Email marketing
Zoho Campaigns: the complete independent guide
Zoho Campaigns is Zoho's email marketing tool: newsletters, automated sequences and sign-up forms, tied to your CRM contacts. This guide explains what it does, how its plans are counted, how to connect it to Zoho CRM properly and how to keep your emails out of the spam folder.
- Best for
- Small and mid-sized businesses that already keep contacts in Zoho CRM
- Plans
- Free, Standard, Professional
- Billing
- By number of contacts, or by email credits
- Free plan
- Yes, with limits on contacts and monthly emails
- Channels
- Email, with SMS and social options
What it is
Zoho Campaigns sends email to lists of people who agreed to hear from you: newsletters, announcements, promotions and automated series such as a welcome sequence. You design the message in a visual editor, choose the audience, send or schedule it, and see who opened and clicked.
It is separate from the mass email inside Zoho CRM, and that separation matters. CRM email is meant for one-to-one and small-batch messages from a salesperson. Campaigns is built for volume: it manages consent and unsubscribes, protects your sending reputation and reports on results.
The two are designed to work together. Contacts and leads sync from Zoho CRM into mailing lists, and opens and clicks flow back to the CRM record, so a salesperson can see that a prospect clicked the pricing link yesterday.
Who it fits
A good fit when
- Your contacts are in Zoho CRM and you want to email segments of them without exporting files.
- You send a regular newsletter and want a welcome or follow-up sequence that runs by itself.
- You want sales to see marketing engagement on each contact.
- You need a low-cost tool, or you send only a few times a year and prefer to pay per email.
Look elsewhere when
- You need multi-step journeys with lead scoring across web, email and ads. Zoho Marketing Automation is the tool built for that.
- You run an online store with large product-driven campaigns. Tools specialized in e-commerce email go deeper.
- You plan to email purchased lists. No tool will make that work, and Zoho will suspend the account.
What it does well
- Editor and templates
- A drag-and-drop editor with templates that adapt to mobile, saved blocks for your header and footer, and merge fields to personalize each message.
- Lists, segments and consent
- Mailing lists with segments by any field or behaviour, sign-up forms with double opt-in, and unsubscribe handling built into every email.
- Automation
- Autoresponders and visual workflows: a welcome series, a reminder after a download, a re-engagement email after months of silence.
- Testing and timing
- A/B tests on subject line, sender or content, and sending at each recipient's most likely opening time on the higher plan.
- CRM synchronization
- Sync leads and contacts by view or criteria from Zoho CRM, and push campaign activity back to each record.
- Reports
- Opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes and complaints by campaign, with link-level detail and comparisons over time.
Editions and pricing explained
Zoho Campaigns is priced by the size of your contact list, not by user. A pay-as-you-go option based on email credits also exists for occasional senders. Check Zoho's price list for current tiers.
| Edition | Made for | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | A small list and occasional sending | A limited number of contacts and emails per month, basic templates and sign-up forms. |
| Standard | Regular newsletters | Higher or unlimited sending, more templates, basic automation, A/B testing and scheduling. |
| Professional | Marketing that runs on automation | Advanced workflows, dynamic content, send-time optimization, advanced segmentation and deeper reports. |
Count only the contacts you will really email. Old, unengaged addresses cost money and damage deliverability, so clean the list before choosing a tier. Zoho Campaigns is also included in Zoho One and in CRM Plus.
How to set it up properly
Authenticate your sending domain
Add the SPF and DKIM records Zoho gives you to your domain's DNS, and publish a DMARC policy. Without them, the large mailbox providers will filter or reject your emails.
Sort out consent before importing
Keep only the contacts who agreed to receive marketing email, with the date and source of that consent. Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) and the GDPR both require you to be able to prove it.
Connect Zoho CRM with clear rules
Sync specific views, for example newsletter subscribers, rather than the whole database. Decide how unsubscribes in Campaigns update the CRM email opt-out field.
Build your template and sign-up form
One branded template with your address and unsubscribe link in the footer, and a form with double opt-in on your website.
Warm up, then automate
Start with your most engaged contacts and grow volume over a few sends. Then add the welcome sequence, the one automation almost every business benefits from.
Rather have a specialist do it? Talk to TECHMA
Common problems and how to fix them
Emails land in spam
Check authentication first (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), then the list: stop emailing people who have not opened in a year, and never add contacts who did not ask.
The account is under review or suspended
High bounce or complaint rates trigger a review. Answer with how the list was collected, remove the bad segment, and re-confirm old lists before sending to them again.
CRM and Campaigns disagree on who is subscribed
The sync rules were never defined. Make the CRM email opt-out field and the Campaigns unsubscribe status update each other, and test with one contact.
Low open rates
Open rates are less reliable since mailbox privacy features inflate or hide them. Judge campaigns by clicks and replies, and improve them through relevance and segmentation rather than frequency.
Adding AI
Zoho Campaigns includes AI help for writing subject lines and content, and for choosing the best time to send.
An assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT is useful earlier in the process: turning a product update into three versions for three segments, drafting a welcome sequence in your tone in French and English, or analysing a year of campaign results to see which subjects and topics drive clicks. A person should still approve anything that goes out under your name.
Questions people ask
Is Zoho Campaigns free?
There is a free plan with limits on contacts and monthly emails, enough to start a small newsletter. Paid plans raise the limits and add automation.
What is the difference between Zoho Campaigns and Zoho Marketing Automation?
Zoho Campaigns focuses on email marketing. Zoho Marketing Automation adds multi-channel journeys, lead scoring, web behaviour tracking and campaign planning. Most small businesses start with Campaigns.
Can we send newsletters from Zoho CRM instead?
Zoho CRM can send mass emails, within daily limits, and it is meant for sales follow-up. Newsletters and marketing sends belong in Zoho Campaigns, which handles consent, unsubscribes and deliverability.
Does Zoho Campaigns comply with CASL and the GDPR?
It provides the tools: consent fields, double opt-in, unsubscribe links and sender identification. Compliance depends on how you collected your contacts and what you send them.
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