Marketer's Space: Streamline marketing and sales by integrating ZMA's Planner with Zoho CRM

Marketer's Space: Streamline marketing and sales by integrating ZMA's Planner with Zoho CRM


In a competitive market, clear goal-setting and seamless campaign execution are crucial for marketing and sales alignment. When integrated with Zoho CRM, Zoho Marketing Automation's Planner enables marketers to create, manage, and measure campaigns effectively with comprehensive reporting and goal tracking.
This post covers how to use ZMA's Planner to manage campaigns, track budgets, and view activities by stages via the Kanban board. You'll also learn to track ROI with reports, set goals, and view contacts segmented by CRM insights in the Contacts tab.

Adding activities to ZMA's Planner online and offline

ZMA's Planner bridges the gap between digital and traditional marketing campaigns by enabling you to add and manage activities across multiple channels.

Digital activities

You can associate existing email campaigns or create new ones within the Planner. For instance, a marketer can configure an email campaign promoting a new product and track its engagement metrics. Similarly, they can add, configure, and directly monitor SMS campaigns.

Offline activities

Add activities like trade shows, events, or print ads to give marketers the flexibility to manage all campaigns in one place, including generating shareable short URLs and downloadable QR codes for use in physical stores.

Let's look at an example to see how adding activities to Planner works.

Let's say you're a marketer planning a product launch campaign targeting sales qualified leads (SQLs). Using ZMA's Planner, you create an email campaign and configure it directly, as well as track link clicks and email engagement metrics to gauge interest levels. One of your sales executives uses the Planner's contact filters to identify SQLs who have interacted with your campaign and then personalizes follow-ups to close deals faster.

Tracking progress with the Kanban board

The Planner's Kanban board visualizes campaign progress under stages like the following:
  • Ideating
  • Yet to start
  • In progress
  • Scheduled
  • Completed

You can also add custom stages to suit your campaign needs.


Why is this valuable to marketing and sales teams?

This segmentation ensures that campaigns are on schedule, providing clarity for both marketing and sales teams. For example, if a campaign is “In Progress,” the sales team knows when to prepare for lead engagement.

The Budget tab: Monitoring campaign finances

The Budget tab is vital for tracking the following:
  • Total budget
  • Total expense
  • Acquired leads
  • Cost per acquisition

It also provides insights through views that cover budget split, expense split, budget versus expenses, and detailed breakdowns of how budgets and expenses are distributed.

Setting goals with CRM data

ZMA's Planner enables you to define goals using metrics like the following:
  • MQL to SQL conversion rat
  • Count of SQLs, MQLs, and raw leads generated
  • Lead count by stage
  • Average lead score and location
  • Count of leads that have moved up a stage
  • Email engagement and leads engaged via Planner
  • Website visits by source, referral URL, location, and type (new or returning)
  • Organic and social website visit count
  • Website engagement metrics, including page views and visit types
It also includes CRM-related goal metrics like the following:
  • Leads closed (won or lost)
  • SQL to Closed Won conversion rate
You can also drill down into categories and set numerical targets for granular tracking. These insights provide a comprehensive view of marketing performance and help align efforts with sales goals.

Let's say you've set a goal to achieve 100 closed-won deals in Q4. Using the Planner, you track your count of closed-won leads and align your marketing activities to support this target. With CRM data integrated, you can ensure your campaigns focus on high-quality leads and help both marketing and sales teams stay aligned and meet their shared goals effectively.

The Reports tab: Actionable insights for ROI

The Reports tab consolidates key metrics, such as the following:
  • Existing leads reached and leads engaged (also shows how many contacts have achieved your plan's primary goal.)
  • Revenue and deals stats: Revenue generated and deals closed won
  • Expense and ROI stats: Campaign expense, ROI, and Channel-Wise ROI.
  • Website and location stats: Consolidated views of website visits by region.
For example, let's say you review reports to evaluate the success of your campaigns. For example, the Channel-Wise ROI report helps you identify which marketing channels delivered the highest returns and therefore serves as a guide for your future budget allocations.

Contact engagement with ZMA's Planner

The Contacts tab shows engagement at every level:
  • Leads reached
  • Leads engaged
  • Contacts closed with won deals
You can also create a contact segment within the Planner by selecting the "Segment Filter" icon.

Let's say your sales executive uses the Contacts tab to filter for “leads engaged” and focuses on SQLs who've interacted with the campaigns. This enables them to prioritize warm leads and boost conversion rates.

The integration with Zoho CRM enhances the Planner by providing valuable insights that enable marketers to set precise goals and track performance effectively. It bridges the gap between marketing and sales, ensuring both teams are aligned and focused on shared objectives. With access to detailed metrics, marketers can craft more impactful campaigns while the sales team benefits from higher-quality leads and actionable insights that help close deals efficiently.

Stay tuned for more posts on ZMA's Zoho CRM integration. Until then, happy marketing!

Regards,
Pearlin Nitika
User Education | Zoho Marketing Automation

    • Recent Topics

    • Duplicate Contacts - how to get merge or delete

      I have noticed that our list of contacts in Zoho Desk duplicates contacts periodically.  I have yet to identify when or why.  How do I merge or delete them?  I see there is a "Deduplicate" but I am unable to find anything that explains this feature.

    • Admin Access to Direct Messages in Zoho Cliq

      Hi Zoho Cliq Team, We would like to request a feature enhancement to enable admin access to one-on-one conversations (direct messages) conducted through Zoho Cliq. Use Case: As administrators, there are situations where it becomes essential to access

    • "Mark as Spam" not working as expected

      Dear support, in the below scenario, clicking on "Mark as spam" identifies only the first of the checked emails as spam, removes that email from the visible list and leaves the rest of the list still visible & unchecked. I've tried check-marking them

    • Massive price increase for user licenses of Zoho Portal

      This actually a complaint about this announcement: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/free-user-licenses-across-all-portal-user-types You present this as an enhancement. And, yes, while reading the main part, I'd agree that (for smaller companies),

    • Elevating Email Security on Zoho Desk: DKIM Now Mandatory

      Hello Zoho Desk Users! It has been a wonderful journey with you on Zoho Desk. As we welcome 2025, we are strengthening our efforts to ensure a secure and seamless experience for you. To enhance email security, DKIM configuration will be mandatory for

    • Calendar - "super compact" week view

      every time i go to my calendar i have to re-engage the "super-compact view" for the week view...is there a way to make "super-compact" a default view so I dont have to keep on setting it manually?

    • Calendar - "pop up" locations

      One of the attractive features of google calendar and outlook calendar is that locations for events will start to automatically populate the location drop down menu as you type. Adding this feature to zoho calendar would be the final feature i need.

    • Using Zia in Zoho Sheet data to research the internet and return answer to a cell in Zoho Sheet

      I'm trying to see if Zia (connected with OpenAI key) can take data parameters stored in a Zoho Sheet to conduct research out on the internet then return an answer into the same Sheet. I'm trying to do the equivalent of using something like the =AI() function

    • [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - Creator for the Education Industry

      Hello Everyone! We're thrilled to invite you to the Learning Table Series—a year-long initiative to demonstrate how Zoho Creator can transform industries with innovative and automated solutions. Each month focuses on a specific industry, and this time,

    • Remove the [## XXXX ###] from subject replies

      For our organisation we would like to have the [## XXXX ###] removed from subject replies. Cheers, Jurgen 365VitaalWerken

    • Self Client Authorization Issue

      Hi. Trying to test the api integration for Zoho Desk with the Self Client - Client Credintials flow method. I've created the self client, obtained the client id and secret, inputted "Desk.tickets.ALL" as my scope, and "ZohoDesk.[My Zoho Desk Org ID]"

    • How Can I Easily Access and Manage My GEPCO Online Bill Using Zoho Sheets?

      Hello everyone, I'm looking for an efficient way to access and manage my GEPCO online bills. I've heard that Zoho Sheets can be a powerful tool for organizing and tracking bills, but I'm not sure how to set it up for this specific purpose. Does anyone

    • All notes disappeared

      I've been using the notebook app for over five years on my phone without being logged into an account. A few days ago I opened the app and all my notes had disappeared. Since then I tried restarting my phone, updating the app and logging into my account,

    • How to add tags to a record with jS SDK 1.2/ZohoEmbededAppSDK

      Hello Is it possible to add tags to a record with jS SDK : https://live.zwidgets.com/js-sdk/1.2/ZohoEmbededAppSDK.min.js ZOHO.CRM.API.updateRecord Thanks for insights

    • URGENT: Zoho Forms reCAPTCHA v2 Spam Issue

      Hello Everyone, We are encountering a critical issue with Zoho Forms despite having reCAPTCHA v2 enabled. Our business is accessibility-focused, and we are receiving a high volume of spam submissions, which is significantly affecting our workflow and

    • View all Products by pipeline deal

      Very good CRM I use it everyday only problem is modules not being interconnected especially products module. The main problem of products module are separated from contacts and company modules and only being connected to the Deals module. This way there's

    • Add "Lead Image" in Bulk?

      Each of our Leads is accompanied with a URL containing a photo of the lead when they come in. We currently have to manually download then upload the photo to the lead. This is a HUGE waste of time. Is there any way to AUTOMATICALLY add the photos to the

    • Map fields from CRM record to Finance Suite/Books Invoice fields

      I'm trying to auto-fill unique record specific field inputs that I have in my Contacts and Deals modules onto Invoices created from the record's finance suite related list upon creation.  One example is a field called "Job Number" that I have in my Contact

    • Add and Remove Agents from Departments and Groups in Zoho One

      Hi Zoho Flow Team, We hope you're doing well. Currently, Zoho Flow provides an action to add an agent to a group in zoho one, but there is no action to remove an agent from a group or a department. Another action that we find missing is the option to

    • Zoho CRM - best way to search an account and assign to a deal

      Hi Everyone I am looking for some advice. I want to find the best way to complete the below steps. We have a deal and once it reaches a certain stage we need to allocate a supplier / vendor to this deal along with the salesperson. I want to add (ideally

    • What's New in Zoho Analytics - December 2024

      Hello Users! We’re excited to bring you a roundup of the latest features and improvements in Zoho Analytics. These updates are designed to elevate your data analytics experience, making it more powerful, interactive, and seamless. Let’s dive in! Expanded

    • trying to access CRM Variables with JS SDK

      Hello i built a widget with Sigma, i create CRM VARIABLES in custom properties. I try to access them in function : ZOHO.embeddedApp.on("PageLoad",function(data) with : ZOHO.CRM.CONFIG.getVariable("mycrmvariable").then(function(data){ console.log("mycrmvariable

    • 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.

    • Private Project

      Hi, I would like to know if a user can create a Private project that only he's able to see it. Not even the ADMIN user. Thanks

    • Accordion in tabs to create FAQs, etc.

      Accordion elements do not seem to be able to be placed in the tabs. It would be useful to be able to do this. Thank you.

    • Which are the IP addresses to use for 'split delivery' with Office 365? (Zoho mail inbound gateway)

      Hi, I'm trying to set up 'split delivery' (email routing) with Office 365. I'm following the instructions to set up Office 365 as the primary server (https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/coexistence-with-office365.html) One of the prerequisites

    • Zoho Projects 2024 Recap

      Dear Users, As we conclude another remarkable year, it's the time to reflect on the journey we've just completed. The year 2024, defined by significant milestones, challenges, achievements, and important lessons. Every moment has contributed to the story

    • Custom Fields at Line Level

      Hi, is there an ability to add custom fields at line level? I need to track the start and the end date for each product within an invoice and I can't seem to find an option to do this.

    • Zoho API Error Code 7019 when adding job.

      Hello, I am following the documentation found here. https://www.zoho.com/people/api/timesheet/adding-jobs.html Regardless of how I try and post the data (including just using the example requests), I receive back the response {'response': {'message':

    • How to see changes with ZOHO.CRM.API.updateRecord(config) without reload page

      hello got a widget in account, trigger with a button i copy data to account when click on a button, in my popup All is working well. But i need to reload the page to see the update. How can i see the changes without reloading page, only when close the

    • How to call a Creator function which is in a different Creator application?

      How to call a Creator function which is in a different Creator application?

    • Unable to send message; Reason: 554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked

      My account is mino@flawless-frames.com, or flawlessframesstudio@gmail.com Could you please unblock my account, I've got restricted from sending more emails

    • Stock Count

      The stock count is a nice new feature, but we cannot figure out how to: 1. Use it without assigning to a person, we have a team or one of multiple do stock counts as do most any company. 2. Add any extra fields to what the "counter" sees. The most important

    • Move a Contact from Current Account to a NEW Account

      I do not believe the functionality to Move a Contact from a Current Account to a New Account is not available. Please someone tell me I am missing something! I have been through designing, developing, using and selling CRM systems for over 25 years and had this functionality20+ years ago in other CRMs.  In the real world people move from one organisation to another. In the sales, finance and technical world it is nice to see the communication history with that person in their old account and also

    • Force Specific Layout for CRM Contacts Portal

      Hello: We're in trial on ZOHO One and looking at the CRM Portal (just for the contacts module). We have a client layout set up for Contacts that is working well for our internally, but for the portal we don't want to require (make mandatory) some of the

    • Automatic Removal of Departments and Groups for Inactive Employees in Zoho One

      Hi Zoho One Team, We hope you're doing well. Currently, when an employee is marked as inactive in Zoho One, they remain listed as a member of their department and associated groups. This creates a challenge in maintaining accurate records and ensuring

    • Change eMail Template for Event-Invitations

      Hello ZOHO-CRM Team How I can change the eMail Template for Event-Invitations? I work with the German Version of the Free Version. I know how I can modify eMail alerts or Signature Templates, but where I can other eMails modify you send out? Thank you for your answer. Regards, Juerg

    • Zoho Social integration with Zoho Flow

      Is there any plans for Zoho Social integration with Zoho Flow?

    • Zoho CRM Widget and translations

      Hi everyone! We're building a Widget with zoho-extension-toolkit, how is localization supposed to work? "zet init" created a translations/en.json file, but what should go inside it and how is it supposed to be accessed from the Widget/javascript? Thanks

    • Bienvenue à Zoho FSM : l'optimisation des opérations locales qui offre une expérience de service impeccable

      Nous sommes ravis de vous présenter Zoho FSM, la plateforme de gestion des services terrain de bout en bout. Les solutions de gestion des services locaux s'adressent aux organisations qui effectuent des activités d'installation, de réparation et de maintenance

    • Next Page