But these are just technical details. How do you use email in SuiteCRM?
Not at all (via my standard eMail software)
With the Outlook Plugin
Only for sending individual mails
Sending individual + campaigns
Receiving / reading / importing
Auto-import for one / multiple group accounts
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I’ve implemented many different setups in projects.
Several even with external integration via n8n / ActivePieces since the requriements couldn’t be met using the UI just a few examples:
project numbers + auto assignment to these
multiple receivers + correct relationships
AI triaging + subfolder logic to import and trigger workflows
Compared to my Zoho implementations, where eMails adopt naturally into the CRM flow / daily processes, for SuiteCRM, there is still a way to go. I’ve observed the updates in the last few versions and I’m happy to see those for writing emails. I hope, we’ll see some more improvement around IMAP / reading emails and the workflow / features at large, as well as the underlying technical issues.
Curious:
What are your email / Suite setups? How do you use eMails? What are your experiences here?
Email is one of the biggest complaints I get from clients (other than colors LOL). I have some on gmail and the Yahitt plugin is completely usable (at least it was, I haven’t used it in a while). For MS clients they typically use the o365 pluigin and push emails etc from Outlook to SuiteCRM. Virtually no one uses the email client in SuiteCRM. Except for outbound, if they are sending a template or something.
I think the real answer here is not to further develop the email client in SuiteCRM, it will never be as good as Gmail or Outlook, and even if it is, users live in Gmail and Outlook, not the CRM. Some even use Gmail and Outlook as a CRM with elaborate folder and color coding systems. It’s difficult to fight against that (I’ve tried!). I think the real answer is make Outlook and Gmail integration better. At least for enterprise clients I think this is the answer rather than trying to build a better mouse trap inside of SuiteCRM.
That’s a very technical approach to a non technical issue
It looks great. How about the integration? Templates, Campaigns, Attachments, importing / archiving mails, auto importing + cases, etc.?
Still, this should just be an out of the box feature or a much smoother integration into existing applications.
E-Mail, especially in B2B, is one of the standard means of communication.
That just needs to be on a different level per default. The sending / writing is close to good now with the new UI.
That’s really different for me in quite a few projects.
As mentioned, Gmail is almost never used here in business setups.
And I’ve got quite a few projects with some email requirements.
event invitations
email archiving
small ad hoc campaigns
quotations / proposals
process updates / transactional mails
mails from workflows & integrations
I’ve got a few projects with Mailcow, Thunderbird, Nextcloud - that’s tricky again, if only the two big mail clients (OL, GMail) get better support, the software group where SuiteCRM shines as well, will need to be left behind (open source / data sovereignty).
It’s mostly UX.
When prospects first ask about emails, I usually tell them, that it technically works.
Sending / composing is definitely on another level now, compared to two versions back.
Reading - compared to Thunderbird / GMail / Outlook / Nextcloud - is just clumsy / outdated. It technically works, but the UX is closer to Win 3.11 or something than AngularJS.
It doesn’t match day to day business processes and user expectations anymore.
That’s the thing .. of course, everything can always be developed / implemented. It even got easier now, with AI.
It still requires a budget, time, maintenance, reviews, optimizations etc. and eventually becomes a software project.
However, a software project is what SMEs looking for a CRM system for their day-to-day operations should avoid outright.
It doesn’t contribute to the value that they bring to the market
They don’t usually understand software development
Their benefit from doing it might be questionable
If a random B2B / growing SME is shopping for a CRM, they expect that communication with their main channels is integrated - at least the written communication (which is mostly web forms and emails).
I use Microsoft GraphMail with custom patch. I think IMAP would work as well, but for campaigns the mail is being sent as a normal email by Exchange servers in batches, and I think I get more mails trough by this way.
Clients often have elaborate folders and subfolders setup in their email clients. They drag and drop emails into appropriate folders. This would be great to replicate in SuiteCRM, and maybe designate the folder with specific relationships like a specific account, client, or project for example and then a toggle on whether to auto import that folder. That would give the user an experience that they are accustom to in Outlook and Gmail. Maybe the would use the suitecrm client in that case.
The real decision here, is do you want primarily user to be using the SuiteCRM client for email, or outlook or gmail? If its the SuiteCRM client, then it has to be on par with Outlook and Gmail or people will just default to what they are familiar with. If the answer is allow them to use Outlook and Gmail, which most of my end users already do (I know Bastian has slightly different experience) the the focus should really be on integration and not so much building out the client in SuiteCRM.
Personally, I’d suggest keeping the client minimally functional but focus on integration with Outlook and Gmail and do things like, contact/lead email addresss availability, relating emails to contacts/accounts/projects, etc. right from Outlook and Gmail.
They are really two different paths. I think the latter is where most enterprise clients live.
I have a few clients using Suite 8, none of them use the individual email sending, most use the campaigns, however I tend to disagree that it’s “modern”. The developers have made the marketing emails use the standard editor (which I agree is absolutely fine for composing individual or transactional emails), however it definitely isn’t for marketing emails, for this a visual builder is needed which the current Email templates editor is definitely not sufficient. Take a look at the newsletter plugin for wordpress for a minimum requirement: The Newsletter Composer
Also attachments on campaigns are something that our clients need as well (which has basically been removed for a while in Suite 8).
The campaign feature is a tough decision in SuiteCRM.
It’s a very common requirement. Especially smaller (B2B) companies could be totally fine with Campaigns Features in Suite.
As soon as requirements pile up and email marketing is pushed to the next level, I’d go for solutions like Mautic.
The big disadvantage is the two different applications then.
As long as sales stays in the CRM and marketing handles the Mautic side, it’s totally fine.
But in some organisations, sales should be able to launch ad-hoc email campaigns.
Specifically for email tracking, features around mail campaigns, segments, asset management, landing pages, lead magnets, dynamic content, A/B testing, dynamic campaigns, multi language … there is still room for improvement.
Overall, this is quite a strategic vendor decision. I know few CRMs which have an inbuilt marketing automation. The question is simply, where do you make the cut.
Yes, CRM should be able to send emails. But requirements quickly sum up.
There are very good MA out there, which a CRM could never compete with.
If skill wise (in the company / among the teams) any how possible, I’d advise to use a MA if the requirements go far beyond the CRMs feature list.
The gap is simply too big, software like Mautic is so good at what it’s doing.
I did try Mautic but had a few issues (especially with the clients I have)
Mautic was very complicated to set-up a simple newsletter/mailer - definitely beyond any of our clients without a huge amount of training
Its yet another platform to logon to - not something they would appreciate.
Most of the features they don’t need, they just want prettier emails and attachments ( I call them marketing emails, but our clients tend to be sending Newsletters as such they want to enhance the email a bit and send the newsletter as a PDF).
The features in the original Suite Campaigns/Newsletters were sufficient and just needed a slightly better builder, the fact is we seem to have taken couple of steps back currently.
Saying that I could probably get away without attachments IF the new document system was properly integrated (ie secure download links for non-users) and a “put a nice looking button here” type thing for it
For sure, it you’re only sending newsletters and occasional announcements SuiteCRM is perfectly fine. However, if you’re trying to build a modern email automation Mautic is the way to go. Its not only the email builder, but the tracking and the drag and drop campaign/workflow builder, the A/B testing, the Multiligual support, and the lead scoring, etc. Granted not everyone needs this, but as soon as you go beyond newsletters, you start to need Mautic.
Anyone who has used Hubspot or Pardot probably will not find Mautic a big stretch in terms of training.
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