what is assignment rules in zoho crm

ZOHO CRM – Assignment Rules

Did you know that you can create rules to automatically assign records to your users based on criteria?  A great example of using this feature is setting up Lead Assignment Rules.  There are Three parts to defining an Assignment Rule.

… an example would be when the rating is changed to “Active” the record is assigned to a new owner

PART II: Owner – which user is assigned

… This can be a straight assignment to a selected user, or you can choose a “Round Robin ” assignment to a group of users, by User, Role or Group.

PART III: Follow-up Task – creates a task for the assigned user.

You can also create multiple rules, so you can have a scenario where you assign to users based on geography (state, Zip Codes, etc…)

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Workflow Rules for Emails, Tasks Assignment, Record Fields in Zoho CRM

Managing a growing business can be challenging. As an SME business owner, you have a lot on your plate – you track marketing campaigns, sales, customer interaction, and more. Great news, though, is that with Zoho CRM , you can create workflows to automate tasks and emails!

If you are asking, how do I create a workflow rule in Zoho? This article is for you. You will also learn how to create Zoho automated emails alongside other task assignments and record field updates.

What are Workflow Rules in Zoho?

Workflow rules are instructions that can help you streamline your workflows and properly assign and automate certain actions based on specific conditions.

For example, you can create a rule that automatically assigns a task to a certain user when a record is created in your Zoho CRM. You can also create rules that send out email notifications or create tasks when certain conditions are met.

For those asking, how do I create an email workflow? The next section will show you how.

How to Create a Zoho CRM Email Workflow Rule

If you’re not already using Zoho CRM’s email workflow automation rules, here’s a quick primer on how they work and how you can use them to automate your routine tasks. The following steps will show you how to automate emails in Zoho.

Step 1: Enter Basic Details

• From your Zoho CRM dashboard, click All Tabs on the menu bar, and select Setup. Next, go to Automation and then Assignment Rules.
• Click Create a New Assignment. A small window will open up, which allows you to choose a module, rule name, and assignment description. For the module column, select Contacts if you’re sending to existing clients and Leads if you’re responding to new inbound traffic. Then, add the name and description for the new rule.
• Select Next. This stage in the workflow allows you to select when to send out the emails.

Step 2: Define Rule Trigger

A rule trigger is an automated action performed when a record meets certain conditions. You can set the rule trigger with these steps:

• Depending on when you want the email to move out, you can select On a record action or On a date/date time. The earlier option sets the trigger to specific events or actions from the customer, while the latter sets off the trigger at a specific date and time.
• For this example, we’ll select On a date/date time.
• On the data/date field, you can select a day of the month to schedule the message. You can also select custom dates, like subscription dates and birthdays.
• Select the execution day. In this example, we have set the execution day two days before the due date since it’s a Subscription reminder email.
• Also, select the exact time and how often you want to send the message.
• Once you’ve set the time, Select Next to go to the next stage of the setup.

Step 3: Setup a Workflow Condition

This stage allows you to select which records you want to execute the trigger rule for. In other words, you can select which contacts the trigger should apply to. You select between all records if it applies to all contacts or records matching the conditions to handpick the recipients.

Step 4: Define Actions

This step allows users to select a due date for the setup to take effect. Such an option makes scheduling feedback emails possible.

• Confirm the details of the email
• On the Email Template field, select an email template or click Create Template to develop a new one.
• Confirm the receipt
• Select Save and Associate to

What is Assignment Rule in Zoho CRM?

In Zoho CRM, an assignment rule is a feature that lets you assign and schedule responses to different things that customers and clients do.

To set up an assignment rule, you first need to define the criteria used to determine which records should be assigned to which users or teams. Once you have done this, you can specify which users or teams should be assigned to which records.

How to a Workflow to Automate Assignments Using Zoho

If you’re asking, can I create tasks using a workflow? The answer is yes. You can use workflow rules to create tasks when certain conditions are met. Here’s a guide on how to go about that.

• From your dashboard, select All Tabs > Setup.
• Click on Automation > Assignment rules.
• On the Create New Rule window, select Potential from the Module field. Also, input a task name and description in appropriate fields. Click Next to proceed.
• On the new window, choose the On a record action option. From the list, select Create or Edit. That way, you can execute the trigger when the potential is Closed Won. Click Next to segue to the following step.
• At this point, choose “Records matching the conditions.” That way, you can set your trigger to respond to specific actions.
• Browse through the options to select a preferred trigger action. In this case, we selected Closed Won. Select Next to move to the following step.
• Confirm the date you wish to execute the task. For instance, you can choose to launch the message three days after the trigger action from the client.

Finally, select Save and Associate.

Start Automating Your Emails and Tasks Assignments with Zoho CRM

Now you know that Zoho CRM is the go-to if you want to manage workflow and customer communication from one place. You do not have to understand technology because the software is easy-to-use with a simple interface for anyone to follow.

And if you’re asking, how many workflow rules can be created in Zoho CRM? There is no limit to the number of workflow rules you can have in Zoho CRM. You can create as many workflow rules as possible to automate your business processes. You’re not sure how many workflows you need to optimize your business operations? Ask a Zoho CRM consultant for help.

Video Tutorial: Workflow Rules for Emails, Tasks Assignment, Record Fields in Zoho CRM

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Complex Assignment Rules Config via Zoho CRM Modules

• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated reading time: 30 mins

Potential Scenario for Use

Imagine you are trying to process Leads from all over the country or all over the world. You have a Creator Form on your website that people are filling in with several fields like their Country, State, Preferred Language, the type of product/service they’re interested in, etc. You need to assign those Leads out to 50+ different salespeople with specific regional, product, or even language-based criteria.

‘Salesperson A’ might be in charge of Texas leads for Product A in English. ‘Salesperson B’ might be in charge of Texas leads for Product A in Spanish. But also for Montana, Arizona, and Louisiana. But someone else is responsible for Product B in those areas. And someone else is responsible for Product C in the whole country! This could go on and on and get extremely complex.

Accounting for all these assignment rules can become extremely tedious. Most companies elect to hard-code in their assignment rules because that’s the quickest solution. If your company is small or if you know that none of the rules/criteria will be changing in the future, hard-coding isn’t a terrible solution. But if you’re trying to scale your business or if things are changing or if you’re coming at this already with hundreds of employees, you need a more flexible, scalable assignment system. That’s what this code is–a way to create and manage a potentially infinite number of assignment rules through a CRM Module with Subform, then process them all to achieve accurate assignment with a simple Deluge script.

Advantages of this technique

• Can scale to accomodate hundreds and thousands of assignment rules.
• The concept and script are fairly simple.
• Can establish tiers of assignment (i.e. if it doesn’t find someone to match exactly, it finds the categorical match)
• Can easily be jerry-rigged to do something other than owner assignment.

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The process.

• Zoho Creator

General Steps

• Create Custom Module for Users/Assignees
• Make a Subform in that Module with the form’s Assignment Criteria as columns
• Populate the module with Users and Assignment Criteria subform rows
• On form submission, parse the Users to find a criteria and assign to that User

We’ll go into greater detail with some screenshots below.

1 and 2 – Create the Module and Subform (see Screenshot A in files)

For the module itself you only need basic fields related to assignment. In this case we’re just doing a User lookup called ‘Related User’. This will be who we ultimately assign records to that match the criteria. We’re calling the module ‘Representatives’.

For the subform, add all your choices as Multi-Selects for the best user experience. Here we have some Products (just a picklist, not a Product module lookup), Countries, U.S. States, and Languages. These are our assignment criteria, so we call the subform ‘Assignment Criteria’.

NOTE: Add ‘ALL’ as an option in all Assignment Criteria column picklists. This is how we’ll do tiered-assignment.

3 Add some records and Assignment Criteria configurations (see Screenshot B in files)

Here we’ve added 3 Representatives and some Assignment Criteria for each. Notice how Chad is only responsible for Bicycles in certain US States and in Canada. He is responsible for English and Spanish. Jay is responsible for Model Trains and Suntan Lotion across 3 Asian countries and he’s responsible for the language of 日本語. Then we have Peter. He is assigned to ALL of everything. This is the secret of tiered assignment and will make more sense once you look at the code.

The simple explanation is this: The script will check the form submission for an exact criteria match and if it finds one it will assign to that Representative. If it doesn’t find an exact match, it will choose a categorical match from ALL. We’ll run through a few specific examples when we talk about the code below.

4 Add the ‘criteriamatcher’ script to your Creator Form as an ‘onSubmit’ action (see Screenshot C in files)

Here we’ll get into the code itself.

First we get the Representative records from CRM and set a control variable. If ‘truerepid’ is still “Doesn’t Exist” by the end, we will know that there was no exact match found.

Now we have our repid and can assign to that Representative when we create the record.

Lastly we’ll add a check to alert us in case there is no match at all.

And that’s it! Let’s run through a few examples to help understand the logic of the assignment.

Assignment Examples

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Configuring Workflow Rules

Workflow Rules in Zoho CRM, are a set of actions (email notifications, tasks and field updates) that are executed when certain specified conditions are met. These rules automate the process of sending email notifications, assigning tasks and updating certain fields of a record when a rule is triggered.

A workflow rule consists of the following elements:

• Basic Details – Specify details on the record type for which the rule applies, rule name, description
• Execute based on a record’s action – Rules can be triggered when records are created, edited, created/edited, deleted, or specific fields are updated
• Execute based on a date field’s value – For all the records matching the rule criteria, rule will be triggered either monthly or yearly based on the value of the date field that is selected
• Execute based on the records score – Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased, or updated
• All record that match the criteria – Rule will be triggered for the records that meet the criteria
• All records – Rule will be triggered for all the records
• Records that do not meet any of the conditions – Instead of All Records, this option will be available from the second condition onwards
• Instant Actions – Add email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, create record, and send notifications via Cliq, Slack, or Cisco that will be be triggered immediately when the rule is executed. On Edit or Field Update actions, you can also convert Leads, Quotes, or Sales Orders
• Scheduled Actions – Add email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, and send notifications via Cliq, Slaq or Cisco that will be triggered based on a specified time. 

Create Workflow Rules in Zoho CRM

The steps to create a workflow rule are divided into 4 parts

Part 1 - Enter the Basic Details of the Rule

• Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules
• In the Workflow Rules page, click Create Rule
• Select the Module to which the rule applies from the drop-down list
• Enter the Rule Name and Description

Part 2 - Specify the Rule Trigger

There are three options based on which the rule will be triggered for a record that meets the rule criteria. One of these options need to be selected when you create a workflow rule and you cannot change it later by editing the rule. They are:

• A Record Action – Rules can be triggered when records are created, edited, created/edited, deleted or a specific fields are updated
• A Date Field’s Value – Rules can be triggered on a particular date by choosing the Date field option
• A Score Value – Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased, or updated
• Day of Recommendation – Rules can be triggered before, after or on the day of recommendation. 

Execute Based on Record Action

When new leads are created in Zoho CRM you may want to automatically send an email or a series of emails at set intervals. You may also want to create tasks for these new leads. Also, sometimes when specific fields are updated, you may want to trigger a workflow. This execution option lets you specify an actions (Create, Edit, Delete, etc.) based on which workflow rules will be triggered

For Edit, Create, or Edit actions , an option to recur the workflow is provided. You can check. Repeat this workflow every time a record is edited , if you want the rule to recur.

Lets consider some examples to understand this:

If the option is unchecked – When, Budgeted Cost of Campaign is greater than 1000 $ > Send an email notification to the Manager. The notification has to be sent only when a Campaign is edited and value for ‘Budgeted Cost of Campaign’ is set more than $1000. Once the value is set and the user edits the record or modifies some field, this notification need not be sent (Through the current value for Budgeted Cost is greater than $1000)

If the option is checked – When Deal stage is ‘In Evaluation’ > Send email notification to the Manager. For every edit irrespective of whether change is made to ‘Deal Stage’ or not, email notification has to be sent to the Manager

• Create : Executes the rule when records are created
• Create or Edit : Executes the rule when records are edited
• Any field gets modified : Executes the rule when any existing record is modified
• Specific fields gets modified : Executes the rule when the values of the specified fields are modified in a record. A maximum of 5 criteria can be added.
• Choose the field name from the drop downs 
• Click the All/Any link to toggle the options
• Choose the criteria of the value of the updated field, for example is the value
• Choose the value of the updated field, for example contacted
• Deleting a record from the Details Page
• Deleting the List View (Only by one or in bulk)
• Using the Mass Delete feature
• Deleting from a records Related List. For example, deleting a contact under an Account

Execute Based on Data or Date Time Field's Value

You may want to get an email reminder a week before a deal’s expected closing date, or may want to send an email to the customers reminding them of the monthly rentals or subscription renewals. In these cases, it is not necessary that the records should be created or edited for the rule to get triggered. It is plainly based on the value in the date fields. This execution option lets you pick a date field from a record and allows you to define the day for the rule to be triggered.

You can set an activity to recur every month or year on a selected date. (Note: This option is available for Professional and above editions) . Please note, with this option, a maximum of 3000 records will be triggered every hour. If there are more than 3000 records, the remaining records will be executed in the next hour. This option is available only in the Enterprise Edition.

• Based on which Date/Time field this rule should execute : Choose one of the options from Created Time, Modified Time, Last Activity Time and Unsubscribed Time.
• Define execution date: Specify the number of Days, Weeks, or Months after which workflow should be executed.
• Execution time : Choose to execute at the same time of the activity or enter a time of your choice.
• Select the Once, Every Month or Every Year from the Recur drop-down list
• Click Next . 

Execute Based on Record's Score

Rules can be triggered when the score of a record is either increased, decreased or updated. For example, leads from the service industry are your prime prospects and you want to prioritize them based on the scores. You may want to closely follow-up with the leads that have a score of 10 or more. In such cases, you can create a workflow rule based on scores. When the score of a lead is updated and if the score is 10 or more, a task can be created to prioritize and follow-up on the lead immediately.

• Choose either Increase, Decrease, or Updated to specify when you want the rule to be triggered

• Specify the Condition when the rule should be executed

• The execution order of the automation are: Assignment rule > Review process > Scoring Rules > Workflow Rule > Approval Process > Blueprint > Scoring Rules > CommandCenter . Scoring rule occurs twice in the loop to ensure the score is updated upon execution of actions.
• The execution of actions will take place in the following order: Field update > Tags > Email Notification > Task > Slack notification, Cliq notification, Webhook, Custom function, Custom action, Create record (Executes in parallel) > Convert .
• Not all actions are performed in this order. In order to improve the performance, we have offloaded certain actions. That is, certain actions will happen in parallel not sequentially.
• Action taking place in parallel : Alert, task, webhook, function, create record, and Cliq/Slack notification.
• Actions taking place in sequence: Field update, tags, and convert.
• Delay in the workflow execution: Though workflows are supposed to be executed immediately after the trigger of an event, there could be a delay when multiple records are added or updated. The same delay can happen in case of the actions mentioned above. In case of bulk orders there can be a delay of 30 minutes.
• Workflow execution based on scores is available in all the Paid editions.
• Workflow rule will not be triggered when records are imported into the CRM account.
• Notifications via Cliq, Slack, and Cisco can be triggered through instant and scheduled actions.

Execute Based on Recommendation

Automatic actions can be performed on the records before, after or on the day of recommendation. For example, if Zia recommends the product for a contact who has purchased it in the past, you can send an email or SMS to the customer informing about the same. Such notifications can be automated through workflow rules Based on recommendation.

• A workflow can be created only for the target module, that is the module where your customers are or to whom the recommendation applies.
• Recommendations that are shown for a product or deal that is already purchased or associated with the contact, are applicable for the Workflow. That is, if the contact has purchased a laptop then Zia will recommend the same product again; for this recommendation you can create a workflow.

To Create Workflow Rule Based on Recommendation

• Only the target modules or the ones for which recommendation is suggested will be available
• In When do you want to execute the rule? Select Based on Recommendation
• In Execute , select the number of days and before/after/on from the drop-down list
• If you select Yes , enter the desired workflow conditions
• Select an Instant or Scheduled Action

Part 3 - Create a Workflow Condition

Multiple conditions in a workflow rule help you address cases where you have clearly defined action items for the records that met the specified criteria and the ones that do not. 

• For each rule, you can add a maximum of 10 conditions in the Enterprise Edition and 5 conditions each in the Standard and Professional Editions

Example : In a deal follow-up scenario, you may have the following requirements which can be best configured with Workflow conditions

Choose one of the following:

• Records Matching the Conditions – Rules will be triggered only for those records that match the given criteria
• All Records – Rule will be triggered for all the records
• Records That Do Not Meet Any of the Above Conditions – Instead of AllRecords , this option will be available from the second condition onwards

Specify the criteria:

• You can click the Add icon to add multiple criteria
• You can specify Tags as part of workflow criteria
• When you add more than one criterion, you will get an potion to Edit the criteria pattern

• Click Next and add instant actions or scheduled actions
• Click the Add another condition link to add another workflow condition and repeat the steps mentioned above. Please note that this option will be available only when at least one action (instant or scheduled) is added to the condition

Edit Criteria Patterns

Criteria Pattern Editor in the custom list view helps you to develop the advanced filters using simple logical operators like and/or

• You can specify a maximum of 25 criteria for a list view
• If you are associating a convert action (an instant action) to the rule, specifying the criteria is mandatory
• Maximum 5 lookup fields can be added in the criteria

To Edit Criteria Patterns

• In the Workflow Rules page, click on a workflow rule
• In the Edit Rule page, review your existing criteria and click the Change Pattern link 
• In the Pattern Editor box, modify filters and click the Save link

You would like to trigger a workflow rule for all the potentials whose Type is New Business, Stage is Need Analysis or Qualification, and Amount is above $50000

Type is New Business; Stage is Need Analysis or Qualification; and Amount > $50000

You can create this criteria using the Criteria option given below:

The criteria pattern will be automatically set as:

Since the criteria pattern does not match the requirement, you can edit it as:

You can use the following characters in the Criteria Pattern Editor:

• Round brackets: ()
• and/or operators
• Criteria Row Number

Part 4 - Associate Instant and Scheduled Actions

A workflow rule is meaningful only if an action is associated to it. These actions include email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, and create record. Except create record, all the other actions are grouped under the Actions tab that can either be Instant or Scheduled . These actions once created, can be associated with many rules.

• Instant Actions – Click to associate instant actions that are triggered instantly when the workflow is triggered. You can also create one and associate it to the rule
• Scheduled Actions – Click to associate scheduled actions that will be triggered at a specified time once the rule is triggered. A maximum of 5 scheduled actions can be created
• Note that you cannot save a rule without creating either an instant or scheduled action

Associate Actions to Rules

Add instant actions.

Instant action includes email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, and record creation that are triggered immediately when the rule is executed. There are two options to associate to the rule

• Create email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks, custom functions, and record creation that are triggered immediately when the rule is executed. There are two options to associate these actions. 
• Select existing email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks or custom functions to associate to the rule 

To Associate an Instant Action

If you are creating a workflow rule, directly go to Step Four

• In the Workflow Rules page, click on the rule for which you want to create an action
• Click Edit to modify the rule settings
• Under a Condition, click Instant Action/Action link and select the action from the drop-down list
• In the pop-u select the actions that are listed or click New [Action] to create one and then associate
• Click Associate
• For a workflow rule, all the actions (email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks, and functions) will not be listed. If the rule is for Leads, only the actions created for Leads will be lable for association
• Only one set of instant action can be created with email notifications, tasks, etc. associated to it
• You can associate a maximum email notifications, 5 tasks, 3 field updates, 1 custom function, 1 webhook, and 1 create record to the instant action

Record Creation as Instant and Scheduled Action

• Available for Enterprise and above edition only

You can configure an instant or scheduled action to create records when certain conditions are met, such as:

• You can create a deal if the contact status is changed to interested
• You can create a ticket a day after the customer inquiry is made

Records can be created in both standard and custom modules. Only the following standard modules are supported: Leads, Contacts, Accounts, and Deals. The execution parameter can be set only on a record action or on a Data/Time

While configuring the rule you must:

• Select the module and layout to which the new record will be added 
• Select the owner of the record. You can either select the logged in user (the person who creates the workflow rules) or any other CRM user

Similarly, you can select a reference user . That is, any user lookup field that you have added in the layout. For instance, if the Contacts module has a user lookup for Accounts and Vendors , then you can select a user from these lookup modules as the record owner. You can even select a user from the custom user field (only single user field can be used) as record owner, but it should be a single user field

Enter the values for fields like the record name, amount etc. The values that you enter here will be pre-populated for the record that is created. By default, the mandatory fields (both standard and custom fields) from the layout will be displayed here, you can also add the other fields present in the layout and enter a value. You can either enter the values or use merge fields. For example, the email field values can be entered using the merge fields

• You can create only one record create action/condition

To set up record creation

• Create a rule and define the rule execution
• Only On a record action or On a Date/Time can be selected
• Click Next and define the condition
• In Instant Action , select Create a record and choose the module

• Select the layout from the drop down list
• Select the appropriate user field, if you choose the reference option
• Click + to add more fields
• Click Submit

Adding Tags for Convert Instant Action

Tags or identifiers added to the leads can be carried over during conversion.   For example, if a prospect was highly interested in your business and the sales team has tagged it as “Premium” customer then passing it along during conversion will ensure the contact, account and deal records created, as a result, will also carry the same tag for other teams to facilitate easy conversion. 

To Carry Over Tags:

• In Instant Action , select Convert from the drop down list
• In the Convert popup, do the following:
• In Convert leads to check all or either of the following: Contact, Account, and Deal 
• Choose an owner an owner of new records in needed
• In Carry over tags to check all or either of the following: Accounts, Contacts and Deals

Add Scheduled Actions

Scheduled actions include email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks, and functions that are triggered on a specified time after the rule is executed. You can schedule the actions to be triggered based on the Rule Trigger Time. You can see the list of scheduled actions in a record’s details page under Timeline > Upcoming Actions.

There are two options to associate these actions:

• Create email notifications, tasks, field updates, tags, webhooks, functions or create record and associate them to the rule
• Select existing email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks or functions to associate the rule

To Add Scheduled Actions

• Under a Condition , click Scheduled Action/Action link
• In the pop-up, select Hours, Days, or Minutes and specify the value

• Click Action link and select the action from the drop down list
• In the popup, select the actions that are listed or click New [Action] to create one and then associate

Add Custom Actions

Tags or identifiers added to the leads can be carried over during conversion.   For example, if a prospect was highly interested in your business and the sales team has tagged it as “Premium” customer then passing it along during conversion will ensure the contact, account and deal records created, as a result, will also carry the same tag for other teams to facilitate easy conversion. Custom actions let you create tailored actions and associate them with the desired workflow rules. Sometimes you may need to create actions other than the default one’s available in Zoho CRM, in such cases you can use the  Zoho Developer Space.  and create your own actions.

Lets consider a few scenarios where custom actions can be helpful:

• Say a user does not want to receive further promotional emails of a particular product, so you check the Email opt out option in CRM. You can write a custom action that will mark an unsubscribe option in MailChimp automatically so you don’t have to update in both places.
• Say a deal has been under negotiation for a long time and recently it was rejected as the client was not satisfied with the final amount. So, you change the deal status in CRM to closed lost. Now, instead of updating the status in Zendesk again you can simply write a custom that will update the account information in Zendesk.
• Imagine you have to send the shipping details of products to your customers, who have booked the products online. You can use custom action and associate it with the workflow to send out SMS notifications automatically.

These actions can be configured through functions too, however using custom actions will considerably reduce the effort in cases when an action is frequently used. 

• For a workflow rule, all the actions (email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions) will not be listed. If the rule is for Leads, only the actions created for Leads will be available for association.
• You can create a maximum of 5 scheduled actions for a workflow rule.
• Each Scheduled Action can have a maximum of 5 email notifications, 5 tasks, 3 field updates, 5 custom functions and 5 webhooks.
• If the Email Opt Out option is enabled, emails will not be sent to the customers.
• For the Workflow Management feature, the Organization’s Time Zone will be considered for calculating a day. In the absence of the time zone being defined, the Super Administrator’s Time Zone will be considered.
• There can be a delay of few minutes for the scheduled actions to be triggered.
• When email notifications reach the limit for the day, any remaining emails to be sent the same day will not be sent.
• If the Execution Time that is calculated is a time in the past, then the action will be triggered immediately. There can be a delay of few minutes for the scheduled actions to be triggered.
• The scheduled actions for a records will be listed under Upcoming Actions in the Records Details Page.
• When you choose Email Notifications, if you are in the Enterprise Edition, you will also find an option to send the email at Zia’s suggested time for this workflow rule. When you select this option, the emails that are sent via this workflow rule are sent to the recipients based on their respective best time to contact suggestion by Zia.
• For each action, you can associate a maximum of 5 email notifications, 5 tasks, and 3 field updates.
• You can associate up to 6 (1 Instant Action and 5 Scheduled Actions) custom functions per workflow rule. Similarly, you can associate up to 6 (1 Instant Action and 5 Scheduled Actions) webhooks per workflow rule.
• A maximum of 5 Scheduled Actions (that includes email notifications, tasks, field updates, webhooks and custom functions) can be created for a rule.
• Free and Starter Editions – (No. of Users * 50) or 5000, whichever is lower, will be taken as the maximum limit per day for emails to be sent using email notifications.
• Standard Edition – (No. of Users * 100) or 5000, whichever is lower, will be taken as the maximum limit per day for emails to be sent using email notifications.
• Professional Edition – (No. of Users * 200) or 10,000, whichever is lower, will be taken as the maximum limit per day for emails to be sent using email notifications.
• Enterprise Edition – (No. of Users * 500) or 25,000, whichever is lower, will be taken as the maximum limit per day for emails to be sent using email notifications.
• The Super Administrator of your CRM account will be notified if the email notifications limit is exceeded for the day.
• The per day limits (for e.g.: email limit) is calculated based on PST.
• Calls per Day – 20000 calls/day or 200 calls per user license for the organization (whichever is lower)
• Integration Tasks – 25000 Zoho API calls/day using deluge.
• Get Data – 25000 calls/day
• Post Data – 25000 calls/day
• Send Email – 1000 emails/day
• Professional Edition – 10000 calls/day or 100 calls/user license (whichever is lower).
• Enterprise Edition – 25000 calls/day or 500 calls/user license (whichever is lower).

Instances when Scheduled Actions will be Deleted or not be Rescheduled

• The Execution Criteria for the Rule is either Edit or Create or Edit . When the rule criteria is satisfied for a record, the instant actions are triggered and scheduled actions are scheduled for the record. If a user edits the record but the rule criteria is not fulfilled, then the scheduled actions will not be scheduled again.
• When the Enterprise Edition is downgraded to the Free Edition, all the scheduled actions that are scheduled for the record will be deleted.
• When records are deleted, all the scheduled actions scheduled to the record will also be deleted. If the deleted records are restored, the scheduled actions will not be rescheduled.

Instances when Scheduled Actions will not be Rescheduled

• When an event is canceled, all the scheduled actions scheduled for the event will not be executed.
• When a lead is converted, all the scheduled actions scheduled for the record will not be executed.

Points to Remember

• When the Change Pattern box is being used to edit, you cannot add or delete a criteria row under the Specify Criteria section.
• The operator precedence will not be taken into account if you do not specify brackets. For example, if you specify the criteria as 1 or 2 and 3 , it will be considered as ((1 or 2) and 3)
• You can change the and or or of the criteria rows and it will be updated in the Editor below.
• You can change the and or or condition in the pattern and it will be updated in the rows above.
• If you specify 1 and 2 and save it, on editing the view the pattern will be shown as (1 and 2). For (1 and 2) or 3 the pattern will be shown as ( (1 and 2) or 3 )
• If you add more rows in the editor and delete one by one there will be additional brackets displayed in the pattern. For example if there are 4 rows added and you delete the 3rd row, the criteria pattern will be as ( ( ( ( 1 and 2 ) ) ) or 3 ) . If the first row is deleted then it will be shown as ( ( ( ( 1 ) ) ) or 2 ) . However, on saving the criteria, it will change as ( 1 or 2 ).
• Make sure that you do not use the following as they are invalid: () , (and) , (or).
• If the brackets do not match it will be treated as invalid.
• There will an error message, if the number of rows and the numbers given in the pattern do not match and also, if there are any numbers missed in the pattern.
• In case the final brackets are missing, there will be a difference in the Criteria Patterns Editor and its view mode.

Lock Workflow Rules

When you want to make sure that no one edits a workflow rule unless absolutely necessary, you can lock the rule. When a rule is locked, it cannot be edited. One has to unlock the rule in order to edit it again. A locked rule sends out the message to fellow administrators that it is not meant to be edited unless absolutely required. A workflow rule can be locked after it has been created.

To Loc k a Workflow Rule

• Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules .
• From the Workflow Rules list view under the Rules tab, click the rule that you wish to lock.
• In the selected workflow rule details page, click the Lock icon next to the rule name.

• In Lock Rule , enter the reason for locking the rule. This message will be displayed to fellow administrators who try to unlock the rule for editing

• Only Administrators can lock/unlock a workflow rule. This option is available so that other users are not able to edit or delete the rule. If required others can clone the workflow rule.
• A rule can be unlocked by following the same procedure. In a workflow rule’s details page, you can click the Unlock icon and proceed to edit the rule.-A locked rule cannot be edited by other users. If required, they can clone the rule to create another.
• The actions such as, email notifications, field updates, tasks, etc. associated to a locked rule is also locked and cannot be edited or deleted by users.
• For a rule to be triggered using the Field Update option, both the rule criteria and the execution criteria must be true.
• If your Zoho CRM account is downgraded or the subscription expired, the workflow rules will be disabled. If you renew the subscription, you will need to manually enable the rules.
• When the Delete option is selected as the execution criteria, a workflow rule will not be triggered if records are deleted from the Recycle Bin.
• You can configure and associate only email notifications, functions, and webhooks to a workflow rule with the execution criteria as Delete .
• Workflow Rules will be triggered when records are modified using Mass Update, Macros and when ownership of records are changed. Rules are also triggered when tasks are created through Macro.
• When you configure a workflow rule for the Events module, you will see another rule trigger called Cancel .
• The Cancel trigger can be chosen when you want to configure a workflow action on the cancellation of an event.
• When you configure a workflow rule for the Visits module, you will see only the Create rule trigger. The other rule triggers like Edit, Field Update , etc. are not available for the Visits module.
• When Workflow Actions are configured on creation of Visits , those actions will be executed for the leads/contacts associated with the Visit and not for the Visit itself. For example, when email notifications are configured for the visit, the emails are sent to the leads/contacts associated with the visit. Similarly a task created on the creation of the visit is assigned to the record owner of the associated lead/contact.

Use List View & Summary View

There are two views for workflow rules that are created – the List View and the Summary View. By default, you will see the list view, which is a list of all the workflow rules for All modules/Select module 

The Summary view lists out the Criteria and Field Updates associated to the rules that will help you get a clear picture of all the rules and where they are used to avoid any confusion. 

• You need to select a module to check the summary view. This view is not available when you select the “All Modules” option.
• The Summary View is available only for the workflow rules and not for the email notifications, tasks and field updates.
• In the List View you can reorder the rules to change the sequence in which the rules need to be executed. The Reorder option will be available only after you select a module from the drop-down list.

To Use Summary View

• Go to Setup > Automation > Workflow Rules.
• In the Workflow Rules page, select a module from the drop-down list.
• All the rules for the selected module will be listed along with the Criteria and the associated Field Updates. You can click the Show More link to see the other items associated to the rule.

To Reorder the Workflow Rules

• Make sure you have selected the List View and not the Summary View
• Click Reorder Rules
• Drag and drop the rules in the order that you require

View Workflow Usage

You can see insights on the usage of your workflow rules that have the action to send email notifications associated to them. Based on the open rate of the email template associated with your workflow rules, the best performing workflow rules are listed for every week.

To Track the Workflow Usage

• In the Workflow Rules page, click the Usage tab
• View the list of top performing workflow rules by email open rate for the last 7 days
• Track the open rate of each email template via the respective workflow rule alone with the overall open rate

• Open the rules to see more elaborate details on usage

Delete Workflow Rules

You can also delete the workflow rules from the list view and also while viewing the rule. When you delete a workflow rule, all the scheduled actions for the records will also be deleted.

To Delete Workflow Rules

• In the Workflow Rules page, move your mouse pointer to the rule you want to delete and click the Delete icon. Alternatively, click on the rule that you wish to delete. In the rule details page, click the more options button and then click Delete . 

• In the audit log you can view details of each and every update that is made in the workflow. 

Learn more about Zoho One

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• Sage 300 Add-Ons
• Zoho Add-Ons
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Zoho vs Salesforce (2024): Which CRM Is Better?

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Both Zoho CRM and Salesforce are industry-leading CRM software providers. This understandably makes deciding between the two, or a combination of both, a tad tricky. Since both are top enterprise CRM platforms and offer general scalability, industry-specific specializations and advanced technology tools, let’s dig into what each might specialize in.

For Zoho CRM, the features can be divided into marketing, sales or customer service categories with hyper-specific customization and automations making it a very collaborative tool. It’s also praised for its user interface and affordable pricing, which helps deploy or implement it quickly. With Salesforce, subscription fees are more expensive but offer greater scalability for big enterprises looking for a CRM tool. It also is a cloud-based CRM built on an AI-powered Einstein 1 platform, making it a great option for end-to-end sales management.

Knowing this, let’s dive into Zoho CRM and Salesforce’s pricing, top features and more to begin uncovering which your business could benefit more from.

Zoho CRM vs. Salesforce: Comparison table

*Price when billed annually.

Zoho CRM vs. Salesforce: Pricing

CRM software pricing is typically based on the number of users an organization plans to grant access to the platform. From there, the prices increase based on what features are accessible on each premium tier. For example, all tiers usually provide lead management, while more expensive ones allow for advanced tools like lead routing or scoring.

Other pricing factors businesses should consider when researching potential CRM providers are free trial length and platform demos for testing the software. Also, be sure to review what core or advanced features are included in premium tiers or if they require an additional add-on fee.

Zoho CRM pricing

Zoho CRM is a competitively priced CRM provider with premium tiers that demonstrate how scalable the tool can be for a variety of business sizes. The first tier of Zoho CRM is also a free CRM , where startups or small businesses can begin implementing a new CRM with very basic features. Zoho also offers a 15-day free trial of their CRM software.

• Free CRM : Free for up to three users and comes with lead and document management and a mobile app.
• Standard : $14 per user per month, billed annually, or $20 per user per month, billed monthly.
• Professional : $23 per user per month, billed annually, or $35 per user per month, billed monthly.
• Enterprise : $40 per user per month, billed annually, or $50 per user per month, billed monthly.
• Ultimate : $52 per user per month, billed annually, or $65 per user per month, billed monthly.

Apart from these product plans, Zoho CRM also offers bundles that unify their sales, service and marketing all on one platform.

• CRM Plus : $57 per user per month, billed annually, or $69 per user per month, billed monthly.
• CRM Flex : $14 per two users per month, billed annually.

Salesforce pricing

Salesforce is the most expensive option between these two CRM providers. And unlike Zoho CRM, Salesforce only bills users annually or with yearly commitments. In addition to these premium tiers and their AI tools, pipeline management and more, Salesforce also has add-ons like revenue intelligence for $250 per user per month or price configuration and quoting tools for $75 per user per month. You can also get a free trial of Salesforce for 30 days.

• Starter Suite : $25 per user per month, billed annually.
• Professional : $80 per user per month, billed annually.
• Enterprise : $165 per user per month, billed annually.
• Unlimited : $330 per user per month, billed annually.
• Einstein 1 Sales : $500 per user per month, billed annually.

Zoho CRM vs. Salesforce: Feature comparison

Automated workflows.

Zoho CRM enables users to build workflow automations that can finish sales and marketing tasks on their behalf. Workflow rules help businesses complete tasks by automatically triggering actions when specified conditions are met. Users can set up to 10 conditions for a single rule. Zoho CRM offers predefined actions like sending emails, scheduling tasks and updating fields that let users automate different sales routines, either instantly or at a later date.

Salesforce offers a Sales Force Automation product that prioritizes giving users minimum visibility into pipelines and forecasts while also scaling the platform with automated sales processes and workflows. This feature drives efficiency by automating complex sales workflows with drag-and-drop simplicity. This means reps are able to quickly build workflows that can automate mundane sales tasks so they can focus on more important tasks.

Mobile CRM app

Not every business requires a mobile CRM, but most providers offer a mobile application in tandem with their platform in one of the premium tiers. It’s most ideal for organizations that have sales representatives in the field and who need to access client data like contact information and sales notes on the go.

Zoho CRM’s mobile app offers a unique RouteIQ feature that plans routes for in the field reps, taking into account distance, appointment time and drop-ins. Users can view individual schedules, daily tasks and more. Salesforce’s mobile app syncs with the Einstein voice assistant and reps can quickly review quality leads or create new accounts immediately. Salesforce also offers a browser extension. Both Zoho CRM and Salesforce’s mobile CRM apps offer access to sales metrics and KPIs, so users can make data-driven decisions at any moment.

Integrations

Both Salesforce and Zoho CRM provide native and third-party integrations, meaning some applications are product-owned by the provider while others are independent tools. Zoho CRM offers over 800 apps, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, LinkedIn, Inuit Quickbooks and more. Salesforce offers an astounding 7,000 integrations, including DocuSign, Shopify, ActiveCampaign, Zapier and others.

And deployment types consist of in-platform, built-in or API-built integrations. Users can access the available integration options through a marketplace. Typically, integrations can be a mixed bag of both paid and free downloads.

AI-powered tools

Zoho CRM offers an AI companion with their platform named Zia. This AI assistant can fetch information, take notes as users dictate, predict sales outcomes, delete anomalies and more. Zia can perform periodic data checks to ensure all decisions are based on the enriched data. Zia can also help boost productivity with recommendations and predictions around when to call leads, what solutions to sell them and so on.

Salesforce offers an AI assistant built directly into the CRM named Einstein. Einstein Copilot can perform basic tasks like draft sales emails, produce call summaries and lead or account research. Predictive forecasting and activity-captured features help reps prioritize the most critical deals. Einstein can also uncover relationship networks without any manual research by auto-populating contacts and relevant information to build org charts.

Zoho CRM pros and cons

Pros of zoho crm.

• 800+ possible integrations.
• 24/7/365 data security.
• Solutions range from marketing, sales and customer support.

Cons of Zoho CRM

• Free plan has limited social integrations.
• Add-on features can be pricey.
• Only offers 8/5 customer support for users.

For more information, head over to our complete Zoho CRM review .

Salesforce pros and cons

Pros of salesforce.

• Lengthy free trial compared to other general CRM providers.
• 7,000+ possible integrations.
• Extremely scalable platform.

Cons of Salesforce

• Users report slow customer support.
• Premium plans can be pricey for small businesses.
• Platform has a steep learning curve.

Check out our independent Salesforce review for more details.

Should your organization use Zoho CRM or Salesforce?

Since both Zoho CRM and Salesforce act as all-in-one platforms with core CRM functionality, deciding between the two ultimately depends on your organization’s budget and preferences for advanced features. Zoho CRM is the most affordable of the two options, with a free tier. It’s best for startups or small businesses looking for a tool that can help elevate their online and social marketing and lead generation. Salesforce is slightly more scalable and has the bandwidth for either SMBs or larger enterprises. It’s also entirely cloud-based with advanced AI tools on premium tiers.

Alternatively, if you’re wanting even more customizations and have the bandwidth and knowledge to do so, there are open-source CRM providers to consider. Those platforms offer niche functionality by allowing their source code to be publicly available for any user to make backend changes or customizations to. Zoho CRM and Salesforce both require minimum to no coding, making them quicker to implement and get off the ground.

Review methodology

To review Zoho CRM and Salesfroce, I scored both against a rubric with defined criteria and subcategories of CRM industry standards. Criteria includes cost, ease of use and more. I used online resources directly from Zoho CRM and Salesforce, as well as real user feedback. After using this in-house rubric, an algorithm calculated an overall star rating.

Here is the exact breakdown of the scoring criteria I used:

• Cost : Weighted 25% of the total score.
• Core features : Weighted 25% of the total score.
• Customizations : Weighted 15% of the total score.
• Integrations : Weighted 15% of the total score.
• Ease of use : Weighted 10% of the total score.
• Customer support : Weighted 10% of the total score.
• Leveraging an AI-powered Salesforce CRM Will Require Better Data Management
• 7 Best Free CRM for 2024
• Zoho CRM vs. Hubspot: Which Is Best for Your Business in 2024?
• Hiring kit: CRM developer
• Big data: More must-read coverage

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