Zoho Pros and Cons

“Nothing is perfect,” as they say.  (Except for my grandchildren of course. LOL.) But I must say that Zoho has much more to like than not to like!

Zoho CRM consistently ranks 4+ stars in reviews.  I’ve read through many of the “Pros & Cons” that the reviewers have to say.  One of the most encouraging reasons to choose Zoho CRM is that the developers at Zoho read them too!

Zoho has one of the most prolific product development teams in the industry.  They are constantly improving their products, as well as introducing new applications.  The depth of solutions in the Zoho One bundles is testimony to the resources that Zoho invests in product development.  So is the industry’s lowest churn rate of ~3%.  Once firms go on Zoho, they don’t leave it.

By the same token, nothing is perfect.  So in order to help businesses evaluate Zoho CRM I have assembled a list of both Pros & Cons from numerous reviewers, without listing the writers.

These reviews are by firms that use Zoho as well as by some consultants who work with firms that have deployed Zoho CRM.

The problem with many of the reviews out there is that even if they are only a year or two old, they are already out-of-date!  In addition, from reading the reviews and knowing Zoho myself, I can tell you that many of the reviewers do not seem to be aware of features in Zoho CRM, or that have been added since their review was posted.  Plus, many times the needs of Zoho CRM users are addressed by other Zoho applications in the Zoho CRM Plus and Zoho One bundles.  In other words, their “Cons” may be misleading.

To make it more efficient for you, my reader, to go down this list, I’ve tried to eliminate some redundancy.  I also shortened up the remarks into bullets without altering the meaning.

Naturally, as a Zoho Authorized Partner, First Direct Corporation is happy to help you evaluate Zoho CRM yourself.  So please don’t hesitate to speak to a Zoho salesperson or expert at First Direct. We can arrange a personal demonstration and provide other assistance to help you evaluate Zoho and determine if it fits the specific needs your firm has.

List of Zoho CRM Pros & Cons:

PROS:

• The best CRM for customization.
• Integrate all the elements of customer/prospect interaction.
• Workflow Tools that address: marketing, projects, social, customer service, emailing marketing, inventory, human resources management, etc.
• Track interaction from webinars.
• Other modules to address company needs.
• Beyond the basics of contact management, workflows and custom fields.
• Especially easy to find communications.
• Know where you stand with leads, deals and clients.
• Syncs with other Zoho products, as well as many external systems, for a connected workflow.
• Available API for creating custom application integrations.
• A straightforward way to create custom workflows and approvals with Blueprint
• Powerful process management and automation.
• Self-service portals add to the power of the CRM.
• Multiple Zoho pricing plans/levels let you scale to your needs.
• Zoho One is a simple and affordable all-in-one solution.
• Zoho is consistently improving their products.
• Extraordinary commitment to product design and functionality.
• Zoho responds to feedback. Sound recommendations make their way into Zoho products.
• Very intuitive and easy to use.
• The best CRM for the money.
• The best CRM I’ve ever seen and I’ve tried them all.
• Priced far below the competition.
• Amazingly simple to add and configure third party integrations
• Zoho will spoil you.
• Rather good customer support.
• New features and updates all the time.
• No limit you to the Zoho platform.
• Bottom line — Zoho CRM is the best.
• Robust as I’ve seen.
• Fantastic connectivity to other apps and the G-suite.
• Tested dozens of CRM and Zoho is the most flexible and cross-vertical friendly.
• Can be customized to fit almost every industry/model very well.
• The ability to customize Zoho and add modules or integration means Zoho can last for a business so they don’t have to start over with other technology.
• Scalable to a higher version, more users and additional applications.
• Very affordable.
• The mobile client is amazing – you can do nearly everything from your phone.
• The smartphone interface is clean, intuitive and easy to use.
• Srong features for following up tasks, meeting, calls, etc.
• Easy to build in a sales methodology.
• Viewing the pipeline is very intuitive and visual.
• Drill down with just a click or touch.
• Come’s with reports you need and create your own reports.
• Amazing workflow tools.
• Functionality for Mail merges and email templates.
• Zoho is a one stop shop for business needs.
• Will meet the demands of a growing organization.
• Super simple to use.
• Support is super knowledgable and ready to assist with anything you need.
• Love, love, love this software.
• Least expensive CRM on the market with a rich feature set.
• Competes against the biggest CRMS – modules for all that an company needs.
• Extremely customizable
• Available programming interface (Creator) lets a company can develop powerful customization and automation.
• Search functionality is a strength.
• Mobile apps let you stay in the loop while from anywhere.
• Love the reporting.
• Separate, rank and analyze lead
• See all your leads and opportunities by stage and status.
• Manage your business all in one place.
• Dashboards make it easier to manage your day and your business.
• Put your whole team on Zoho.
• Manage all the aspects of sales campaigns from activities, communications to revenue.
• Use Zoho to make the recruitment process very friendly.
• Highly flexible.
• Serious bang for your buck!
• Immediately start saving time on handling leads.
• Add accounting and help desk functionality

CONS:

Note: I have included remarks that I know are wrong or outdated, just to be fair.

• Tutorials need improvement.
• Questions are arise during the implementation that you should use a Zoho advisor for.
• Integrating can be complicated, and not completely consistent.
• Some of the products are not at the same level of polish as Zoho CRM.
• The AI assistant doesn’t seem to add a lot of value.
• Need to have an Internet connection.
• Subscription pricing is per user versus groups of 5 – 10 users.
• There are features you’ll want in Zoho One.
• Support has vastly improved, but it still depends on who you get online.
• Find documentation and help videos confusing and too technical at times.
• You need a clear understanding of your needs to identify which Zoho modules will meet them.
• Events (appointments) are automatically marked as closed when the date arrives.
• Want to see what my team members see on other user’s calendars.
• Scheduling a call is cumbersome
• Reminders need more options like 1 week, 2, weeks, etc.
• The Fonts are too big and want to see more on a page.
• Want a better way to get support faster.
• Expecting accounting features and calendar views
• Expecting a chat bot
• Forms are not landing pages
• Looking for anonymous prospecting without the need to start a chat.
• Lack of document tracking for proposals/presentations.
• Needs inside sales tools for automation.
• No individual email tracking (open and close, vs mass campaign).
• Completely manual input – no smart tools for form filing.
• Hard to explain to support what I need.
• Top tier pricing out of the league for a smaller operation.
• The live chat option is lagging.
• Needs functionality for bulk email or scheduling
• The mobile app is lacking.

Zoho CRM, like the other Zoho applications is not a static product.  Zoho is continuously improving and adding to its applications – making them better all the time!  A review is static.  Once it is posted it can stay up on the web for many years – often long after the “Cons” are out-of-date” and many new “pros” have been added.

The Pros & Cons list above is good for triggering ideas and questions.  Perhaps the most convincing fact is that Zoho CRM consistently scores 4-5 stars and has won many awards.

Herein lays the value of First Direct Corporation.  As a Zoho Authorized Partner it is our job to stay current on the applications we focus on.  A First Direct Zoho expert can field your questions, offer consultative advice, instruct you on features and best practices – we can even work with directly on the implimentation, configuration, data migration, training and more.

Contact First Direct Corporation and speak to us about Zoho CRM or other popular Zoho applications.  Tell us about your organization’s specific needs and let us offer recommendations, a demonstration and other ways to help you do an evaluation.

(this post was originally posted on https://www.betterbusinesscrm.com/zoho-crm/zoho-pros-and-cons/)