Anyone here used Zoho CRM or Books? Feedback appreciated.

[John-C]

Hi All!

I have been looking at the Zoho CRM and Books software. But I am wondering if anyone else has used it before and if anyone can give me feedback on it before I dive in.

I would rather put my money into a trustworthy solution rather than something which will just break on me

Thanks
John!

 

[stevebrownlie]

Hi John,

The CRM is a bit clunky and basic imo but if your needs are 'light' it's more than sufficient. The Books solution is really solid. Both are well supported by other products so you'll find that things like e-mail marketing software, billing software (Stripe, Paypal Pro etc), often offer one click integrations to Zoho.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[John-C]

Thanks for your reply Steve!

Maybe I will give it a try.. May I ask what you use? Do you think it is better then Zoho?

I would like something scalable as the business grows.

Thanks,
John

 

[stevebrownlie]

Hi John, there are a few that are better than Zoho, some even integrated with marketing automation platforms (eg Sharp Spring) but they're more expensive so it really depends on your budget and what you actually plan to do which is 'better'. For managing simple sales campaigns and customer interactions Zoho is definitely sufficient. If you give me some more idea what you're trying to achieve I'll try to answer as to whether I've found that possible on Zoho but as you can see from my website/job title I'm not a CRM consultant so other than helping clients with marketing automation integrations, and my own use I don't have full stack knowledge there.

 

[John-C]

Hi Steve.

Thanks for your reply.

I am looking for a scalable solution that kind of offers it all when you need it. I am a freelancer who works in marketing, customer service and Wordpress development.

For the moment it will be general invoicing BUT - I would like to enter retailing at some point when I complete the market research for the correct niche. So I need a solution that will work for CRM and ecommerce when my business grows steadily. I need it to work for me at every level without having to keep changing the system I am using as it can be a pain!

Thanks
John

 

[stevebrownlie]

If you're looking at ecommerce CRM needs in future this thread on Quora might be of use to you - at least it gives a few suggestions for you to look at since I guess right now you'd rather do your own research than pay someone for advice since it's for a future need -- https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-CRM-solution-for-ecommerce-sites

 

[JohnGrove]

Depending on what you want to get out of your CRM, it may be worth looking a free self hosted solutions like Vtiger or SuiteCRM.