This Week in Zoho - Issue 2
Jake Harris
Zoho Consultant & Implementation Specialist (Primarily CRM, Desk, Creator, Campaigns, Marketing Automation, and Analytics)
Issue 2: 3rd November 2023
Hi there,
Wow, in only the first week, we have more than 150 subscribers to the newsletter. Thank you to everyone who has already subscribed ??, and if you are reading this and haven't yet subscribed, you know what to do ??
In this week's issue, we'll be covering three major Zoho updates:
It's also been another busy week preparing for the launch of my Zoho consultancy (coming in January ??). This week, I will update you on the following:
I know these newsletters can get quite long, so please skip to the parts you are interested in; I promise I won't be offended!
Zoho Updates
This is your weekly roundup of the significant updates and changes from across the world of Zoho.
Zoho Marketing Automation 2.0
I'll admit, this one caught me off guard this week - a little inside baseball; Zoho has been working on this update for Marketing Automation for years, and over that time, given Zoho Partners various different release dates/windows, but all of which came and went with no update being released, in fact, I found a support question where someone was asking about the delay from 2 years ago!
I want to be clear: promising an update for over two years without delivering is unacceptable - Zoho should do better, and I hope this isn't repeated.
This update also has a big caveat: Marketing Automation 2.0 is only available to new users. If you are currently using the app or previously added it to your Zoho One account, the update has yet to be made available. Zoho is now saying Q1 2024 to upgrade existing users, but given the previous missed deadlines, I would be hesitant to build any plans around that date.
All of that being said, this is a massive overhaul to the app, and honestly, you should think of it as less of an update and more of a fresh start for Marketing Automation - it seems like almost everything has been changed, and so far, it all looks positive.
Okay, that is enough of the big picture; let's dig into what has changed:
Redesign & UI Enhancements
The look and feel of Marketing Automation has changed completely with version 2.0. It isn't just that it looks prettier and more modern, which it does; it's that the layout and the naming just make more sense.
Let me give you an example; in MA1, to create an email campaign, you would first click the 'Engagement Tab'("Oh, I'm to send an engagement") and then select the 7th option in the list called 'Email Campaigns'; in MA2, you select 'Marketing Campaign' and then the 1st option in the list called 'Email'.
This isn't a groundbreaking change, but by simply renaming the tabs in the sidebar to words that actual people use and then prioritising the options you most likely want, the whole app makes more sense.
Landing Pages
Brand new in Marketing Automation 2.0, landing pages are a quick and easy way to make a standalone webpage for capturing customer details.
You might be thinking, at this stage, I already have a website; why do I need a landing page? Standalone landing pages have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years because they are very good at capturing customer details.
Let's say you are putting on an event that you are marketing across social media; if you were to link to your main website for the attendees to register, there is a good possibility that those who do click your link (and we know just getting this far is difficult) then get distracted looking at something else on your website, and then never sign up, all your marking is wasted! With a landing page, you would instead direct the attendees to a page specifically designed to get them to sign up; all the distractions of your main website are removed, and the conversion rate increases.
You can create a landing page in Marketing Automation 2.0 by starting with a template and then editing the page with simple drag-and-drop tools - no more waiting on your web developers to create a page for your next campaign.
I thought I'd put together a few ideas of where you might want to use the new landing pages feature:
Landed Pages in Marketing Automation are quick and easy to build, plus with increased conversion rates - this feature is a no-brainer, and every marketing team should try it out.
Enhanced Segmentation
Zoho has always been great at letting you slice and dice your contacts list into more specific groups/segments ready for marketing. Still, version 2.0 takes this to another level, with over 260 built-in data points for segmenting your lists.
This is where having all your marketing inside one platform becomes powerful. Using Marketing Automation 2.0, you can target lists of contacts based on their website activity, their response to previous email campaigns, their marketing attribution (first/last touch), and more!
All this, combined with the improved automated marketing journeys, allows you to build some mighty marketing funnels.
Final Thoughts
This is just a tiny slice of the new things packed into Marketing Automation 2.0, but the app has a lot more to offer, including:
Until the release of Marketing Automation 2.0, I've always recommended Zoho Campaigns over the original, but I see this as a turning point for the app. I am excited to dig into the other new features I didn't cover here, but this is on track to be the best release from Zoho this year!
Actions in Zoho CRM
Do you want to automate your sales process and integrate Zoho CRM with your other apps without writing any code? Actions in Zoho CRM has been built specifically for you.
Actions in Zoho CRM is a new no-code tool for automating actions between Zoho CRM and third-party apps. Actions is built using Zoho Flow, which means that it launches with prebuilt integrations to over 100 different applications.
As an example, you want a message automatically created in Microsoft Teams whenever a Deal is marked as won in Zoho CRM. Traditionally, to achieve this, you would need to hire a Zoho developer to write some custom code in CRM to make this happen, or you'd need to use another tool like Zapier or Zoho Flow to build a no-code version of the automation. Now, you can create a workflow inside of Zoho CRM that is triggered when a Deal is won and then use the new Actions feature to send the message to Microsoft Teams - no code and additional apps required.
This is just one example of the endless possibilities with Actions in Zoho CRM, but here are a couple of other automation that come to mind:
Unusually, for Zoho, Actions are an additional cost outside of the 100 free you get each month. I think this may be tweaked in the future as 100 is a very small amount, especially if you are a Zoho One subscriber, but even if they don't, the costs are relatively low. When considering the cost of Actions, you should also weigh it against the cost of hiring someone to build and upkeep something custom; very quickly, a couple of dollars a month will be worth it!
As a Zoho Developer and Consultant, I am very excited to use Actions in Zoho CRM; it will eliminate the need to write any custom code for many integrations. Better yet, as Zoho maintains the connections, it dramatically reduces the risk of a future CRM update breaking the integration.
领英推荐
There will still be times when custom code is the best option, but I am happy to see that the need is reducing, and having an efficient CRM is becoming more accessible.
Zoho Projects 8.0
If Marketing Automation 2.0 is Zoho burning the house down and starting again, Zoho Projects 8.0 is giving the place a fresh coat of paint. That isn't a criticism; Zoho Projects is an old and more established app than Marketing Automation.
So, what has changed in Zoho Project 8.0?
Features-wise, very little; Zoho has instead focused on refining the UI and reducing the learning curve for new users, but there is one new thing people will love: Zoho Projects now has a Sheets view.
The new Sheets view brings a Monday-like interface to Zoho Projects, which makes understanding your project tasks easier than ever before. Zoho has put together a video (including some very over-the-top music ??) showing this new view, which I'll include below.
In addition to the new Sheets view, Zoho Projects 8.0 also includes:
Zoho Projects 8 will be available on the 7th of November.
I had written off using Zoho Project for my new Zoho Consultancy; it was too overwhelming to manage my kind of projects, but with 8.0, I am going to reevaluate this and spend some more time with Projects.
Zoho Tip of the Week
Some of you might notice I've dropped the 60-second part of the weekly tip. The reality is that I would have to cover things so quickly that the video quality would suffer just for an arbitrary rule I made up. Luckily, I make the rules for this one, so we're scraping the 60 seconds ??.
This week's tip follows up from last time as we continue our mission to declutter the CRM.
Solution Showcase
Launched yesterday, I have started a new series of posts/videos called Solution Showcase. The idea is that sometimes there is a feature or project that I want to demo but is too large or complex to show the entire build process, so with Solution Showcase, I will focus on guiding you through the solution and explaining how it might benefit your business.
So often, when I speak to businesses about Zoho, the biggest thing holding them back is not knowing what is possible; Solution Showcase is here to solve that.
In the first Solution Showcase, I show you how I completely redesigned Zoho CRM using Canvas.
Consultancy Updates
It has been another busy week preparing for the launch of my Zoho consultancy (coming in January ??).
Monday
I started this week by spending most of Monday recording the Zoho Tips videos for the next couple of weeks, so if you notice I am dressed the same in each one, it isn't that I always wear the same clothes (although I probably do ??), just that they were recorded at the same time.
I said last week that I was disappointed in the engagement in the first tips video; it only had 3 views. I am pleased to say we've beaten the high bar of 3 views (??) with this week's video; in fact, we've got over 100 ??.
We might still be a little early to call the videos a success, but I'll keep posting them and let you know how they do.
Tuesday
I finally completed the main chunk of the website ?? - I am really excited to share it with you all in a couple of weeks.
The only things missing right now are the legal bits from the solicitor, but that should be a matter of pasting them in next week.
For those interested, the website is custom-built in PHP - if I am honest with myself, I should have used something like Squarespace or Zoho Sites, but I was a Computer Science student and sometimes can't help myself!
Wednesday
Working on my other business, Student App Centre takes up most of my Wednesday. However, I am handing over more of my role to my business partner (and wife) in preparation for the consultancy launch.
I did spend some time getting Zoho Bookings set up. I want to make it quick, easy and pain-free to get started working with me, so anyone will be able to book a meeting with me at a time that suits them directly through the website - no more waiting to get a call back about a project three weeks after you wanted it!
Thursday
Today (or yesterday to you ??), I am spending the morning writing this very newsletter. Last week, it took me almost the whole day, but I am getting a little quicker now, thankfully!
I wanted to share more about how the first newsletter performed. At the time of writing this, it had 150 subscribers, which is a lot better than I thought it would be. But, if I look at the stats, I've only had 81 article views ??.
I think two things have happened here:
My guess is that this week's newsletter will gain fewer new subscribers but have a better number of article views, but I will confirm next week.
After finishing the newsletter, I will spend the rest of Thursday and Friday focused on the onboarding flow for new clients. I'll share more about this in the next issue.
Signing Off
Thank you again for taking the time to read through this newsletter ??.
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