Transforming Email Marketing and Driving Innovation with Zoho Campaigns’ Lead Marketer
In this interview, Vipasha Sinha, Lead Product Marketer at Zoho, offers a fascinating glimpse into her professional journey, highlighting the transition from journalism to product marketing and their insights into the evolution of email marketing automation in India. The discussion covers Zoho Campaigns’ unique approach to differentiation, the role of data-driven strategies, challenges in the tech industry, and emerging trends shaping the future of product marketing.
Key Takeaways:
- Indian email marketing has transitioned from basic campaigns to behaviour-driven automation, emphasising personalisation, consent, and relevance.
- Zoho Campaigns differentiates itself through native integration with the Zoho suite, customer-centric privacy standards, affordable pricing, and robust support, enabling seamless marketing for diverse business needs.
- Data insights, such as analysing engagement metrics and bounce rates, guide campaign refinements.
- Addressing market saturation and advancing technologies, Zoho Campaigns focuses on AI-driven insights, hyper-personalisation, omnichannel integration, and maintaining compliance with evolving privacy laws.
“The key to successful automation is being data-driven—understanding how to capture and interpret intent signals, and then building a sequence of actions based on this data.”
Could you share a brief overview of your professional journey, which led you to your current position as Lead Product Marketer at Zoho?
Vipasha: After dedicating over eight years to journalism, I transitioned into product marketing—a shift that might seem unconventional but felt natural due to the underlying parallels between the two fields. In journalism, the framework of the 5Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and 1H (How) forms the foundation for crafting compelling narratives and uncovering stories. Similarly, in marketing, these questions guide strategic decisions and shape impactful campaigns.
This analytical mindset and storytelling approach have been instrumental in my journey as a product marketer, allowing me to connect with audiences meaningfully while driving business objectives. Joining Zoho Campaigns provided the perfect platform to merge these skills with my passion for creating data-driven, user-focused marketing strategies
Could you share your observations on the evolution of email marketing automation in India and the significant role that Zoho’s marketing products have played in this transformation of the Indian Martech?
Vipasha: Email marketing automation in India has evolved significantly over the years, transitioning from basic batch-and-blast campaigns to more sophisticated, behaviour-driven automation. Today, marketers recognise the importance of personalisation and timing in creating meaningful customer journeys. Automation has become a cornerstone of marketing strategies, enabling businesses to scale their outreach while maintaining relevance and precision.
As a marketer for a Martech product, I’ve observed a shift towards behaviour-based automation and consent-driven marketing practices. This approach addresses the growing issue of information fatigue, where audiences are overwhelmed with excessive, irrelevant communication. By focusing on user behaviour and preferences, automation ensures messages are timely, contextually relevant, and respectful of the recipient’s consent.
Zoho has played a pivotal role in this transformation within the Indian Martech space. Its robust privacy policies ensure all communications are consent-based, fostering trust and compliance. Features like advanced segmentation, personalised workflows, and real-time analytics empower marketers to implement automation that is not only effective but also ethical. This commitment to privacy and customer-centricity has helped shape the standards of email marketing automation in India.
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How do you develop and execute product marketing strategies at Zoho Campaigns? Could you walk us through the process of launching a new product or feature, from market research to customer feedback?
Vipasha: Launching a new feature at Zoho Campaigns involves a comprehensive and strategic process that emphasises customer feedback, collaboration, and education.
Every feature launch begins with thorough planning. This includes identifying customer needs, analysing market trends, and aligning the new feature with our overall product vision.
Most importantly, customer feedback plays a crucial role in shaping our product roadmap. We gather insights through various channels, including surveys, interactions with support teams, and user meetups. This feedback helps us decide whether to introduce a new feature or retire an existing one. By evaluating user feedback objectively, we ensure that the features we develop bring tangible value.
Once we validate the demand for a feature, we work closely with our product teams to finalise the feature’s design and functionality. This step ensures that the feature aligns with user expectations and integrates seamlessly into the existing platform.
Post-launch, our focus shifts to ensuring that users are informed and equipped to utilise the new feature effectively.
We employ in-product notifications, email campaigns, and comprehensive help documentation and explainer videos to make information accessible across all touchpoints.
Continuous webinars and training sessions are conducted to explain the feature’s functionality, practical applications, and use cases. These efforts ensure that users not only know about the feature but can also leverage it effectively.
Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that every feature we launch addresses real customer needs while providing the necessary tools and support to maximise its impact.
Zoho Campaigns operates in a competitive space with other email marketing solutions. How do you ensure effective positioning and differentiation of Zoho products, especially in crowded markets like email marketing or business apps?
Vipasha: Zoho Campaigns stands out in the competitive email marketing landscape by leveraging unique advantages in integration, trust, and affordability. Here’s how we ensure effective positioning and differentiation:
One of Zoho Campaigns’ key strengths is its deep, native integration with the broader Zoho suite. This seamless connectivity allows data to flow effortlessly between Zoho products such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Analytics, and Zoho Desk. This interconnectedness enables marketers to plan and execute campaigns using unified, real-time data sets, resulting in more targeted and effective messaging.
Privacy is something that we take very seriously. In an era of increasing concern over data privacy, Zoho Campaigns is built as a consent-based marketing platform. We strictly adhere to global privacy regulations, such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and others, ensuring that all communications are compliant and transparent. This focus on trust and privacy strengthens our brand and sets us apart as a responsible and reliable solution.
With this solid foundation in place, Zoho Campaigns offers a robust set of features, including advanced segmentation, automation, and personalisation, at a price point that is accessible to businesses of all sizes. This balance between affordability and functionality makes it an attractive option in the market.
We provide comprehensive customer support through various channels, including live chat, email, and phone, ensuring that users—whether they are beginners or seasoned marketers—can easily navigate and fully leverage Zoho Campaigns. Our goal is to help users maximise the platform’s capabilities by offering prompt, personalised assistance and resources tailored to their needs.
How do you use data and analytics to drive your product marketing strategies? Could you provide examples of how data insights have led to adjustments or innovations in your campaigns?
Vipasha: At Zoho Campaigns, data and analytics form the backbone of our product marketing strategies. By closely reviewing key performance metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates, we continuously refine our campaigns to achieve better results. Here’s how data insights drive our approach:
As an email marketing tool ourselves, we use Zoho Campaigns to monitor the performance of our marketing campaigns. By comparing campaign statistics, we identify patterns in what resonates with our audience and what doesn’t. For instance, if a campaign shows lower engagement, we revisit and adjust the messaging, design, or timing to better align with audience preferences.
Bounce rates are a critical metric for us, as they directly affect deliverability and sender reputation. Any increase in bounce rates is taken seriously, prompting immediate action such as cleaning our email lists or re-evaluating our content strategy to ensure relevance.
To ensure our audience receives content they find valuable, we leverage the “Topic Management” feature, which allows subscribers to select their content preferences. This consent-driven approach not only improves user satisfaction but also enhances open and click-through rates by delivering targeted relevant messages.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a product marketer in the tech industry? How do you overcome issues like market saturation, customer acquisition, or feature adoption?
Vipasha: The marketing landscape is constantly evolving, and each market shift demands agility—not only from marketers but also from the product itself. Take the email marketing space, for example. Metrics we once relied on, such as ‘open rates,’ are now considered increasingly unreliable. To address this, we introduced a feature that distinguishes bot opens from genuine user engagement, ensuring more accurate insights.
As technology, particularly AI, advances rapidly, the challenge lies in adopting these innovations wisely and thoughtfully rather than chasing fleeting trends. The Martech space is brimming with development and healthy competition, making it crucial to balance innovation with a steadfast commitment to our customers’ needs.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or technologies do you believe will impact product marketing? How is Zoho Campaigns preparing to adapt to these changes and maintain its leadership in the market?
Vipasha: Looking ahead, product marketing will be significantly shaped by emerging trends and technologies such as hyper-personalisation, AI-driven insights, and the integration of omnichannel strategies.
With increasing information fatigue, standing out in a crowded inbox requires more than generic messaging. The future lies in tailoring content to individual recipients while maintaining the ability to send emails in bulk.
Email doesn’t function in isolation; it works in conjunction with other channels like social media, SMS, Whatsapp and other channels. This seamless integration ensures consistent messaging across platforms, enhancing the customer journey. Zoho Campaigns is actively working to enhance the cohesive experience.
Also, as privacy regulations continue to evolve, compliance and trust will remain critical. Zoho Campaigns is dedicated to upholding privacy standards, ensuring all communications are consent-based and aligned with global laws like GDPR and CCPA.
Before we wrap up, we want to know your expectations from this report. What do you think would be most valuable for the readers of the report?
Vipasha: As marketers, we often find ourselves looking for fresh perspectives and actionable insights to break out of routine thinking. My expectation from this report is to uncover valuable takeaways from fellow marketers who have successfully navigated challenges and run impactful campaigns.
Learning about their strategies, innovative approaches, and the lessons they’ve gleaned can provide not only inspiration but also practical guidance that I can adapt to my own campaigns. Insights into emerging trends, tested tactics, and real-world case studies would be incredibly valuable for readers seeking to refine their marketing strategies and drive results.
