You know how to create beautiful Zoho email templates, and you send them out to your clients as needed. But did you know you can automate emails using your templates? This is a great feature to take advantage of – you won’t have to remember to send out those crucial emails, and it will save you even more time than manually sending each email!
How Do I Automate My Emails?
Once you have created your email templates, you can build rules in your system to automate those emails based on certain conditions. There are two ways to do this: Workflows, and Blueprints. * So when do you use a Blueprint, and when do you use a Workflow? The biggest limiting factor is which Zoho version you are using. But there are other advantages and limitations as well. Let’s take a look!
* Please note you must have permissions to create Workflows and Blueprints. If you do not, you can contact your administrator. *
When to Use a Blueprint
Blueprints are a powerful tool. You can use them to guide users through a process that may include creating tasks, emails, updating fields, etc. If you already use a Blueprint to guide you through the stages of a Deal, it would be easy to add a transition to email the client after the Deal is marked Closed/Won. Blueprints are great if you are working through a complex process with many steps. On the downside, there are very few, if any, Blueprints available dependent on your CRM version, and they are somewhat complicated to learn how to build. Additionally, you must be working with a field that is a picklist, such as a Lead that moves through multiple stage values.
Here I’ve added a transition to an existing Lead process Blueprint to send the contact a thank you email after the Deal stage is marked Closed/Won:
For more information on building and using Blueprints, make sure you check out our video library for our collection of videos on Creating and Working with Zoho Blueprints!
When to Use a Workflow
Workflows are used for quick or scheduled actions and are less geared toward processes. Workflows use if/then logic based on defined criteria. For example if the Deal field Stage is updated to Closed/Won the Thank You email will be sent to the Deal Contact. Workflows are much easier to create, and you are allotted many more Workflows than Blueprints in your CRM system. The downside is that Workflows don’t work as well for complex processes.
Here I’ve created a Workflow that is defined as when the Deal Stage is updated to Closed/Won an email will be sent to the Contact.
New! Cloning Email Templates Across Modules
Cloning an email template within the same module is a simple process, and can speed up the creation of a new template from scratch:
- Navigate to Setup > Customization > Templates
- Click on the template name from the list
- Click on the Clone icon on the far right
But now you can also clone templates between modules! This is a quick and easy way to, for example, create an email that will be sent at both the Account and Contact levels.
- Follow the directions above
- When the dialog box to Name and Save the template open, choose a module from the drop-down menu
- Any merge fields you used in the original template will need to be replaced to reflect the different module – these will be noted in red, indicating an update is needed
Hope you learned some new tips that will help you make the most of your Zoho CRM!
The Marks Group offers expert-led Zoho training and support on all Zoho apps and products. Contact us at info@marksgroup.net to find out more and check out our YouTube video library!
