blog-bannerimg

How to Mass Update in Zoho CRM

Apr 26, 2024

Customer Relationship Management systems are crucial for businesses to manage customer interactions and sales processes. In this respect, Zoho CRM is a popular choice as it comes with an array of features and capabilities that makes your job easier. One of these highly important capabilities is to be able to Mass Update in Zoho  CRM. This allows users to make changes to multiple records in one go, saving a lot of your time.

Mass Updates can be helpful when you want to update customer information, correct data errors or make required changes across multiple records.

Imagine you need to update the record Owner for 200 records, or want to update the Status of a bunch of records based on certain criteria. Without the capability to Mass Update, you’d have to do this one record at a time, which could take hours. But with Mass Update in Zoho CRM, you can do this with just a few clicks. It’s like a shortcut for making big changes quickly.

In this blog article, we will discuss the steps for how to use the mass update feature in Zoho CRM. We’ll cover what it is, when you might need it, and how to use it step-by-step. Whether you’re new to Zoho CRM or have some experience, this guide will help you understand how to use Mass Update without any trouble.

What is “Mass Update”?

Mass Update in Zoho CRM is a powerful capability designed to update multiple records simultaneously. It is useful for managing and updating large volumes of data efficiently. Instead of going through each record one at a time, you can select multiple records and make the change at a go.

This feature helps streamline your data management and helps maintain consistency and accuracy of data. With the capability to Mass Update, we can also re-assign records to other users of the CRM, or even change or update customer information.

Mass Update in Zoho CRM is a straightforward process where you first select the records you want to update. This could involve using filters or custom views to narrow down records or simply selecting records from a list. Then select the field that you want to change, enter the value, and confirm the Mass Update. This practice can save quite a significant amount of time, particularly when managing large datasets.
An important fact to remember is that Mass Updates in Zoho CRM can impact a large set of records at once. So, it’s important to double-check your selections and ensure you are updating the correct fields. If you make a mistake, it can lead to significant data issues, requiring time-consuming corrections.

Why do we need to Mass Update in Zoho CRM?

Before we dive into the steps let us first understand the significance of Mass Update.

Mass Update in Zoho CRM can be a game-changing feature for businesses that work with a huge volume of data. Its significance lies in its ability to save time, ensure consistency, and reduce the chances of any error when updating multiple records.

Here are a few reasons why Mass Update is important and how it can benefit your business:

  1. Efficient and Time-Saving: Mass Update in Zoho CRM saves a lot of your time by letting you update multiple records at once. Normally updating information for multiple records like changing lead status or modifying account details can be tedious as we have to work on one record at a time. With Mass Update you can apply changes to a large group of records with just a few clicks. This makes your work faster and frees up time for other important tasks.
  2. Consistency: Consistency is important when it comes to CRM data Management. Mass Update helps by letting you make the same changes across multiple records at once. This comes in handy when updating a certain field for multiple records with the same value, updating deal stages, or any custom fields. With Mass Update you ensure uniform changes, reducing the risk of data discrepancies and inconsistencies.
  3. Reduces Errors: Manual data entry and individual data updates are prone to human error. It’s easy to make mistakes when working with large datasets. Mass Update significantly reduces the chances of such errors by allowing you to make bulk changes in one go. This reduces the risk of mistyping, skipping records, or applying incorrect updates ensuring accurate data management.
  4. Increases Productivity: The Mass Update capability of Zoho CRM significantly increases productivity. With less time spent on manual updates, your team can now focus on other important tasks like lead generation, sales strategies, etc. This gradually results in better productivity and positively impacts your business in the long run.
  5. Better Data Management: Mass Update in Zoho CRM helps maintain clean and organized data. It enables quick correction of outdated information, effortless updating of certain record details, and simple categorization of records, leading to more efficient data management.

Now that we know what Mass Update is and what value it adds to our business, let us see how we can do it.

How to Mass Update in Zoho CRM

Here are a few simple steps by which we can update bulk records with just a few clicks. 

Step 1: Select the Relevant Module

Zoho CRM allows mass updates in various modules across your Zoho CRM data. Here we are working with the data in the Contact Module.

Step 2: Filter the Records

Before Mass Updating you want to ensure that you only update the correct ones. You can use the search bar on the left panel of the screen as shown below or filter out the records with specific criteria like location, industry, record status, etc. You can also create custom views for a broader spectrum and save them for future reference. 

As a Sales Representative for Plaisly Tree, Sophie had recently shared a Mass Email with a set of Contacts. Now she has created a field in the Contact Module of the CRM to track whether the email has been sent to all the Customer Contacts who have an email address. 

To filter out the records, set the criteria in the left panel as shown below.

Here we have filtered out 113 records as shown in the top left corner.

Step 3: Selection of Records

To select the records for Mass Update, you can either click on the box before each contact name or simply click on the box before the Contact Name as shown below.

Note – When the records are more than the limit of Records per page, you can click on the arrow icon as shown below and move to the next page of records and select them.

Here as I have selected 100 records in the image shown above, I can select the rest by moving to the next page.

Now all 113 records are selected.

Step 4: Initiate Mass Update

Now that we have selected the records we can proceed with the Mass Update process. 

> Click on Actions 

> Select Mass Update from the dropdown menu.

Step 5: Define the Update

After selecting the Mass Update option, we can define the updates and changes. We can select the fields and update the values as shown.

Step 6: Confirm Mass Update

After you have defined the update/change click on the Update button and all the records will be updated within a few seconds.

Bingo! You have now completed the Mass Update in Zoho CRM and as you can see the Discount Email Sent value is Yes for all the selected records.

A few tips to keep in mind before performing Mass Update in Zoho CRM:

  1. Consider backing up your data when performing Mass Update for large-scale data.
  2. Choose your filters wisely to avoid unintended updates.
  3. If you are new to using this capability, perform the Mass Update on a smaller batch of records.

Limitations of Mass Update 

We can simultaneously change or update bulk records with Mass Update in Zoho CRM. However there it comes with certain limitations and constraints.

Here are a few limitations that are important to understand when performing Mass Update:

  1. Text Area Fields: Mass Updates are restricted when it comes it long text fields like multiline that can be used for maintaining remarks, descriptions, etc. This prevents overwriting important information.
  2. Lookup Fields: Zoho CRM does not allow Mass updates for lookup fields as they are linked to other CRM records. Mass Updating these fields can lead to broken links or inconsistent data in the system.
  3. Map Dependencies: Zoho CRM’s map dependencies create a relation between two fields where a selection of a certain value in one field affects the other. Mass updating the value of these fields can disrupt these links and cause data inconsistency.
  4. System Default Fields: These are the pre-defined fields in Zoho CRM for system-related information. Fields like Created By, Modified By, Created Time, and Modified Time, fall under this category. Updating these fields can lead to misleading data in the system.
  5. Limitation for Records: Mass Updates can only be performed on a maximum of 1000 records at a time in the Zoho CRM, Enterprise Edition. This ensures that the update process is manageable with reduced chances of errors. If the Mass Update involves more than 1000 records, it’s advisable to perform the process in batches.

These limitations are designed to safeguard the data integrity and the system’s stability. By understanding and working with these constraints you can effectively and easily update records while ensuring no performance issues or data loss.

Before we Conclude

To wrap up, Mass Update in Zoho CRM is a powerful way to quickly apply changes across multiple records, saving time and ensuring data consistency. To avoid mistakes, always back up your data, test with smaller groups, and keep your team informed. You can use Mass Update confidently and efficiently by following these best practices. 

Don’t worry if you think Mass Update isn’t enough for you. There are alternatives like custom functions, automation, and API’s for more flexible updates.

Want to know more? Here are our experts to help you

Schedule an Online Meeting