Zoho CRM Review In 2024: Features & Alternatives

Kristina Knight-1
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Reviewed by Randolph Vialva, MBA
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Zoho CRM
Editor Rating:
4.8
Rating Methodology

About this rating

Our references are based on the analysis and synthesis philosophy, which are conducted by a team of experienced and well-qualified researchers.

  • Cost Value
  • Customer Service
  • Ease of Use
  • Included Features

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Zoho CRM includes in-depth analytics, sales forecasting, workflow automation, and  service integrations all under one umbrella.

Pros

  • Drag and drop editor
  • Highly customizable
  • Pricing starts at $24 per month per user

Cons

  • Some difficulty in navigation
  • Advanced features will cost more
  • Lead Management
  • Sales Management
  • Workflow Automation
  • Zoho forms
  • Productivity tools

Zoho CRM’s marketing automation features allow sales and marketing teams to better manage customer information to create a more fluid sales environment.

zoho crm review 1

Zoho CRM offers a significant number of third-party integrations, a flexible AI layer for advanced data and forecasting, and gamification features that beef up its CRM capabilities. Zoho CRM may be the best CRM software for small businesses or larger enterprises that are looking for integrations with outside platforms, a high level of customization, and a drag-and-drop editor. The simplified platform allows for drag-and-drop options and includes mobile features.

Read more: Best CRM software

Zoho CRM Advantages

From sales force automation and deal management to customer and pipeline management, Zoho CRM is a good choice for customer-facing B2B or B2C businesses. Zoho CRM is easy to use, has good pricing plans, and offers a high level of customization. However, there is a steep learning curve to the platform which may slow the time between the initial contract and when your business is ready to roll out the newest features. 

Easy to Use

New businesses will find Zoho CRM features to be simple to learn. The platform is highly customizable and allows for integrations with other platforms your teams may already be using. Added to this, Zoho analytics allows teams to key in on specific customer data points to develop sales forecasting, workflow automation, and sales management features that can grow as the business grows.

Good Features

Like many other CRM platforms, Zoho CRM has a free version that includes up to three users, but many of its key Zoho products are not available outside of the paid plans. These Zoho products include deal management features, live support features, and inventory management. Its intuitive design means that even solopreneurs can find value and increase productivity quickly. 

Automation of Tasks

The Zoho marketplace includes plenty of automation options, including the ability to design workflows, auto-populate certain fields, and trigger certain actions within your marketing tasks. These triggers are based on customers’ past interactions, which adds another level of personalization to marketing efforts. 

Transparent and Affordable Pricing 

Zoho CRM’s pricing structure is similar to that of top competitors including Hubspot and Freshsales, and Zoho does offer a free version, although this is quite basic. For most businesses, a paid plan will offer a great range of solutions including better deal management tools, key performance indicators, sales leads, and streamlined process management through which your team can start enhancing productivity. 

Zoho CRM Packages

FREESTANDARDPROFESSIONALENTERPRISEULTIMATE
Monthly FeeFree for 3 users$14per user per month$23per user per month$40per user per month$52per user per month
Sales Force Automation
Email insightsNot included
Custom fieldsNot included10 fields/module155 fields/module300 fields/module500 fields/module
Advanced filters
Page customization
Custom linksNot includedNot included
Canvas viewNot includedNot includedNot included3 views/user/module5 views/user/module
Tab groupsNot included
Custom reportsNot included100UnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
Email templates100100UnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
Customer supportNot includedNot included
Free storage/org1 GB1 GB1 GB1 GB5 GB

Free plan

Zoho CRM’s free plan offers a lot but is not quite as comprehensive as other freebies on the market. For up to three users, a small business can have access to up to 100 email marketing templates, salesforce automation, and page customizations. However, this version doesn’t include live customer service, which means your team will have to figure out workarounds for problems faced as your business grows. 

Standard Plan

The Standard Plan starts at $14 per user per month and includes all of the free plan options, as well as additional email marketing insights, advanced filters, and tabbed groups. All paid plans include outside integrations, including tools like Google Workspace, Google ads, and Quickbooks. Zoho also has other tools that build on the base customer relationship management suite. 

Professional Plan

The Professional Plan starts at $23 per user per month and builds on previous offerings by including customized field building, live customer support, unlimited email marketing templates, and customized reporting. Starting with this plan, users can create custom fields and custom views for advanced reporting and analysis.

Enterprise Plan

Enterprise Plans start at $40 per user per month, and in addition to unlimited email marketing templates, and custom reports, three users per module can have a Canvas view of workflow automation.

Ultimate Plan

The Enterprise and Ultimate Plan, which starts at $50 per user per month, will give brands the most options in creating the right sales process and forecasting models. However, the price may be a bit steep for those with only a few employees. Where the Ultimate Plan stands out is the customization within the modules. With Unlimited, businesses can create up to 500 custom fields per module and users can have up to five views per module.

Zoho CRM Quick Overview

Zoho CRM

5.0 stars

Best Overall Value

  • Highly customizable
  • Flexible AI
  • Gamification features

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Zoho CRM Customer Reviews

zoho crm review 2

Using Zoho analytics, web forms, and other tools a small business can set up for future growth. Here’s what users have to say:

Given that Zoho CRM is such an easy-to-use CRM, it’s an ideal pick for startups and small businesses that need client and contact management.

Forbes

Our organization’s problems of CRM, social media management, email marketing, inventory system and database are all fixed through the Zoho.

TrustPilot review

Different businesses have different needs in CRM software, and Zoho provides flexibility that allows it to work for all kinds of different businesses.

CrazyEgg review

Zoho CRM Service Review

Review of Zoho CRM

Overall Pricing and Value
100%
100%
Cost Value
95%
95%
Customer Support
95%
95%
Ease of Use
95%
95%
Included Features
95%
95%

Zoho CRM has exemplary automation for workflow rules and sales processes, strong sales forecasting and analysis, and a high number of integrations that will simplify how your sales reps approach lead management, account management, and inventory management. The price may be high for smaller businesses, but their free plan does offer multi-user portals, marketing tasks, and analysis of customer interactions. 

Is Zoho CRM Right For You?

When choosing the best CRM systems, you’ll want to consider contact management, Zoho’s customer support, and sales-focused CRM elements as those will have the most benefit to the highest number of organizations. From there, customer management CRM should focus on letting your sales reps concentrate on making those connections and engagements with the consumers. Another consideration is the number of users allowed within each pricing tier as this will determine the total cost of the product that you choose. 

Cost Value 

Although among the higher tiers for paid plans, Zoho CRM offers a lot for the price. If your sales and marketing teams are growing or you need to increase scale fast, the cost of the platform may be worth it. Alternatively, the free options are quite intuitive and offer customization options great for the services industry, and multiple pipelines. 

Customer Service

The main selling point for the best CRM systems is that they help businesses improve sales through increased productivity. Zoho CRM’s customer support is not available in the free plan, but there is a wealth of information to be mined from their knowledge base; both live and chat options are available at the paid tiers.

Ease of Use

Zoho has a bit of a learning curve, especially for new businesses, but once on board, the dashboard and customizations are simple to use and understand. From collecting contact data to more advanced customization, and data enrichment plans, Zoho CRM’s plans offer small to enterprise businesses customer insights that are key in growth efforts. 

Included Features

Zoho CRM’s features include the Zoho marketplace, workflow rules, and advanced analytics while Zoho CRM’s mobile app allows sales reps to work from the office or remote while always remaining in contact. 

Overall

The best CRM software for your business will fulfill specific needs. These may be focused on team management, sales increases, customer retention, and contacts management. The best CRM software for your business should integrate with other applications to simplify the process of creating marketing materials, managing Zoho campaigns, and improving customer loyalty.

2 Top Zoho CRM Alternatives

Hubspot CRMFreshsales CRMZoho CRM
Overview Free plan, paid pricing starts at $45/month for 2 users 
Supports integrated payments
Can be set up same day
Small business friendly
AI Assistant feature
Free plans and paid plans start at $15 per month per user
Drag and drop editor
Highly customizable
Pricing starts at $24 per month per user
AwardFastest SetupMost ComprehensiveBest Overall
Rating5/55/55/5
DetailRead detailRead detailRead detail
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Hubspot CRM

The drawback to Hubspot CRM is that some of the more basic CRM features are available only at higher-priced tiers. However, its ease of use and robust basic features make this user interface worth a look for both smaller and larger businesses in need of a CRM system to manage Zoho’s customer support, data, and sales.

Freshsales CRM

For small businesses, Freshsales CRM software offers a robust tool application and a simplified dashboard. Data points can be downloaded in a CSV file. The tools are highly customizable and include an AI assistant which can be invaluable in setting up exactly what your sales team needs to improve customer loyalty.

Conclusion

CRM is an important part of the business ecosystem. The best customer management will connect teams’ contact details, assist in sales pipeline management, and provide potential customers with the connection they want to your brand. CRM service providers help businesses improve their overall functionality so that end users have a better experience and receive better service through marketing automation. This frees teams to connect with the users. Once found, the best customer relationship management software for your firm will run smoothly through the cloud. From sales cloud data to other integrated services industry concerns, your CRM solution should provide software solutions that help scale your business quickly and efficiently.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How much should CRM cost?

Some platforms begin with free CRM software and offer paid platforms after the free trial period. This trial is a good way to “try before you buy” to make sure the CRM is the right fit for your needs.

How do I know which CRM is right?

When choosing CRM platforms, most businesses must consider how the platform will integrate marketing Zoho campaigns, sales automation, reporting capabilities, and customer service agents with the CRM services industry so that business sales strategies are always in focus.

Who needs CRM?

CRM business solutions are beneficial for both small businesses and large sales teams. Business management software solves the problems of data collection across multichannel marketing campaigns, offers a better understanding of consumer satisfaction, and helps to define your business needs. This, in turn, results in teams saving time, increasing productivity, and higher revenue for business owners.

How to choose CRM?

CRM is an important part of the business ecosystem. The best customer management will connect teams’ contact details, assist in sales pipeline management, and provide potential customers with the connection they want to your brand. CRM service providers help businesses improve their overall functionality so that end users have a better experience and receive better service through marketing automation. This frees teams to connect with the users. Once found, the best customer management software for your firm will run smoothly through the cloud. From salesforce sales cloud data to other integrated services industries, your CRM solution should provide software solutions that your business needs to grow.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristina Knight-1
Kristina Knight, Journalist , BA
Content Writer & Editor
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Kristina Knight is a freelance writer with more than 15 years of experience writing on varied topics. Kristina’s focus for the past 10 years has been the small business, online marketing, and banking sectors, however, she keeps things interesting by writing about her experiences as an adoptive mom, parenting, and education issues. Kristina’s work has appeared with BizReport.com, NBC News, Soaps.com, DisasterNewsNetwork, and many more publications.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

He is an organized and creative thinking sales management professional with experience in outside and inside sales in various markets. Working as freelancer in the Greater Boston Market, he moved to St. Louis and became an Account Executive, then a Sales Manager managing and coaching 12 sales reps covering a nationwide territory. He has developed his team with a combination of consultative selling and value before price coaching mindset which has won him a President’s Cup and many other financially rewarding awards at RICOH. His most recent role as a Continuous Improvement Manager provided insight into the importance of delivering a quality product in alignment with the value and reputation of his organization. It further enhances the aspect of selling on value as opposed to price.

+ 4 sources

Bizreport Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic research. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Bizreport, you can read more about the editorial process here.

  1. Zoho – Cloud Software Suite and SaaS Applications for Businesses. Zoho. Accessed October 15, 2022. https://www.zoho.com
  2. BBB: Start with Trust® | Better Business Bureau®. www.bbb.org. Accessed October 15, 2022. https://bbb.org
  3. Trustpilot. Trustpilot. Published 2019. Accessed October 15, 2022. https://www.trustpilot.com
  4. Forbes. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com. Published 2019. Accessed October 15, 2022.

     

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