Setting Up Zoho Forms with Zoho CRM Leads or Contacts

This is part two of a three-part Tips and Tricks series where we will take you through how to integrate your Contact Us page with Zoho CRM. In this part, we show you how to set up Zoho Forms so that data goes straight into Zoho CRM Leads or Contacts. (In Part 1, we showed you how to set up WordPress forms with Zoho CRM Leads or Contacts.)This example is very simple, but you can create multiple tab forms using Zoho forms, which include fields like file uploads and images.

The first step is to look at your current Contact Us page. Here's what ours looks like:

Now, make sure you have the same fields in Zoho CRM. In this example, the only field is the Newsletter signup field. The prospect will end up receiving more information via email as a result.

Creating the Zoho Form

In Zoho Forms…

Click New Form in the top right corner. Give the form a name, and choose Standard (the default), and click Create.
Drag from the field types on the left to the form builder on the right to match your Contact Us page. Note that the Name and Address fields already contain multiple subfields, so you don’t need to build these from separate fields.
The Newsletter checkbox is called a Decision Box. Double click on it to bring up the properties dialog, and change Decision Box to:
Once you have designed your form, click Access Form to see what it looks like.

Integrating with CRM

Now comes the magic part: linking the form to your CRM fields.

Click on Forms in the Navigation Bar. Click on Integrations in the menu bar.
Click on Integrate.
Select the CRM module you want these enquiries to be stored in – this is usually Leads or Contacts, but it can be Companies, Deals or Marketing, too.
If you have more than one Layout in the selected module, select the one that you want to use. Your custom fields may not appear in all Layouts, and mandatory fields change, so it’s important that you make the correct selection.
Start mapping your CRM fields (on the left side) to the Forms fields (on the right side). Note that some fields in CRM are mandatory, and won’t appear on your website form. You will have to go back and add these, select a default value and hide those fields in your form. Then you can come back to the Integration configuration. You can’t save the Integration setup until all issues are resolved. Note: field types have to be the same in CRM and Forms. For example, a Date field has to map to a Date field.
Under Actions at the bottom, leave the Automation and Process Management ticked (normally). This is so any CRM workflows still get triggered when the new record is automatically created. If this is unchecked, the record will be created in CRM, but no one will be notified about it, for example.
Upsert Record is useful, and should normally be checked. What this means is: Zoho will create a new record if there is no match on the email address, and will update an existing record if there is a match. Other fields are used less often and aren’t covered in this Tips and Tricks series.
Once mapping is completed, you are now ready to test. You must do this before deploying your form live, and then do further testing once it’s integrated with your website.
In the menu bar, click Share, and then Share With – this provides a link that you can include in emails, for example, so people can fill in an Enquiry form with more Qualifying questions.
Try copying the Form Permalink, paste the URL into a new tab in your web browser, and try the form out. It should map correctly to your CRM. Double check that all fields are mapping correctly to the right ones in CRM, particularly in large forms; it’s easy to make a mistake (or two!).
Once you have tested and checked the form independently of your website, it’s time to join the two together!
Next, click the Embed option. There are a number of options, but in this case, we’ll be using an iFrame. An iFrame is a blank box your web developer can insert on your Contact Us page which stores your form. This code is pasted between the iFrame tags on your Contact Us page.
Repeat the testing procedure on your web page. All good? Then you’re ready to go.