The four top reasons people break up with Zoho CRM

The four top reasons people break up with Zoho CRM  

Zoho CRM is a great choice for smaller teams looking for a low-cost way to get started with CRM. 

But as your business grows, so can your requirements. More functionality. More customization. More automation. And potentially, more Zoho products and higher pricing tiers. 

If you’re researching Zoho CRM alternatives, wondering whether you’ve outgrown Zoho, or want to understand some of the potential disadvantages of Zoho CRM, here are four reasons it might be time to break up. 

1. Zoho CRM can get complicated

The biggest selling point for Zoho is that it gives you a lot of functionality. But it can be a drawback Zoho CRM comes in five editions, Free, Standard, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. All have different functionality and limits depending on which you choose.   

More tiers create more opportunities for costs to creep up. As your business grows and your requirements become more sophisticated, you may find that the functionality you need sits in the next edition up. Short term it might seem cost-effective, longer term it could end up costing you more.  

There’s also the wide Zoho ecosystem of business applications. This is great if you want to build your tech stack around Zoho. But if you don’t, you’ll have to spend some time working out which Zoho you need and what it should do.  

As your CRM requirements become more sophisticated, configuration can become more demanding too.  

That’s worth considering when comparing Zoho CRM for a midsize business with alternatives built specifically around the needs of growing organizations.  

What’s the alternative to Zoho?  

Workbooks is designed specifically for midsize businesses.   

Instead of giving you an enormous ecosystem and leaving you to work out what you need, we take a consultative approach. We help you understand what your business needs from CRM through Shared Success. Then we configure your CRM around those requirements. 

We also have two editions to choose from, and both can be customized to fit your needs as your requirements change. You’ll never have to worry about moving through lots of tiers as you grow either.  

2. Zoho CRM pricing is low – but look at the total cost

Zoho’s headline CRM pricing is affordable. It’s the reason Zoho regularly appears on lists of affordable CRM software and alternatives to more expensive platforms such as Salesforce.  

But choosing CRM on licence price alone is a bit like choosing a house because you like the doormat. The bigger question is what it will take to make the CRM work properly for your business?  

Different Zoho CRM pricing tiers unlock distinct levels of functionality. And if your requirements stretch beyond straightforward CRM, you may also need to consider additional Zoho products.  

Then there’s the cost that’s harder to put on a pricing page: Implementation, configuration, integration, training and the time your team spends managing the system.  

So, if you’re comparing Zoho CRM pricing with alternatives, don’t stop at the number next to “per user, per month.” Compare what you’ll need to buy, configure, integrate, support, and maintain. And be sure to factor in the costs as you grow.  

What’s the alternative?  

Workbooks have transparent pricing from the get-go. We focus on giving you the best CRM value with discounted consultancy workshops with no commitment to buy, built-in AI and project management, and out-of-the-box implementation options to keep the costs down.  

We give you a CRM that can bring sales, marketing, customer service, order management, project management, and wider commercial operations together.  

3. Zoho has a lot of capped features

Make sure you check out the limits and features available in your package if you’re choosing Zoho.   

Take custom fields. Zoho’s Standard plan allows 10 custom fields per module. Professional jumps to 155, Enterprise to 300 and Ultimate to 500. Custom modules are capped too, as are things like workflows, sales pipelines and API usage.  

Some functionality isn’t available at all until you move up the editions. So it’s worth thinking about if you’re comparing Zoho pricing.  

The more your business grows, the more likely you are to need additional fields, automation, processes and customization.   

What’s the alternative?  

Workbooks don’t put feature caps in place to push you towards the next edition.  

You get the functionality you need without having to keep checking whether you’ve hit the limit for your CRM pricing tier.  

So, your CRM can grow with your requirements, rather than your bill growing every time they do.  

4. Want support? That costs extra

Make sure you’re actually getting support as part of your package with Zoho. 

Zoho includes Classic Support with its paid CRM editions, giving you access to email, phone, chat, and remote assistance. But its initial response time can be up to eight hours, and phone and chat support are available eight hours a day, five days a week.   

If you want a faster response… it’s another upgrade.  

Zoho’s Premium Support costs an additional 20% of your subscription fee and reduces the initial response time to three hours. Enterprise Support costs 25% of your annual subscription fee and gives you 24/7 support, a one-hour initial response time and a dedicated Technical Account Manager.  

What’s the alternative? 

Workbooks support is free and is always included. We implement your CRM software ourselves so we know your business and requirements. There are no surprises. 

Should you switch from Zoho CRM?  

Not necessarily.  

If you’re a smaller business looking for an affordable CRM, you’re happy taking a self-service approach and you like the idea of adopting more of the Zoho ecosystem, Zoho CRM could be a perfectly sensible choice.  

But if you’ve outgrown that approach, it’s worth asking whether your CRM is still right for you.  

It might be time to switch from Zoho CRM if:  

• Your CRM has become difficult to configure or manage   

• Your teams are struggling to adopt it   

• You want more hands-on CRM implementation and support   

• You need a CRM designed specifically for midsize businesses   

• You want to integrate your existing technology rather than move everything into one vendor’s ecosystem   

• You need your CRM to extend beyond sales into areas such as orders, projects and service delivery   

If several of those sound familiar, maybe it’s not you.  

Maybe it’s Zoho.  

Looking for an alternative to Zoho CRM?  

Workbooks is the No-BS CRM for midsize businesses.  

We’ll help you work out what you need, configure your CRM around your business and support you once it’s live.  

No enormous software ecosystem required.  

See how Workbooks compares with Zoho 

Written by Emma Fahey 

Emma is Head of Content at Workbooks, with 14 years’ experience in B2B technology. She writes about CRM, AI, sales and customer management for midsized businesses  without the jargon or unnecessary fluff. She works closely with CRM specialists, product experts and customers to share practical advice businesses can actually use.