What is our primary use case?
The best use case of the product is the cycles.
What is most valuable?
It is a very reliable and stable tool. We can use workflows and have different lists and segmentations. It is not a one-shot campaign. We don’t have to manage every single campaign. It is very interesting to use. If a customer wants to send us different information, they can do that using the workflows.
What needs improvement?
The reports are not so clear. Sometimes we need to send information to Zoho Analytics to get the information in the way we want.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for at least two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Overall, the solution is stable. This year, when we made a change, it affected some campaign that was on at the moment. It was critical for us. People who should not be receiving emails were receiving them. Zoho acknowledged that it was a fault on their site, not a configuration on our site. After that, we are extra careful when we use Campaigns.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my organization, 20 to 30 people are actively using Zoho Campaigns. Usually, one or two people from the marketing team use the product.
How are customer service and support?
When we contact support, sometimes it takes two to three days or even more to get a satisfying answer. It is time-consuming. I'm not sure if it's because of the high demand that the team has to support. At some point, it seemed to me that they were not prepared.
I've been using support for three years. I noticed some changes. Support used to be more personal. Suddenly, it is like we have no direct contact with the team. We could not reach them through chats. We can reach them only through emails. I could see that they were trying to be automated in the way they provide customer service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with MailChimp. It is a very good tool. Zoho Campaigns is not as intuitive as MailChimp, but it is definitely a very reliable and stable tool. It's a good deal once we start using and understanding the navigation.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not as easy as setting up Zoho CRM. There are different concepts. I am not from the digital marketing world, so it was not clear to me how to manage lists, what the difference is between a list and a campaign, and how the syncing process works. We can sync information from Zoho CRM to Zoho Campaigns, but it's not very clear how the sync works. The product had a lot of new concepts for me.
We have to install every single software individually. We have to enable the application for the license we wish to use. We have five different licenses, but we cannot use all 55 applications using the five licenses. After enabling the application, we must do the initial settings and the integration process to sync the information between Zoho Campaigns and Zoho CRM.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Since the product is part of a bundle, it is definitely very cost-efficient.
What other advice do I have?
People should definitely use the solution because it's part of Zoho Suite. Connecting and creating campaigns with the context database on our CRM is very easy. It's definitely something that we should try. However, it is better to start with a one-shot campaign and get acquainted with how to create templates and lists. Once we understand it well, we can move to email workflows and other advanced features. Start with the basics.
I am not an advanced user of the product. I'm not from the marketing team. I know there's a lot of potential there because I've seen some videos on YouTube. They took some time to launch some of the very basic features. The product took a long time to release the HTML editor. It was something that we wanted for a long time. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud