A Full Zoho CRM Review for 2024

In this Zoho CRM review, I’ll explore the platform’s pros and cons, pricing, and key features, along with its reputation and how it compares to the other best free CRMs out there, because despite it being a popular tool, it’s not the best choice for every business.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Zoho CRM Pricing
2. Zoho CRM's Key Features
3. Zoho CRM Integrations
4. Zoho CRM vs Top Competitors
5. Zoho CRM Customer Reviews
6. What is Zoho CRM Good for?
7. How We Test CRM Services
8. How to Choose the Best CRM Solution
9. FAQs
10. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Zoho CRM Pricing
2. Zoho CRM's Key Features
3. Zoho CRM Integrations
Show Full Guide
4. Zoho CRM vs Top Competitors
5. Zoho CRM Customer Reviews
6. What is Zoho CRM Good for?
7. How We Test CRM Services
8. How to Choose the Best CRM Solution
9. FAQs
10. References

Zoho CRM Pricing

Zoho CRM is one of the few CRM platforms to offer a generous free plan, making it one of the best free CRM systems on the market. You also have ample paid plans to choose from, in addition to CRM Plus and Flex, which can be used to unify sales, service, and marketing.

Here’s a quick overview of the four core paid plans on offer, all of which offer a 15-day free trial:

Zoho CRM’s Key Features

Zoho CRM has more on offer than what Ican cover here. As such, I’ll be exploring the core ones I noted during mytesting for this Zoho review.

Lead Management

Zoho CRM´s lead management is a top highlight in Zoho reviews. Through a centralized dashboard, it offers everything you need to automate lead workflows, from email campaigns to drip sequences.

We found that the lead management capabilities seamlessly integrate with the deal management tools, account (and contact) management, and partner portals, too.

Teams can also capture leads from multiple sources, including websites, forms, emails, and social media. Plus, as you’d expect, you can also prioritize leads based on potential.

In its latest update as of July 2024, Zoho’s AI assistant ‘Zia’ can use facial recognition to analyze facial images within your records, identify any possible duplicated data, and edit accordingly to ensure your database is accurately updated.

This can be helpful in cases such as doctors’ or dentists’ offices, where registration numbers are tight, and also in cases of event organization, when you want to ensure a fixed amount of attendees with no room for double-booking.

Sales Force Automation

While Zoho CRM´s advanced automation tools can only be accessed with the higher-end plans, with these features, you can automate routine sales, marketing, and any other repetitive task.

You can create optimized workflows that automatically eliminate double entries and errors, for example, or prevent the need for manual data entry and increase overall process speed.
Sales force automation also handles email, phone, social media, and customer portal communications. I found this all worked pretty smoothly. The sales pipeline visualization is also quite intuitive.
We could track deals throughout stages and use analytics for insight into challenges and opportunities. From here, you can forecast sales and get inventory predictions based on current activities.

Journey Builder

With this popular Zoho CRM feature, you can personalize, design, and visualize end-to-end customer journeys with simple drag-and-drop functions. Each stage of the journey can be automated, too.

This is key to creating meaningful customer experiences, but one other thing I noted is that you can also track customer journeys in real time to see where each one is in your pipeline.

Beyond this, you can set trigger messages and actions for any platform, analyze performance, and adjust if needed.

Advanced CRM Central Dashboard

Zoho CRM not only stands out from the competition by offering a truly feature-rich platform. The company also strives to provide customers with a 360-degree view of all their data and operations.

From the dashboard, you can track interactions, emails, calls, notes, and meetings, for a good overview of all client interactions with your business.

I was impressed to find that you can also personalize products to deliver targeted content and offers based on customer data or segment customer groups based on shared characteristics.

Canvas

A truly unique Zoho CRM feature is Canvas. With this, you can truly personalize and customize your CRM dashboards. In fact, you can design your own CRM with the built-in CRM design studio.

We found that all this entails is dragging and dropping items and products that you want to feature without needing a line of code. This somewhat reminded me of mytime reviewing Systeme.io.

You can modify fields, buttons, and lists or change colors and templates in just a few clicks. You can choose what data to include, control what others see, and find inspiration in the Canvas gallery.

Business Analytics and Reporting

Zoho’s business analytics offer impressive capabilities, though, as I found when reviewing Pipedrive, for example, mastering them requires slightly more effort than with some others.

Popular analytics and reporting Zoho CRM features include:

• Forecasting reports used to predict future events
• Territory Management to visualize and manage different regions
• Multiple currencies support which unifies international sales

The company also offers AI prediction business reports to monitor, understand, and plan for the future based on real-time data. Beyond all this, you can also:

• Generate customizable reports to metrics like sales performance
• Visualize your pipeline or customer data in neat dashboards
• Identify trends to make better decisions for your campaigns

Zoho CRM Integrations

When it comes to integrations, the list that Zoho CRM offers is extremely long (900+). That said, the most popular ones, including Outlook and Google Calendar, are easy to set up, configure, and use.

As you’llsee in the section below, other integrations are a common complaint Zoho CRM receives. Before I dive into that, here are some of the many popular integration options available:

• Google Workspace
• Microsoft 365x
• SMS-Magic
• Zoho Meeting and Webinar
• Intuit Quickbooks
• Adobe sign
• Google Ads

As far as options are concerned, Zoho stands strong among its top rivals. 900+ is more than enough than what I found in my Agile CRM review, for example, which only offers 40+.

Zoho CRM vs Top Competitors

Zoho CRM is affordable and feature-rich, but it’s not the best solution for everyone. To help you decide, here’s how it compares to the best Zoho CRM alternatives:

Zoho CRM vs HubSpot

Zoho CRM and HubSpot cater to distinct business needs. Zoho shines with affordability, extensive features, and flexible customization, making it ideal for sales-focused teams.

It offers tools like inventory management and project management, but its interface can be complex for some users. HubSpot, on the other hand, excels in marketing automation and lead nurturing.
Its collaboration tools make it perfect for teams blending sales CRM capabilities and marketing efforts. While its free plan is generous, HubSpot can be more expensive than Zoho, particularly for large teams.
Ultimately, choosing between Zoho and HubSpot depends on what your focus is on, the features you want, and the price you’re willing to pay for them.

Zoho CRM vs Salesforce

Both are big players in the CRM landscape. Zoho CRM shines with its cost-effectiveness, offering tiered pricing with a free plan and lower starting costs compared to Salesforce.

This, coupled with its broad feature set, including inventory management, project management, and extensive customization options, makes Zoho attractive for budget-conscious businesses.

It’s also a solid small business CRM for startups seeking an all-in-one solution. On the other hand, Salesforce excels in catering to large enterprises with complex needs.
It boasts advanced analytics, reporting, and industry-specific solutions, alongside impressive scalability for growing businesses. Salesforce is also known for its powerful AI capabilities.
Compared to the 900+ integrations on offer with Zoho, Salesforce offers over 3,000, although, in terms of usability, both have reviews highlighting their high learning curves.

Zoho CRM vs Pipedrive

Zoho CRM offers an all-in-one approach at a cost-effective price point, with tiered plans including a free option for limited users. However, the interface can be complex to navigate for some users.
On the other hand, Pipedrive prioritizes simplicity and sales pipeline management. Its interface, with drag-and-drop functionality and clear deal stages, fosters intuitive pipeline management.
Pipedrive masters sales forecasting and automation, too, with robust tools for predicting outcomes and streamlining repetitive tasks, making it ideal for sales-focused teams who prioritize ease of use.

That said, Pipedrive’s feature set is narrower compared to Zoho, lacking built-in tools like inventory management or advanced marketing automation.

Zoho CRM Customer Reviews

While Zoho CRM reviews are mixed, overall, they’re positive, similar to what Ifound in myZendesk review. For example, on Trustpilot, it’s rated 4.3/5, with many loving how easy it is to use.

While Ido agree that Zoho CRM’s basic features are easy to use, this isn’t the case for some of the advanced features on higher-end plans. Poor customer support is another common complaint on Trustpilot.

As is the challenging integration of third-party apps. That said, it has the same rating on Gartner (4.3/5). With 83% saying they’d recommend the product.

These reviews focus on how Zoho CRM helps streamline daily operations, improving lead management, marketing, and sales workflows.

On the other hand, customers here, too, complain about the learning curve, saying that despite its powerful and abundant features, it can be tricky to set up, configure, customize, and operate.

Overall, Zoho isn’t perfect — no solution is, but it is a reputable CRM provider that offers businesses ample functionality at a competitive price point.

What is Zoho CRM Good for?

Larger companies usually get the Enterprise plan. Regardless of the plan, there’s a lot to love in terms of streamlining your processes for lead generation, automation, and pipeline management.

The analytics are also incredibly intuitive and valuable for businesses of all sizes, as are the vast integration options. However, it’s not as easy to use as other services.

In my Monday CRM review, for example, I learned that Zoho has a similar learning curve to Salesforce. Nevertheless, it’s undoubtedly powerful and offers incredible value for money.

Is Zoho CRM Worth it?

The fact that leading industry figures in CRM recommend Zoho says a lot.

With a free plan and ample scalable paid plans, it caters to budgets of all sizes, making it particularly attractive for startups and growing businesses.

Its functionality extends beyond sales pipeline management, too. It offers marketing automation, and even inventory and project management, offering an all-in-one solution for many needs.

However, this comes at the cost of complexity, as its interface may require a steeper learning curve compared to more streamlined options, like Monday CRM, for example.

How We Test CRM Services

At Techopedia, we understand that trust is fundamental when choosing the right tools for your business. For 13+ years, we’ve been your guiding voice in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

As such, for our reviews, we don’t simply skim the surface. Our rigorous testing process delves deep into the heart of each CRM, extracting its true potential and, of course, its pitfalls.
We test their ease of use and features, including lead management, pipeline management, forecasting, reporting, and integrations, to ensure we offer the insight you need to make an informed decision.
But our expertise doesn’t stop there. We value a holistic approach, incorporating insights from other users online to ensure we deliver a multi-layered perspective of each CRM.

How to Choose the Best CRM Solution

Before deciding on the best CRM for your business, it’s important to take a moment to assess your needs. Here are some key factors to consider before you make the decision:

FAQs