Bigin Handbook - A basic "what does what" guide

Learn how Bigin works. From setup to selling in under 30 minutes.

To assist you with getting started, here's a handbook to walk you through Bigin and its features. This online handbook for Bigin contains three parts: A basic overview of Bigin, followed by a Modules section that looks into each module individually and finally a "How-To's" section that covers everything from creating or editing records in all of Bigin's modules, to learning your way through settings, customization and integrations. Scroll to get started!

Here is an overview of a typical Bigin account

The Navigation panel lists all the modules in Bigin. Click on any module to view its contents.

1 /  7

Use the search bar to find anything in Bigin. Search with any keyword and Bigin will list every contact, deal, company, and activity associated with your search term.

2 /  7

Notifications: Get notified whenever your team members mention you in a note or update any records that you own or follow.

3 /  7

Signals alert you of interactions with your contacts on Email, Twitter or other communication channels.

4 /  7

Tap on the + icon to quickly create a new record in any module.

5 /  7

Click on the Settings icon to manage users, fields, pipelines, integrations, and more.

6 /  7

Click on your profile picture to view your subscription info, links for help documentation, Bigin Community and to sign out from your Bigin account.

7 /  7
1Use the search bar to find anything in Bigin. Search with any keyword and Bigin will list every contact, deal, company, and activity associated with your search term.
2The Navigation panel lists all the modules in Bigin. Click on any module to view its contents.
3Notifications: Get notified whenever your team members mention you in a note or update any records that you own or follow.
4Signals alert you of interactions with your campaigns on email and social media.
5Tap on the + icon to quickly create a new record in any module.
6Click on the Settings icon to manage users, fields, pipelines, integrations, and more.
7Click on your profile picture to get an overview of your account, which also contains help documents, support email, and community links.
Overview
  • Deals
  • Contacts
  • Companies
  • Products
  • Activities
  • Dashboards
  • Settings
How-To's

Modules in Bigin

Deals

  • Filter deals
    Find deals faster by filtering them by their stage and other factors.
  • Displayed pipeline
    Click here to change to a different pipeline.
  • Deals
    View deals by category.
  • Add Deal
    Add a new deal or click on the dropdown for more options to add deals.
  • Pipeline
    This is your pipeline with your deals displayed based on the stages they are in. Simply drag and drop a deal to another stage to move it along the pipeline. You can also create your own stage or customize existing ones in settings. Click on any deal to open it.
  • View
    Choose your view, List or Pipeline.
  • Open Deal
    Click on any deal to open it.
  • Timeline
    History of all the changes made to a deal, updated chronologically.
  • Notes
    View or add notes relevant to the deal.
  • Emails
    View emails sent and received.
  • Stages
    View the stages the deal has passed through in chronological order.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the deal.
  • Activities
    View or add activities associated with the deal.
  • Products
    View products associated with the deal.

Contacts

  • Filter contacts
    Find contacts faster by filtering them by their stage and other factors.
  • New contact
    Add a new contact or choose an option from the dropdown list.
  • Contact
    Click on any contact to open it in full.
  • Timeline
    History of all the changes made to a contact, updated chronologically.
  • Notes
    View or add notes relevant to the contact.
  • Campaigns
    View campaigns associated with the contact if integrated with Zoho Campaigns.
  • Activities
    View or add activities associated with the contact.
  • Emails
    View emails sent and received.
  • Social
    View or add a twitter account to the contact.
  • Deals
    View deals associated with the contact.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the contact.
  • Meeting icon
    Start or schedule a meeting with the contact.
  • Send email
    Send a quick email to the contact.
  • Edit
    Edit contact details.
  • Options
    Clone, edit, duplicate, or merge.
  • Rearrange
    Rearrange the tabs however you want them.

Companies

  • Fliter companies
    Find companies faster by filtering them by their stage or other factors.
  • Company
    Add a new company
  • View
    Click on any company to view in full.
  • Timeline
    View all updates on changes made to the company.
  • Notes
    View or add notes for the company.
  • Activities
    View or create an activity like a call, task, or event.
  • Emails
    View emails sent and received.
  • Social
    Link the company's twitter handle to your Bigin account.
  • Deals
    View or create deals associated with the company.
  • Contacts
    View or add contacts from the company to Bigin.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the company.
  • Edit
    Edit company details.
  • Rearrange
    Rearrange the tabs however you want them.

Products

  • Views
    Choose a default view or one of your custom views to view your products.
  • New product
    Add a new product or select options to add from the dropdown box.
  • List
    Click on any product to view it in full.
  • Deals
    View or create deals.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the product.
  • Edit button
    Edit product.

Activities

  • Views
    Choose a public view or one of your custom views to view your activities.
  • Create activity
    Create a new activity quickly.
  • Tabs
    Click on an activity to view it in full: tasks, events, or calls.
  • List
    Click on any activity from the list on the left to view its details.
  • Notes
    Add notes to an activity.
  • Edit
    Edit activity.
  • Upload
    Upload files associated with the activity.

Dashboards

  • Select view
    Choose from a list of built in dashboards or create your own dashboard from scratch.
  • Edit
    Click here to edit components on the dashboard.
  • Component
    Add a new KPI or chart component to the dashboard.

Settings

  • Users and Controls
    Invite new users to your Bigin account, assign them roles, and set restrictions on the actions they can perform.
  • Tabs
    Click on the tabs to view current users, profiles, and roles or add new ones.
  • Fields
    Create custom fields for every module in Bigin and choose to show or hide the existing fields.
  • Pipelines and stages
    Create or edit pipelines and their stages. You can create a maximum of five pipelines and as many stages as you want inside each pipeline.
  • Forms
    Create Forms easily with no coding. Simply drag and drop the fields you need and you're good to go.
  • Workflows
    Easily create and automate workflows with Bigin. Set a trigger, condition, and action and you're done.
  • Integrations
    Integrate your Bigin account with apps from both Zoho and other vendors. More to come!
  • Email
    Set up an email account by clicking on Email under Channels in Settings. Select email templates, enable email sharing, update organizational emails between departments, and more.
  • Social
    Link your twitter account with Bigin. View your feed, tweet, and reply to tweets, DMs, and retweets from your Bigin account.
  • Phone
    Set up a PBX center for your Bigin account by clicking on Phone under Channels. Get started with Zoho's built-in PBX system or choose a PBX application from Zoho Marketplace.
  • Signals
    Signals notify you of calls, emails, email insights, Twitter actions, and Zoho Desk notifications. You can select what to be notified of and disable notifications for the rest.

Modules in Bigin

Deals

  • Filter deals
    Find deals faster by filtering them by their stage and other factors.
  • Displayed pipeline
    Click here to change to a different pipeline.
  • Deals
    View deals by category.
  • Add Deal
    Add a new deal or click on the dropdown for more options to add deals.
  • Pipeline
    This is your pipeline with your deals displayed based on the stages they are in. Simply drag and drop a deal to another stage to move it along the pipeline. You can also create your own stage or customize existing ones in settings. Click on any deal to open it.
  • View
    Choose your view, List or Pipeline.
  • Open Deal
    Click on any deal to open it.
  • Timeline
    History of all the changes made to a contact, updated chronologically.
  • Notes
    View or add notes relevant to the deal.
  • Stages
    View the stages the deal has passed through in chronological order.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the deal.
  • Activities
    View or add activities associated with the deal.
  • Products
    View products associated with the deal.
  • Emails
    View emails sent and received.

Contacts

  • Filter contacts
    Find contacts faster by filtering them by their stage and other factors.
  • New contact
    Add a new contact or choose an option from the dropdown list.
  • Contact
    Click on any contact to open it in full.
  • Timeline
    History of all the changes made to a contact, updated chronologically.
  • Notes
    View or add notes relevant to the contact.
  • Campaigns
    View campaigns associated with the contact if integrated with Zoho Campaigns.
  • Activities
    View or add activities associated with the contact.
  • Emails
    View emails sent and received.
  • Social
    View or add a twitter account to the contact.
  • Deals
    View deals associated with the contact.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the contact.
  • Meeting icon
    Start or schedule a meeting with the contact.
  • Send email
    Send a quick email to the contact.
  • Edit
    Edit contact details.
  • Options
    Clone, edit, duplicate, or merge.
  • Rearrange
    Rearrange the tabs however you want them.

Companies

  • Fliter companies
    Find companies faster by filtering them by their stage or other factors. .
  • Company
    Add a new company.
  • View
    Click on any company to view in full.
  • Timeline
    View all updates on changes made to the company.
  • Notes
    View or add notes for the company.
  • Activities
    View or create an activity like a call, task, or event.
  • Social
    Link the company's twitter handle to your Bigin account.
  • Deals
    View or create deals associated with the company.
  • Contacts
    View or add contacts from the company to Bigin.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the company.
  • Edit
    Edit company details.
  • Rearrange
    Rearrange the tabs however you want them.

Products

  • Views
    Choose a default view or one of your custom views to view your products.
  • New product
    Add a new product or select options to add from the dropdown box.
  • List
    Click on any product to view it in full.
  • Deals
    View or create deals.
  • Files
    View or add files associated with the product.
  • Edit button
    Edit product.

Activities

  • Views
    Choose a public view or one of your custom views to view your activities.
  • Create activity
    Create a new activity quickly.
  • Tabs
    Click on an activity to view it in full: tasks, events, or calls.
  • List
    Click on any activity from the list on the left to view its details.
  • Notes
    Add notes to an activity.
  • Edit
    Edit activity.
  • Upload
    Upload files associated with the activity.

Dashboards

  • Select view
    Choose from a list of built in dashboards or create your own dashboard from scratch.
  • Edit
    Click here to edit components on the dashboard.
  • Component
    Add a new KPI or chart component to the dashboard.

Settings

  • Users and Controls
    Invite new users to your Bigin account, assign them roles, and set restrictions on the actions they can perform.
  • Tabs
    Click on the tabs to view current users, profiles, and roles or add new ones.
  • Fields
    Create custom fields for every module in Bigin and choose to show or hide the existing fields.
  • Pipelines and stages
    Create or edit pipelines and their stages. You can create a maximum of five pipelines and as many stages as you want inside each pipeline.
  • Forms
    Create Forms easily with no coding. Simply drag and drop the fields you need and you're good to go.
  • Workflows
    Easily create and automate workflows with Bigin. Set a trigger, condition, and action and you're done.
  • Integrations
    Integrate your Bigin account with apps from both Zoho and other vendors. More to come!
  • Email
    Set up an email account by clicking on Email under Channels in Settings. Select email templates, enable email sharing, update organizational emails between departments, and more.
  • Social
    Link your twitter account with Bigin. View your feed, tweet, and reply to tweets, DMs, and retweets from your Bigin account.
  • Phone
    Set up a PBX center for your Bigin account by clicking on Phone under Channels. Get started with Zoho's built-in PBX system or choose a PBX application from Zoho Marketplace.
  • Signals
    Signals notify you of calls, emails, email insights, Twitter actions, and Zoho Desk notifications. You can select what to be notified of and disable notifications for the rest.
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How-To's

The How-To's section contains all that you need to know about using Bigin's features from scratch. For better understanding, we have listed the features you use to manage customer records in Bigin under Primary features, and the features that help you manage your organization, set workflows and customize your account are classified under Administrative.

Primary features

Primary features are what you use to create or edit records in your Bigin account. Like adding a new contact, updating deals, or creating a new event. Here's how you do them:

Add contacts

  • 1. Click on the Contacts module.
  • 2. Click the + Contact button to open the form.
  • 3. Fill in the details and click Save.
  • 4. To edit a contact, hover over it and click the edit icon to open the form.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Create/edit companies

  • 1. Click on the Companies module.
  • 2. Click the + Company button to open the form.
  • 3. Fill in the name and details of the company and click Save.
  • 4. To edit company details, hover over the company and click on the pencil icon to reopen the form.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Create products

  • 1. Click on the Products module.
  • 2. Click the + Product button to open the form.
  • 3. Fill in the name and details of the product and click Save.
  • 4. To edit a product, hover over the product and click the edit icon to reopen the form.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Create Activities

  • To schedule a call, event or a task with a contact:
  • 1. Click on the Activities module.
  • 2. Click + Task  + Event or + Call   to open the form.
  • 3. Fill in the details of the activity and click Save. In the "Related to" text field, enter the name of the contact, company, or deal associated with the activity.
  • 4. To edit an activity, click on the relevant activity tab (Tasks, Events, or Calls), hover over the particular activity, and click the edit icon to open the form.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Admin features

All the features available in your Settings screen can be used to manage your business from an administrative standpoint. You can use these features to customize Bigin to your liking, add users to your Bigin account, create workflows, manage integrations and edit pipelines.

Add users, profiles and roles

Add users

  • 1. Click Settings and then Users and Controls.
  • 2. Click the + User button to open a form to send an email invite to the new user.

Add Profile

  • 1. Go to Settings and then Users and Controls and click the Profiles tab.
  • 2. Click the + Profile to create a new profile specific to your business.

Add Roles

  • 1. Go to Settings and then Users and Controls and click the Profiles tab.
  • 2. Click the + Role button and enter the name of the role which this new role reports to and click Save.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Customize Fields

You can create custom fields for every module in Bigin. You can also choose to show or hide existing fields.

  • 1. Click Fields in the settings and choose the module that requires a custom field.
  • 2. Click + Custom Field button.
  • 3. Enter the name of the new field, select its type, and click save.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Create a new pipeline or stage

Bigin lets you create a maximum of five pipelines and as many stages as you want in each pipeline.

  • 1. Click Pipeline and Stages under Settings.
  • 2. To create a stage inside an existing pipeline, click + Stage displayed at the bottom of that particular pipeline, give it a name and click Save.
  • 3. To create a new pipeline, simply click on the + New pipeline button on the blank pipeline on the right. Click "Save".
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Create a Form

Bigin lets you to create Forms easily with no coding. Simply drag and drop the fields you need and you're good to go.

  • 1. Go to Forms under Settings and click + New Forms
  • 2. Drag and drop the fields from the left onto the form.
  • 3. Click the gear icon on the field to edit, if needed.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Create a workflow

Create and automate workflows easily with Bigin.

  • 1. Click Workflows under Settings and click + Workflows
  • 2. Select a trigger, condition, and action from the options provided. You can also lock the workflow to prevent other users from editing the workflow.
  • 3. Click Save.
  • Click here for more detailed steps

Add integrations

Bigin's growing list of integrations is comprised of apps from Zoho as well as from other vendors. Here's how to integrate your Bigin account with other apps:

Outreach channels

Configure how you communicate with your contacts with Bigin.

Email

You can set up an email account by clicking Email under Channels in Settings. This allows you to activate IMAP/POP configuration, select email templates, enable email sharing, update organizational emails between departments, and more.

Click here for more detailed steps Learn how to manage and send emails, troubleshoot integration, manage email deliverability, create custom templates, obtain email insights, and more.

Social

Social allows you to link your twitter account with Bigin. As an administrator, you can view your feed, tweet, and reply to tweets, DMs, and retweets. You can also restrict other users from viewing Twitter reports based on their roles.

Click here for more detailed steps Learn to configure your social profile and how to perform actions.

Phone

Set up a PBX center for your Bigin account by clicking Phone under Channels. Click Set up Now to get started with Zoho's built-in PBX system or choose a PBX application from Zoho Marketplace.

Click here for more detailed steps Learn telephony in Bigin, how to record calls, and how to configure incoming and outgoing calls.

Signals

Signals notify you of calls, emails, email insights, Twitter actions, and Zoho Desk notifications. You can select what to be notified by simply selecting or deselecting the check boxes. To set up signals, go to Signals under Channels in Settings.

Click here for more detailed steps Learn how to configure signals.

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