In this guide
- Zoho's workflow rules can call a webhook when a record changes.
- Save
fbc,fbpand hashed contact data on the lead at the form. - The server container turns the webhook into a Meta Conversions API event.
Zoho CRM is popular with small and mid-size businesses, partly because it is affordable and partly because it connects with many other Zoho apps. It supports what you need for sending sales results back to Meta: custom fields, workflow rules and webhooks. This page follows the pattern in CRM data to Meta with webhooks.
Fields and capture
Add custom fields to Leads (and map them to Contacts and Deals) for the Meta click ID, the browser ID, the hashed e-mail and the source URL. Fill them from hidden fields in your website form or from the integration that creates the lead. If you use Zoho's own web forms, add hidden fields and populate them from cookies and the page URL with a small script.
Orders from your store, back to the ad that earned them
Your store sends the order once. Open Tracked passes it on to each ad platform, cleaned and deduplicated.
The workflow rule
Create a rule on Leads or Deals
In Setup, Automation, Workflow rules.
Trigger on a field update
For example Lead Status or Deal Stage changes to a target value.
Add the webhook action
In the instant actions, create a webhook with your endpoint on the tagging subdomain, a secret header and a JSON body.
Map the parameters
Include the event name, a stable event ID, the time, the identifiers and the value.
Activate and test
Move a test record through the stage.
In your server container
A client accepts the JSON, the Meta tag reads the fields and sends the Conversions API event. Check the hashing, the event time in seconds and the event ID. See how to set up the Conversions API. The Data Store and Enricher in Open Tracked remember hashed identifiers for returning visitors, so the server often already has more than the CRM sends. Both are on every plan.
Ask Ari instead of digging through reports
Ari reads your tracking and ad data and answers in plain words.
Pitfalls
Test
- Submit a test lead from the real form.
- Check the custom fields in Zoho.
- Move the lead to the target stage.
- Open server Preview and find the webhook and the Meta tag.
- Check Meta Test Events for the event and its match keys.
A worked example: a training company
A training company sells courses to businesses. Leads come from Meta ads to a landing page with a form. Each lead goes into Zoho CRM as a Lead, a salesperson calls, and a good fit becomes a Deal. The company stores the Meta click ID, the browser ID and the hashed e-mail on the lead. A workflow rule fires when the lead status changes to "qualified" and again when the deal stage changes to "won". Each sends a webhook to the tagging server, which turns it into a Meta event. Meta now learns which ads bring qualified leads and which bring sales, and the company can compare ad sets by cost per qualified lead.
One detail made the difference: they tested with a real form submission, not by creating a lead by hand in Zoho. Hand-made leads have none of the identifiers, so Meta matched nothing and the team nearly concluded that the whole idea did not work. Always test the complete path from the website form to the Meta event.
Terms you will see
- Workflow rule
- An automation in Zoho CRM that runs when a record changes.
- Instant action
- An action that runs as soon as the rule triggers, such as a webhook.
- Lead status
- The stage a lead has reached before it becomes a deal.
- Deal stage
- The stage of an opportunity in a pipeline.
- Custom function
- Code you write in Zoho to do something the standard actions cannot.
Document the field names, the workflow rule and the endpoint in one page, and keep it where the next administrator will find it. Zoho set-ups are often built by one person and inherited by another, and the missing piece is nearly always the reason a custom field exists. A page that explains why each field and rule is there will save hours when someone needs to change the process.
3 things to remember
Scroll and the points stack up.
Zoho's workflow rules can call a webhook when a record changes.
Save fbc, fbp and hashed contact data on the lead at the form.
The server container turns the webhook into a Meta Conversions API event.
Frequently asked questions
Does Zoho CRM support webhooks?
Yes. Workflow rules can call a webhook as an instant action.
How do I send a Zoho stage to Meta?
Webhook to your server container, which sends a Conversions API event with the saved identifiers.
Do I need Zoho's Google Ads integration?
It can capture the Google click ID. For Meta you store fbc and fbp yourself.
How do I avoid duplicates?
Trigger on a stage change and use a stable event ID.
Can I do this without a server container?
Yes, with a direct API call from a Zoho function, but a container lets you reuse the data.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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