Marketer’s Space - Automating CRM Actions with Journeys - Part 1

Marketer’s Space - Automating CRM Actions with Journeys - Part 1

​
Marketing and sales go hand in hand, yet teams often struggle with inefficiencies in lead management. Leads may go cold due to delayed follow-ups, and valuable prospects might get lost in the shuffle. This is where integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho Marketing Automation (ZMA) comes into play. By utilizing CRM actions in Journeys, businesses can automate lead nurturing, push only engaged leads to sales, and ensure seamless collaboration between the marketing and sales teams. This integration helps marketers target the right prospects at the right time while allowing sales teams to act on high-intent leads without delays.

In this post, we’ll explore how leads that originate in Zoho CRM are nurtured through ZMA before being handed off back to sales.

Syncing Leads from Zoho CRM, Engaging Them, and Automating Sales Follow-Ups

Many businesses capture leads first in Zoho CRM—through website forms, inbound inquiries, or sales outreach. However, not all leads are immediately ready for sales engagement. That’s where marketing steps in, using Zoho Marketing Automation to nurture these leads until they show clear interest. Here’s how you can set up a CRM-integrated Journey to automate this process from start to finish.

Sync Leads from Zoho CRM to Zoho Marketing Automation

To ensure a smooth transition of records between Zoho CRM and ZMA, you first need to sync your CRM leads into Marketing Automation. This allows marketers to send targeted campaigns to the right audience. Ensure all relevant fields (such as Name, Email, Lead Source, and Lead Stage) are mapped properly. Once synced, these leads will now be available in ZMA for segmentation and targeted campaigns.
Setup syncSync Leads from Zoho CRM to Zoho Marketing Automation

Send a Marketing Campaign to Engage CRM Leads

With the leads synced, you can now target them with an email campaign. Let’s say you’re promoting a product demo or a free consultation. You send an email with a call-to-action (CTA) button, inviting leads to learn more.

Create a Journey to Target Interested Leads

Navigate to the Journeys section in Zoho Marketing Automation and create a new Journey. This Journey will track engagement and ensure that interested leads are identified, categorized, and updated in both ZMA and Zoho CRM.
  • Add the Email Action Trigger . Click on “Specific Email” and choose the email campaign.
  • Then select the email action “Specific link clicked” and choose the CTA that you included in the campaign.
  • Specify the exact URL you want to track (e.g., a demo request page, a pricing page, or a consultation booking link).
Email ActionCreate a Journey to target interested leads

Adding this trigger ensures that your Journey only targets leads who have shown clear intent by clicking on your email’s CTA. This helps you:
  • Identify engaged leads who are actively interested in your offering.
  • Filter out unresponsive leads, allowing marketing and sales teams to focus their efforts on high-potential prospects.
  • Automate lead qualification without manual tracking.
Once a lead clicks on the CTA, they enter the Journey, signaling that they are engaged and should be prioritized for further marketing and sales efforts.

Update the Lead Stage in Zoho Marketing Automation

Now that the lead has clicked on the CTA and entered the Journey, the next step is to update their lead stage to reflect this new level of engagement.
  • Add the Update Lead Stage action component right after the Email Action Trigger.
  • Configure it to move these contacts to the “Marketing Engaged” stage in ZMA.
Update lead stageUpdate the Lead Stage in Zoho Marketing Automation

By moving them to the Marketing Engaged stage, you’re ensuring that these leads are recognized as actively interested, making it easier to track their Journey through your funnel.

Push the Updated Lead Data to Zoho CRM

At this stage, the lead stage has been updated in Zoho Marketing Automation, but we also need to reflect these changes in Zoho CRM. Since both platforms need to have the latest details, we now push the updated lead information back to Zoho CRM.
  • Add the Push Data to CRM action component after the Update Lead Stage action.
  • Configure it to push the lead’s latest details into the Leads module in Zoho CRM.
  • Ensure that all relevant fields are mapped correctly.
CRM push dataPush the Updated Lead Data to Zoho CRM

Keeping Zoho CRM up to date is critical for sales teams, as it ensures they are always working with the latest information.
At this point, your Journey has:
  • Tracked engaged leads through the Email Action Trigger.
  • Updated the lead stage in ZMA to “Marketing Engaged.”
  • Pushed the updated lead data back to Zoho CRM.
With these foundational steps in place, you are now ready to take the next action—automating deal creation and assigning follow-up tasks to the sales team.

Create a Deal for the Interested Lead

At this stage, the lead has shown interest, so we should automatically create a deal in Zoho CRM.
  • Add the Create Deal CRM Action Component and configure the deal name, due date, stage, amount, and deal assignment.
  • You can also map fields at this stage.
CRM Create dealCreate a deal for the interested lead

Create a Task for Follow-Up

The final step is to ensure a salesperson takes action on the newly created deal.
  • Add the Create Task CRM Action Component.
  • Configure the CRM module, subject and description, due date, priority, status, and assign the task to the deal owner in CRM.
CRM Create taskCreate a task for follow-up

After this, you can connect the components to ensure a seamless flow.


This setup ensures that leads are not just nurtured, but also seamlessly handed off to sales when they show interest. The sales team receives up-to-date CRM records, active deals, and clear follow-up tasks, increasing their chances of closing the deal faster.

Why This Matters for Businesses

By using Zoho CRM and ZMA together, marketing and sales teams need not waste time on cold outreach, and can focus on high-intent leads.
For businesses, this means:
  • Higher revenue by focusing only on engaged leads.
  • Stronger collaboration between marketing and sales.
  • Better customer experience with timely follow-ups.
This is just one of the many ways you can use Zoho CRM actions in ZMA Journeys to refine your lead management process and ensure that only high-intent prospects reach your sales team. In the next post, we’ll explore another powerful use case—how to handle leads that originate in ZMA and transition them seamlessly into Zoho CRM for sales follow-up. Stay tuned for part two, and until then, happy marketing!

Regards,
Pearlin Nitika
User education | Zoho Marketing Automation

    • Recent Topics

    • Quick Item Search & Auto-suggestion for Invoices

      Hi Team, I am facing an issue while creating invoices in Zoho Books. Currently, I have to type the full item name in the correct sequence and spelling for it to appear. For example, my item name is: "Distemper Acri Silk Special White 10kg" If I type something

    • Ticketbai! en el Pais Vasco

      Hola a todos, En enero de 2.022 se va a implantar en el país vasco un nuevo sistema de facturación, denominado ticketbai!, ¿hay alguna previsión de realizar las adaptaciones en zoho books o zoho invoices? Ignoro la cantidad de clientes que tienen estas

    • Zoho CRM mobile app feature update: home page widgets, field tooltips and user image upload

      Hello everyone! Your business doesn't pause when you're on the move, and neither should your CRM. That's why in our latest update, we've introduced a few new features to make your mobile CRM experience smoother and more efficient. Let's take a quick look

    • Zoho CRM Plain Text Template: Line Breaks and Formatting Issue

      Hello, I'm following the instructions to create email templates in Zoho CRM, but I'm having a problem with the plain text version. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/zoho-sign/integrations/zoho-apps/zoho-crm/articles/zoho-crm-email-templates#Steps_to_create_a_custom_email_template

    • Optimizing Task Handling: Auto-Remove Recurrence for cancelled Tasks.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:

    • Important updates to your connectors

      Hello everyone, Greeting from Zoho Creator! We're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out significant backend updates to Zoho Creator's built-in connectors to enhance security by following the latest frameworks. The existing version of some of the

    • Create, collaborate, and manage agreements with Zoho Sign

      Agreements drive business. We launched Zoho Sign in 2017 as a simple digital signature tool to sign agreements from anywhere, at any time. Over the years, we've learned that most agreements go through last-minute changes before they're signed. Our users

    • Function #25: Automatically generate purchase orders from a sales order

      We kicked off the "Function Fridays" series with the goal of helping you automate your everyday accounting tasks. As we delve into today's post, I'm delighted to announce that we're here to present the 25th custom function in this series. While it is

    • Has Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?

      Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,

    • DNS set up

      I want to create an email with my company domain. When I tried to add new record with cloudflare it didn't work. The DNS record can't be manually added. I followed the instruction but still can't add it. Could you help?

    • hiding a topic from all but one segment (or list)

      My organization sends out a number of newsletters using Zoho Campaigns. One of those newsletters is for volunteers. In order to become a volunteer, a person has to first go through our volunteer orientation (training). After that, they can receive newsletters

    • How do I set up this automation correctly?

      When contacts enter my Subscribers list, I want it to reference a custom field to see if it is empty. Then I want it to do two things: If empty: Assign a tag based on a different custom field. If that custom field is empty, assign a different tag. If

    • Function #62: Display associated Quote on Invoice details screen

      Hello everyone! Today, we are sharing a Related List script that makes it easy to view and access the quote from which an invoice was created right from the invoice details screen. This Related List displays the Quote number and Amount, allowing you to

    • Custom confirmation message

      How can I change the message that users see after they submit the booking form? I have to confirm some details before their appointment is officially "confirmed", so I want to change it where it doesn't say their appointment is "confirmed" but rather

    • email forwarding not working

      Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!

    • Desk x CRM Integration

      Howdy! We currently use SalesIQ but we are considering moving across to Desk as it seems to have more functionality that we want. One of the pulls is the ability for our customers to self serve. But, I might be getting over excited and not actually need

    • Function #53: Transaction Level Profitability for Invoices

      Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have previously provided custom functions for calculating the profitability of a quote and a sales order. There may be instances where the invoice may differ from its corresponding quote or sales order.

    • Issue with Save & Share Link – Works for Others but Not Creator

      I’ve enabled the "Save and Share" feature in Zoho Forms, and it works correctly for all users accessing the public link—except for me (the form creator). Issue Details: When I save and share the link, recipients see a “no permission” error. The form is

    • Save the pdf report from a registration form in a Folder

      Through Zoho Forms I created a registration form with quite a lot of rules to handle different variables (TEAM types, payment in installments, etc.), and the result is pretty good. The automatic PDF that is sent to the respondent upon submission is already

    • zoho forms integration to zoho work drive

      Scenario: A user fills out a Zoho Form, entering details such as email, mobile number, and other required information, and uploads supporting documents like PAN, Aadhaar, etc. Upon submission, the data is available in Zoho Forms Reports. Requirement:

    • Zoho Forms to Zoho CRM Integration failed - can I restart it?

      The integration of Zoho Form to Zoho CRM has failed. Is there a way for me to restart it for the impacted entry?

    • insert an equation, but in document, it shows an image not available.

      I'm new to Zoho writer and used Zoho writer in desktop app version . When I inserted an equation, I got an image not available sign. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Charles

    • Zoho Desk Android app update - Swipe action customization

      Hello everyone! We have brought in support for the swipe action customization in latest version(v2.9.13) of the Zoho Desk Android app update, enabling you to configure left and right swipe gestures on tickets to carry out the actions swiftly without opening

    • Import KB template OR Export template for zoho desk?

      Greetings. Can you tell me if there is a way to get an EXPORT of my KB articles? OR is there a template you supply for importing KB articles into my zoho desk? I am looking for a method of understanding what fields can be imported, and what their possible

    • XML format to import knowledgebase into Zoho Desk

      Hi, We just started to use Zoho Desk and want to import our knowledgebase from our old support system (Freshdesk) to Zoho Desk. Can anyone give us information about the format of xml file to import? There is no explanation on the related page.

    • Zoho Desk integration with Power BI

      Hi, I want to be able to create a Power BI report which has live updates of ticket data from zoho desk, is this possile at all? Thanks Jack

    • Arranging Ticket Templates

      Is there any way to arrange our ticket templates? It doesn't look very organised when it's just arranged according to when they were created. We want the list to look more organised, by arranging/grouping them by topics, or even just by alphabetical

    • What they mean with "Portal"?

      I just downloaded this app to take my personal notes on digital art studio because it seemed to me the most comfortable app to do it, I use it very often, what do they mean by “no activity on your portal”? I have about 1 year of work here and I don't

    • Inactive User Auto Response

      We use Zoho One, and we have a couple employees that are no longer with us, but people are still attempting to email them. I'd like an autoresponder to let them no the person is no longer here, and how they can reach us going forward. I saw a similar

    • favorites no longer listed

      Hello, I can no longer navigate to my Favorites from the pulldown at the top of my grid view (see attached screenshot). I wasn't able to find it anywhere! Please help me display my Favorites. Thank you!

    • Notecards Disappeared

      Got a new phone. Downloaded and signed in Zoho Notebook. Not finding the Note cards. Just Empty Note books. Frustrating.

    • Table Errors

      Hello, I'm new to Zoho Notebook and using it on several Mac/Apple devices. My question is regarding tables: Why do they become broken, and how to fix the error without retyping all my data? (Please see the screenshot attached.)

    • Online Calculator with Zoho Forms?

      I'd like to build a custom calculator on my website. Zoho Forms seems to offer all the fields for basic calculations performed live without pressing any "Calculate" buttons. Unfortunately, there is still that "Submit" button at the bottom. There is nothing

    • Zoho Tables instead of Zoho Creator Spreadsheet reports <3

      That would make my day for sure. Zoho Creator is create, but miss data entering as AirTable/Spreadsheet can. Seeing Zoho putting effort in this makes me think maybe one day we could see a similar interface for Zoho Creator spreadsheet reports. B.

    • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

      Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.

    • Notebook Stack

      Hi Everyone I Hope you´re fine, I´m sorry if this idea was posted before (I made a search but I haven´t find anything related). So, Having the possibility of stacking notebooks would be an interesting way to order notebooks that correspond to the same

    • Writing on sketch cards is bugged when zoomed in

      When zoomed in, it writes a noticeable distance above or to the side of where you're actually trying to write. The further you're zoomed in, the more noticeable it is. Zooming is also entirely absent on the desktop version.

    • Swipe between notes on iPhone

      It'd be convenient if I could move from one note to the next in a notebook simply by swiping left to right.

    • Sales IQ chat is not working in signed android apk

      I have integrated ZOHO sales IQ support chat and i have followed each step and its working fine in my development build but when i create signed APK for it. Chat does not work in it and showing awaiting for detail. I previously asked the same query but

    • COQL order by COUNT not working

      Dear community, I am trying to get a list of deal amounts per planner working on it and sorted to get see who has the least amount of deals. For some reason, I am unable to use sort by in combination with a COUNT. My original code was: query = "select

    • Next Page