Magento Zoho Integration: Upgrade your eCommerce CRM

Running a business without a CRM is like… A Customer Relationship Management Tool (CRM) powers your lead generation, customer relationships and revenue growth. One of our favorite CRMs is Zoho. It’s a powerful and flexible tool that happens to work well with Magento – the world’s leading eCommerce platform. When integrated, they provide streamlined, 360-degree business solutions. This article explores the ins and outs of Magento Zoho integration and how it can help your business thrive.

Integrating the Zoho CRM with your Magento 2 store can empower your business, streamline operations and deliver a unified customer experience. Let’s check it out.

Tell Me About Zoho

Zoho is a dashboard (okay, a full suite) of helpful apps for businesses. It helps businesses operate more efficiently and add value to every customer interaction. Benefits include centralized customer data, an end-to-end customer engagement journey, data-driven automation…the full list of Zoho CRM features is impressive.

But Zoho can be more than the sum of its parts. With a few related apps, companies can create a fully-automated system of follow-ups, check-ins, prompts and requests. All of which makes life easier for them and their customers.

To review: You’ve got a lot of apps available and most of them are customizable. For businesses that sell products (eCommerce or in-store), the most popular Zoho modules are:

• Zoho CRM
• Zoho Inventory
• Zoho Accounting

Here’s Zoho’s promise: turn on a Zoho app – improve a process. Sounds pretty good! But how does it integrate and work with your Magento platform? (Still wondering if Magento 2 is right for you? Here’s an article covering the Magento 2 pros and cons.)

“Prices being equal, people will buy from the company that gives them the most engaging and unified customer experience. Connecting Zoho with Magento can help you know your customers better and solve their problems…which ultimately leads to more sales.”

– Amit Bhaiya, CEO, DotcomWeavers

Magento + Zoho: eCommerce Harmony

The seamless flow of information between Magento and Zoho turns your system into a powerful management and marketing tool. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from a Magento Zoho integration:

Zoho Features for Your Business

Zoho’s multichannel CRM software increases productivity and offers easy collaboration with your employees and customers. Here are some key features in the Zoho suite:        

Like Magento, there’s really no end to what Zoho can do. Plus, both platforms are customizable which is one of the reasons a Magento Zoho integration is so effective.

Integrating Magento 2 with ZOHO

The Magento Zoho integration process works on the same principle as any other ERP to Storefront integration. Here’s what to expect from your integration partner.

Prepare Your Systems: Magento and Zoho must be updated to the latest versions before the integration.

Map Your Data: Field and attribute data maps must be defined for data Magento and Zoho will share.

Magento’s Role: Magento is the storefront part that accepts orders from customers. It then sends relevant information to Zoho for further processing.

Zoho’s Role: Zoho is a central repository of information. It will seamlessly handle order processing and provide detailed record management.

Integration: Zoho has extensive APIs and webhooks. These enable communication with Magento, which means the integration process will mostly be in real time.

Three Essential Zoho Integrations

Zoho’s suite of features is vast, but for B2B eCommerce, three Zoho products deliver the most bang for your technology buck.

Zoho Inventory is a hub where you can automate orders, manage inventory and track deliveries. This Zoho feature is perfect for dealers and distributors, multi-brand outlets, exclusive stores, online marketplace and online retail stores.

Product Master Data: Product information you update and manage on Zoho will sync with Magento automatically.

Product Inventory and Pricing: Syncs all the available inventory of products in Zoho into Magento. For example, when items are sold directly from Zoho, inventory quantity is reduced and updates are sent to Magento. It works the same way when new stock is added in Zoho.

Technical Note: Zoho Inventory integrations are webhook-based. When trigger events are configured for a product in Zoho such as add/edit/delete product or inventory updates, it serializes data about that event and sends it to Magento. A connector program in Magento enables the webhook to send that data and makes the updates on Magento.

Zoho CRM allows you to combine all customer data into a single customer profile, which you can easily access and analyze.

Customer Master Data: Every user on Magento is created as a contact on Zoho and assigned to an organization on Zoho using the Zoho API functionality. When a customer creates a new account on your Magento store, the Zoho CRM will auto-create and update this profile.

Zoho REST API: If an Omnichannel experience is needed, then every contact on Zoho, who placed an order on Zoho, should be created on Magento again using webhooks.

Customer Orders: Orders from Magento store will be synced into Zoho CRM. Using the Zoho API, in real time, these orders need to have products that are present already on Zoho.

Zoho Accounting features allow you to send print or online invoices to your customers, to record and reconcile your transactions.

Sales/Invoices: Magento orders, when paid for, generate an invoice. With Zoho, all accounting and invoicing generally happen through Zoho instead. For orders paid on Magento, the invoice is generated on Zoho containing the shipping and tracking information as well.

This information is sent to Magento via a webhook so that the relevant shipment is created on Magento and tracking information is synchronized. This information is now available to the customer on their account dashboard panel.

How Much Does Magento Zoho Integration Cost?

There are two types of costs involved. First is setting up Zoho on Magento. Second involves the Zoho user costs and features customizations.

You’ll need to speak with your development partner about the first cost. Many factors influence price, so it’s hard to give a ballpark figure. But we won’t leave you totally in the dark. We’ve done this integration many times, and you can expect a price range from $10,000 to $30,000 from a qualified developer.

On the other hand, Zoho’s costs are clear and priced based on business needs and the number of users. Here’s what you’ll pay annually (as of April 2019) for:

Is Magento Zoho Integration Right for Me?

There are few scenarios where Zoho would not fit but another solution would. Zoho is a flexible system that can be customized to meet most of the common needs of almost any product sales business.

However, Zoho may not be cost-effective for some companies. If you handle less than 20 orders per day, the costs of Zoho plus the Magento Zoho integration could be overkill. Talk to your developer – it might be easier to handle everything from the Magento admin.

In these cases, you could also use a simple OMS (order management system). If you opt for an OMS, some options are:

Ordoro: An easy-to-use shipping and inventory application for SMBs and a top pick for any business looking to combine various selling and order fulfillment methods. For a first-class shipping system with a discounted USPS flat-rate program, Ordoro works well.

Skuvault: A warehouse management platform that simplifies warehouse and inventory operations. Built for B2B and B2C retailers, Skuvault prevents out of stocks, reduces human error and improves warehouse efficiency.

Zendesk: More than just a help desk, Zendesk allows your business to organize processes, workflows and track customer engagement. One of the most flexible CRMs, Zendesk is an all-in-one solution for omnichannel customer support.

Magento Zoho Integration Review

Automation. Centralized Management. Consistent and compelling customer connections. Magento and Zoho are a powerful combination that every B2B eCommerce company should consider. And whether you choose Zoho or another partner, an integrated CRM is essential for success in 2019 and beyond.

To see if Magento Zoho integration is right for you, get in touch with us for a free consultation.

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