proposons un bouton sur notre plateforme permettant de rediriger l'utilisateur vers le portail ZohoDesk via un jeton JWT pour une authentification transparente. Cependant, il arrive que certains utilisateurs soient pris dans une boucle

    • ZOHO Work Drive Back Up

      I am looking for a ZOHO Work Drive backup solution. Something that is cloud based. There's lots of these kinds of options for Google Drive and other providers, but I have not seen anything for WorkDrive. Any suggestions?

    • ZOHO Reports - Filter Logic?

      Hi, I need a way to apply filter logics such as ((1 AND 2) OR 3). All I can see as of now is a way to enter different AND filters in the respective filter column. But how can I add an OR filter? Any advice would be highly appreciated. Mark

    • Scanned Doc - selecting Item overwrites Rate

      I have a Vendor Invoice which was uploaded to Documents. I select Add To > New Bill. The OCR is actually quite good, but it is reading an Item Description instead of an Item Number. I remove the description and select the correct Item Number... and it

    • Recruit API search

      Hi all, Attempting to call the search api endpoint from Postman using the word element as mentioned in api docs Search Records - APIs | Online Help - Zoho Recruit When making the call to /v2/Candidates/search?word=Saudi receive response of { "code": "MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND",

    • Saving reading position + Keep screen on

      While Zoho Notebook is excellent for saving and annotating articles, its utility is severely limited by the lack of reading progress synchronization. On the Android app, if a user exits a long note after reading 50%, the app fails to save the position.

    • Multiple Vendor SKUs

      One of the big concerns we have with ZOHO Inventory is lack of Vendor Skus like many other inventory software packages offer. Being able to have multiple vendor skus for the same product would be HUGE! It would populate the appropriate vendor Sku for

    • Zoho LandingPage is integrated with Zoho One!

      Greetings to the Zoho One users out there! We're delighted to let you know that Zoho LandingPage is available in Zoho One too! With Zoho LandingPage, you can host custom-made landing pages, and persuade the visitors to dive deeper by making further clicks,

    • Android app sync problem - multiple devices have same problem

      Hello, I am having a problem with synchronization in the Android app. When I create a drawing, the data does not sync correctly—only a blank note is created without the drawing. I tested this on multiple devices, including phones and tablets, and the

    • How can i resend a campaign to only one of the recipients on the original campaign

      How can i resend a campaign to only one of the recipients on the original campaign ? Sincererly, Mike

    • How to show branch instead of org name on invoice template?

      Not sure why invoices are showing the org name not the branch name? I can insert the branch name using the ${ORGANIZATION.BRANCHNAME} placeholder, but then it isn't bold text anymore. Any other ideas?

    • Marketing Automation Requirements Questions

      I would like to set up a multi-email drip campaign- please see the structure below and confirm if I can achieve this set up in Zoho marketing automation. Where applicable, highlight gaps and workarounds. Thanks Drip email campaign- Can I create one drip

    • how to change the page signers see after signing a document in zoho sign

      Hello, How can I please change the page a signer sees after signing a document in Zoho Sign? I cannot seem to find it. As it is now, it shows a default landing page "return to Zoho Sign Home". Thanks!

    • Question about using custom_fields in Storefront Add-to-Cart API (error 2003 – required details)

      Hi everyone, I’m working with the Zoho Commerce Storefront API, specifically the Add to Cart endpoint: POST /storefront/api/v1/cart According to the documentation, this endpoint supports a custom_fields parameter for adding line-item custom data. I’m

    • Can a project be cloned?

      Good afternoon, greetings. I would like to ask if it's possible to clone a project in Microsoft Project. I found a way to do it using templates, but I'm not sure if there's a direct way to clone a project. Thank you in advance for your attention, and

    • Timesheet Tasks in Zoho Books: associate to service item

      How do we associate a service item to timesheet tasks in Zoho Books? For example: Joe spent 5 hours on project:task1 which is Service Item#1 (Income:Service1). When the invoice is issued thru the Project Invoice section, this is not available. When the

    • Task/Activity indicator in SalesPipeline overview has disappeared

      I Just logged in my ZOHO CRM first 2026 checking my salespipeline overview , Every record card used to show an indication that there was an open task (Yellow if the expiry date was close, red if the expiry date was today and grey when it had expired).

    • Tip #56- Accessibility Controls in Zoho Assist: Hearing- 'Insider Insights'

      As we begin the new year, it’s a great time to focus on making our tools more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Remote support often involves long hours in front of screens, varying lighting conditions, and users with diverse accessibility needs.

    • Zoho Desk Android app update: Table view for All Departments view, custom button

      Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.9.25) of the Zoho Desk Android app update, we have introduced Table view for the 'All Departments' view in the ticket module. We also have supported an option that allows tickets in the Table view to be sorted

    • What's New - December 2025 | Zoho Backstage

      In December, Backstage introduced a focused set of updates that improve how you manage registrations, communicate with attendees, and track participation. These enhancements are designed to give organizers greater flexibility and clearer control across

    • Add multiple users to a task

      When I´m assigning a task it is almost always related to more than one person. Practical situation: When a client request some improvement the related department opens the task with the situation and people related to it as the client itself, the salesman

    • A Roundup of Zoho Sprints 2025

    • Sorting Custom Date in API isn't working w pagination limit

      How can we sort a custom field with DATE using pagination? Starting at page=1 then moving to page=2 with a limit of 10 each, its all messed up and even shows some of the same records as page 1? https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v2/INVOICE_MODULE/search?criteria=(FM_Contact_ID:equals:1234)&sort_by=Invoice_Date&sort_order=desc&per_page=10&page='

    • SAP Business One(B1) integration is now live in Zoho Flow

      We’re excited to share that SAP Business One (B1) is now available in Zoho Flow! This means you can now build workflows that connect SAP B1 with other apps and automate routine processes without relying on custom code. Note: SAP Business One integration

    • Enhancement in Role and Profile mapping of agents in Sandbox

      Hello everyone! We have brought in a modification in the way users are mapped to a particular role and profile in Sandbox. What has changed? When agents are copied from production to Sandbox: If a user's current role and profile is available in Sandbox,

    • The reason I switched away from Zoho Notebook

      My main reason for switching to Zoho was driven by three core principles: moving away from US-based products, keeping my data within India as much as possible, and supporting Indian companies. With that intent, I’ve been actively de-Googling my digital

    • Decimal places settings for exchange rates

      Hello, We are facing issues while matching vendor payments with banking feeds. As we often import products/services exchange rate comes into play. Currently, ZOHO allows only six digits for decimal places. We feel that conversions like JPY to INR require

    • Zoho removed ability to see all Scheduled Reports!

      If you are not the owner of a scheduled report, Zoho recently removed the capability to see each scheduled report. As an admin who relies on seeing all scheduled reports being sent, this is a terrible update. Now I cannot see ANY scheduled reports...even the ones I am being sent!!  This should be a setting for admins to control.  This is a bad update.

    • Automate Backups

      This is a feature request. Consider adding an auto backup feature. Where when you turn it on, it will auto backup on the 15-day schedule. For additional consideration, allow for the export of module data via API calls. Thank you for your consideration.

    • GCLID and Zoho Bookings

      Is there anyway to embed a Zoho Bookings signup on a landing page and pass the GCLID information? More specifically, can this be done using auto-tagging and not manual tagging the GCLID? I know Zappier has an integration to do this but is there a better

    • Merge Items

      Is there a work around for merging items? We currently have three names for one item, all have had a transaction associated so there is no deleting (just deactivating, which doesn't really help. It still appears so people are continuing to use it). I also can't assign inventory tracking to items used in past transactions, which I don't understand, this is an important feature moving forward.. It would be nice to merge into one item and be able to track inventory. Let me know if this is possible.

    • Create PO from an invoice

      We are a hardware and software sales company which receives orders over the internet. We drop ship most of our products from a warehouse outside of our company. Our orders get sync'd into Zoho from our store via onesaas as invoices. It would be great

    • Blueprint or Validation Rules for Invoices in Zoho Books

      Can I implement Blueprint or Validation Rules for Invoices in Zoho Books? Example, use case could be, Agent confirms from client that payment is done, but bank only syncs transactions tomorrow. in this case, Agent can update invoice status to done, and

    • Resetting auto-number on new year

      Hi everyone! We have an auto-number with prefix "D{YYYY}-", it generates numbers like D2025-1, D2025-2, etc... How can we have it auto-reset at the beginning of the next year, so that it goes to D2026-1? Thanks!

    • The Social Wall: December 2025

      Hello everyone! As we wrap up the final edition of the Social Wall for 2025, it’s the perfect time to look at what went live during December. QR code generator From paying for coffee to scanning metro tickets, QR codes are everywhere and have made everyday

    • Next Page