What's New - March 2025 | Zoho Backstage

What's New - March 2025 | Zoho Backstage

Hello there,
 
We’re thrilled to introduce a much-awaited lineup of powerful features and enhancements designed to fulfill your event management needs. Here's a round-up of the latest updates that will enhance your experience with Zoho Backstage this month.

Offer Tickets 

Early bird and limited-time offers are powerful tools to boost ticket sales and generate early revenue. With the new Offer Tickets feature, you can create multiple offers as tiers within a single ticket class, making the process more streamlined and automated.

Previously, you had to create separate ticket classes for each offer and manually manage their availability. Now, you can:
  • Add multiple offers under a single ticket class
  • Automate the offer start and stop conditions
  • Reduce manual intervention
Key benefits
 
  • Increased marketing impact: Time-sensitive discounts create a sense of urgency, encouraging faster ticket purchases.
  • Early revenue and cash flow: Early sales provide immediate cash flow to cover event expenses like venue deposits, marketing, and logistics.
  • Leverage Psychological Triggers:
    • FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Limited-time availability compels attendees to act quickly.
    • Perceived Savings: Attendees feel they are getting a deal, making them more likely to buy.
How to use
 
Setting up offers



You can add offers as tiers within a ticket class and configure their availability based on:
  • Time: Set specific start and end dates for the offer.
  • Quantity: Define the number of tickets available at the offer price.
Flexible offer progression
 
From the second offer onward, you can choose to automatically start the next offer when the previous one ends. Or, set a custom start date for the new offer.

Customizing offer display

You can customize how offers are displayed on your event website using the Website Designer. The offer card can show:


  • Current Offer
  • Previous Offer
  • Next Offer
  • Both Previous and Next Offers
This flexibility helps you highlight the most relevant deals and enhance visibility.
 
Good to know 
  • During the ticket purchase process, the offer name appears alongside the ticket class name. The order summary clearly displays the applied offer.
  • After attendees purchase their tickets, the "Your Orders" section displays the offer name along with the ticket class name. The invoice also reflects the offer name for transparency.
  • When manually adding an order, any valid offers associated with the ticket class are applied automatically. There's no need for manual price adjustments.
  • During check-in, only the original ticket class amount is displayed.
  • Offer-tiered tickets cannot be selected during manual check-in.
Click here to learn more. 

Tax Rules - Canada (Early access)

Accurate tax calculation is essential for ensuring compliance and transparency in event management. With the new Tax Rules feature for Canada, you can automatically apply the correct tax rates based on your event location, making tax management simpler and more efficient. Zoho Backstage now allows you to create tax rules for all 10 provinces and 3 territories, which can be selected and applied to an event automatically, ensuring the correct tax rates are applied without manual adjustments. This feature supports in-person, hybrid, and online events, offering flexibility and accuracy.
 
The Canadian tax rule engine covers 10 provinces, 3 territories, multiple tax agencies, and 12 sales tax rates, providing a comprehensive solution for handling event-related taxes.
 


How do taxes work on Canadian events?  
 
For in-person and hybrid events, the tax rate is determined by the event’s physical location, based on the Place of Supply, in compliance with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regulations. This ensures attendees are charged the appropriate tax rate according to the province or territory where the event takes place.
 
For online events, where no physical venue exists, the tax is calculated based on the attendee’s location. This ensures the correct sales tax is applied, even when attendees purchase tickets from different provinces or countries.
 
How to use
 
To enable Canada Tax Rules, configure your organization’s location:
  1. Go to Portal Settings > Payments and Tax.
  2. Select Canada as the organization location. 
Once configured, the system automatically populates:
  • 12 default tax rates covering all provinces and territories.
  • 13 tax rules (one for each region).
  • A default rule for online events, applying the correct tax based on the attendee’s location.
  • 5 tax agencies for accurate tax handling. 
You can create new tax rates, groups, and authorities to meet your event’s specific needs. Additionally, you can add custom tax rules for both in-person/hybrid and online events, giving you full control over how taxes are applied.
 
Applying Tax Rules to In-Person and Hybrid events  

​
 
For in-person and hybrid events, Zoho Backstage automatically suggests tax rules based on the event location. The 13 default tax rules cover all Canadian provinces and territories. If the event location changes, the system automatically updates the relevant tax rules to reflect the new region’s rates.
 
You can also create custom tax rules by selecting a specific province or territory and applying a custom tax rate, offering greater flexibility for managing event taxes.
 
Applying Tax Rules to Virtual events
 
For online events, the system uses a default tax rule that covers all Canadian provinces and territories. Taxes are applied based on the attendee's location.
 
Canadian attendees are charged the applicable provincial tax rate.
International attendees are assigned a zero tax rate by default.
 
If you need to apply taxes to international attendees, you can create new tax rules tailored for online events, ensuring compliance with international tax regulations.
Info
  • Tax rules in Zoho Backstage are flexible and dynamic. You can modify them at any time during your event setup. However, changes will only apply to new transactions. Existing transactions will retain the original tax rule, ensuring previous purchases remain unaffected.
  • If you select a non-Canadian location for your event, the Canada Tax Rule will not be applied. This ensures taxes are only charged where applicable, preventing errors in cross-border events.

Event Category  


Categorize and filter events based on custom classifications for organizers and attendees to find and manage events easily. This new addition is aimed at improving event management by giving organizers the flexibility to create, manage, and filter events using custom categories. Organizers can now create up to 100 custom categories when setting up an event, giving them the freedom to define categories that suit their specific needs.
 
Previously, categories selected in Event Info were not utilized elsewhere, and there was no option to add new/manage categories.
Now, organizers can tailor categories to their specific needs and filter them on the Event Directory.

To access: 
  • While Creating an Event: On the Event Info page.
  • For Category Management: Under Portal Settings > Branding > Event Category.
Permissions:
 
Portal Owners & Admins:
  • Add, edit, and delete custom categories.
  • Cannot edit or delete default categories.
Event Organizers:
  • Can only add new categories.
  • Cannot edit or delete existing custom or default categories.

Other Enhancements 

Floor plan Focus Area 



The Focus Area in the floor plan refers to designated spaces within the event venue that are visually highlighted to draw attention to specific sections, such as booths, stages, or key locations. These areas allow organizers to emphasize important spots, making navigation easier for attendees and improving the overall flow of the event. Focus areas help guide visitors to essential parts of the venue, enhancing their event experience.

Custom Dates for  ticket classes (Early access)

In cases where smaller sessions or events (like welcome events, after-event parties, etc.) occur before or after the main event, this feature allows organizers to assign specific dates to separate ticket classes, ensuring tickets are only valid for the selected dates.
Info
Custom dates can be set within 30 days before or after the main event.

New WhatsApp triggers and templates 

The WhatsApp Integration, designed to enhance communication and engagement with all event stakeholders, now includes new triggers and templates to facilitate messaging and ensure timely updates for everyone.
 
For Purchasers:
  • Send Registration Confirmation: Instantly confirm registration to enhance the attendee experience.
  • Order Canceled: Notify purchasers promptly in case of any order cancellations.
For Speakers:
  • Welcome Speaker: Extend a warm welcome to our speakers and set a positive tone for their participation.
  • Speaker Added to a Session: Inform speakers when they’re added to a session, ensuring they are well-prepared.
  • Speaker Removed from a Session: Provide timely updates should there be any changes to their session involvement.
For Sponsors:
  • Thank a Sponsor Before Website is Live: Show appreciation early on, fostering positive relationships with sponsors.
  • Welcome and Thank Sponsor After Website is Live: Acknowledge sponsors publicly once the event website goes live.
  • Deny Sponsor Proposal: Deliver sensitive information with professionalism and clarity.
  • Acknowledge Sponsor Proposal: Confirm receipt of sponsor proposals, keeping communication open and transparent.
For Participants:
  • Event Canceled: Quickly inform participants in the event of cancellations, ensuring they’re kept in the loop.
We are continuously refining Zoho Backstage to make your event management experience even more powerful and intuitive. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months!
 
If you have any questions, please contact support@zohobackstage.com. 

    • Recent Topics

    • More admin control over user profiles

      It's important for our company, and I'm sure many others, to keep our users inline with our branding and professional appearance. It would be useful for administrators to have more control over profile aspects such as: Profile image User names Email signatures

    • Please Make Zoho CRM Cadences Flexible: Allow Inserting and Reordering Follow-Up Steps

      Sales processes are not static. We test, learn, and adapt as customers respond differently than expected. Right now, Zoho Cadences do not support inserting a new step between existing follow-ups or changing the type of an existing primary step. If I realize

    • Changing the Default Search Criteria for Finding Duplicates

      Hey everyone, is it possible to adjust the default search criteria for finding and merging duplicate records? Right now, CRM uses some (in my opinion nonsensical) fields as search criteria for duplicate records which do nothing except dilute the results.

    • Clear Tag & Linking Between Quotes and Sales Orders

      Hi Zoho Team, In Zoho Books, when a quote is converted into a sales order, it would be extremely useful to have: A clear tag/indicator on the quote showing that it has been converted into a sales order. A direct link in the sales order back to the originating

    • Zoho Books Sandbox environment

      Hello. Is there a free sandbox environment for the developers using Zoho Books API? I am working on the Zoho Books add-on and currently not ready to buy a premium service - maybe later when my add-on will start to bring money. Right now I just need a

    • Add Direct Ticket Link to Zoho Help Center Portal in Email Replies

      Hi Zoho Support Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to request a small but valuable improvement to enhance the usability of the Zoho Help Center portal (https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/myarea). Currently, when someone from Zoho replies to a support

    • [Webinar] Deluge Learning Series - AI-Powered Automation using Zoho Deluge and Gemini

      We’re excited to invite you to an exclusive 1-hour webinar where we’ll demonstrate how to bring the power of Google’s Gemini AI into your Zoho ecosystem using Deluge scripting. Whether you're looking to automate data extraction from PDFs or dynamically

    • Connecting Zoho Inventory to ShipStation

      we are looking for someone to help connect via API shipStation with Zoho inventory. Any ideas? Thanks. Uri

    • Subform edits don't appear in parent record timeline?

      Is it possible to have subform edits (like add row/delete row) appear in the Timeline for parent records? A user can edit a record, only edit the subform, and it doesn't appear in the timeline. Is there a workaround or way that we can show when a user

    • New in Cadences: Option to Resume or Restart follow-ups when re-enrolling records into a Cadence, and specify custom un-enrollment criteria

      Managing follow-ups effectively involves understanding the appropriate timing for reaching out, as well as knowing when to take a break and resume later, or deciding if it's necessary to start the follow-up process anew. With two significant enhancements

    • Im Stuck in an EDIT ONLY WITH WIZARD issue

      So I found Wizards to be a really helpful tool in minimizing the exposure of redundant, superfluous fields to staff that would never otherwise have to edit those fields. My issue is, that when the record (in this case a lead) is created with a wizard,

    • Account upgrade

      Good evening, I upgraded my account and paid for it. From standard to professional. Unfortunately after the paiment my account was not upgraded. Please your advise. Best Regards Erik van Staverden

    • How to set ALL default dates of my organization to DD-MM-YYYY format?

      All replies to this question comes from a time where the UI was different. It's extremely frustrating not being able to find how to do this simple setting change. I want everything and everyone in my organizations to have DD-MM-YYYY date format by default.

    • How can I sync from Zoho Projects into an existing Zoho Sprints project?

      Hi I have managed to integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Sprints and I can see that the integration works as a project was created in Zoho Sprints. But, what I would like to do is to sync into an existing Zoho Sprints project. Is there a way to make that

    • Can we generate APK and IOS app?

      Dears, I want to know the availability to develop the app on zoho and after that .. generate the APK or IOS app  and after that I added them to play store or IOS store.. Is it possible to do this .. I want not to use zoho app or let my customers use it. thanks 

    • Zoho Subform Workflows onAdd of Row

      Suppose I have a form with attached workflows onLoad. If I use the form as a subform, will it inherit the workflows or do I need to create new ones onAdd of row?

    • Session Expired

      I constantly get "Session Expired" and need to relogin or close and open the application again. This gets really frustrating during the day. Is this something that can be solved? This really makes me want to leave the app as it is no go to need to reopen

    • Super Admin removal

      I brought a sub, and I gave the Super admin rights to a person who is no longer with us, so I need to change, and I need to make myself the Super admin

    • Better Notes Commenting

      Hi, I'd like to suggest better collaboration tools for NOTES. The current notes section for Accounts, Contacts and Deals is not ideally suitable for any degree of communication or collaboration. When responding to a note, there is no ability to leave

    • Formula field with IF statement based on picklist field and string output to copy/paste in multi-line field via function

      Hello there, I am working on a formula field based on a 3-item picklist field (i.e. *empty value*, 'Progress payment', 'Letter of credit'). Depending on the picked item, the formula field shall give a specific multi-line string (say 'XXX' in case of 'Progress

    • Exporting Templates

      I have just spent 2 hours creating a project template for a Netsuite configuration, and want to share it with other Zoho Projects users - who have a different account. Is there any way to do this?

    • Power of Automation:: Streamline Associated Teams based on the Task Owner update.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:

    • No Response from Zoho Support in 8 Days - Typical?

      I have a couple of issues I'm trying to work through. Initially, I was getting support from support@zohofsm.com, but I have not received a response in 8 days (11 on another question). Is this typical? Can I pay for support? For context, I am not spamming

    • Add QUOTE OWNER profile image to a Quote Template

      I can add their email address.. phone number, DOB. I need to add a users profile picture so when they assign a template to a quote they own it adds their picture to the cover page. I've tried hacking a solution together but there has to be an easier way.

    • Elevate your CX delivery using CommandCenter 2.0: Simplified builder; seamless orchestration

      Most businesses want to create memorable customer experiences—but they often find it hard to keep them smooth, especially as they grow. To achieve a state of flow across their processes, teams often stitch together a series of automations using Workflow

    • Zoho Connections Desk API relative URL PATTERN_NOT_MATCHED

      While i am trying to do this: async function fetchTicketsFromDesk(timeFilter = 'current_month') { try { const response = await ZOHO.CRM.CONNECTION.invoke("desk_connection", { url: "/api/v1/tickets", method: "GET", }); const data = response.details ? JSON.parse(response.details)

    • Zoho CRM - Custom Views for Portal Users

      I'm looking for an option to customise custom views for portal users in CRM. It would be great if "portal user" was a permission on custom views.

    • 【参加無料】10/17(金) 東京 ユーザ交流会 Vol.3 参加登録 受付開始！

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 10/17(金)に、東京・新橋で「東京 ユーザー交流会 Vol.3」を開催します！ 今回のユーザー事例セッションのテーマは、「Zoho Flowを活用した他社の決済サービスとの連携事例」です。 さらに、Zoho Flowに限らず、Analytics や Campaigns などの多彩なZohoサービスの活用方法について、豊富なご経験をもとにご紹介いただきます。 また、Zoho社員セッションでは、Zoho CRMを活用して日々の営業業務を効率化する具体的な事例をお話しします。業界を問わず、幅広い方にご参考いただける内容となっています！

    • Zoho Meeting Plug compatibility with newer versions of Outlook

      Documentation states that the zoho meeting plug in for outlook is only compatible with versions up to Outlook 2019 What is available to users of more up to date versions of outlook/office 365?

    • Getting Attachments in Zoho Desk via API

      Is there a way to get attachments into Zoho Desk via an API?      We have a process by which a zoho survey gets sent to the user as a link in a notification.    The survey has several upload fields where they can upload pdf documents.    I've created

    • Introducing Zoho's own SMS gateway

      We're thrilled to announce the launch of our own SMS gateway feature within Zoho Marketing Automation! This new feature enables seamless SMS campaign management alongside your email marketing initiatives, providing a more integrated and efficient way

    • Embedding in Desk articles

      We would like to embed documents in our Desk articles. When we use an iframe for the embed, we get scrollbars and a frame border. Neither of those is acceptable. I've spoken with the Desk Support team about what we want and they tell me that it cannot

    • Zoho CRM button to download images from image upload field

      Hello, I am trying to create a button in Zoho CRM that I can place in my record details view for each record and use it to download all images in the image upload fields. I tried deluge, client scripts and even with a widget, but feel lost, could not

    • Mass Update Contacts In Zoho Campaigns

      Is there a way to mass update contacts in zoho campaigns? I want to be able to change the content of a field for a few hundred contacts, and can't go through all of them individually.

    • report showing assignment type

      Hi, We've created a number of workflows to allow us to auto assign tickets to agents based on keywords and other criteria. I'm struggling to create a report that would show me what is the percentage of tickets that are assigned automatically via workflows

    • Option to Disable Knowledge Base Section in Feedback Widget Popup Hello Zoho Desk Team

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, How are you? We are actively using Zoho Desk and would like to make more use of the Feedback Widget. One of the ways we implement it is through the popup option. At the moment, the popup always displays the Knowledge Base section,

    • Placeholders in Ticket Templates

      We should be able to use placeholders in ticket templates. When we create a new ticket, our description field is shown to the client in the email they receive.  It would be very handy to be able to personalize that description field in our ticket templates to pull in the name of the client that the ticket is for. Using them in the subject field as well, so we can auto populate Account Names, etc. 

    • when the record is created the tag want to Show as Opportunity how i achive this using Deluge Script

      In the quotation i have the work flow schedule for create opportunity record in the module , on that time the quotation tag select as opportunity created. How i achive this using Deluge Script . this like i want to Do tag1 = Map(); tag1.put("name","Nurturing

    • Delete a channel

      I need delete a channel in tickets.

    • Copy / Duplicate Workflow

      I have workflows setup that are very similar to each other. We have a monitoring system watching servers, and all notifications - no matter what client it is about - will come from a  noreply@ address which is not very helpful in having it auto assigned to the right account. I have setup a workflow that will change the contact name of the ticket (currently it would say noreply@) to the correct customer which is based on the subject line, as that mentions which server the alert it is about. I need

    • Next Page