Tip of the Week - Spot Risky Sales with Conditional Formatting

Tip of the Week - Spot Risky Sales with Conditional Formatting

In Zoho Analytics, small tweaks can lead to big insights. One such feature is Conditional formatting based on other columns, your key to instantly spotting where sales success is overshadowed by product returns.

Our tip this week shows you how to apply conditional formatting across columns to uncover products and categories that look like top performers in sales but reveal a different story once returns are factored in.

The Big Picture

High sales don’t always mean healthy business. A category may dominate revenue, but if product return rates are unusually high, your profits and customer trust take a hit. Looking only at sales hides this risk. 
Conditional formatting based on return rates bridges that gap. It helps you go beyond surface numbers and focus on product quality and customer experience.

In this demo, we’ll start with a pivot table arranged as follows:
Columns: Month
Rows: Product Category
Data: Sales (USD), Return Rate (%)

Get ready to see how sales dominance changes month to month and how return rates reveal a deeper layer of truth.

We’ll highlight three eye-catching zones using conditional formatting:
  1. Healthy Zone - Low returns
  2. Warning Zone - Rising returns
  3. Critical Risk - Unacceptable return rates
By the end of this demo, sales won’t just be tall bars on your pivot; they’ll instantly tell you which categories are fueling sustainable growth, and which ones are silently eroding your margins.

Check out the video here:
​

Steps to Apply

  1. Open your Pivot Table.
  2. Creating Return Rate Formula:
    1. Click Add Aggregate Formula.
    2. Enter Formula name as Return Rate.
    3. Define the metric as below:
      4. sum("Sales return Data"."Returns Qty")/(sum("Sales return Data"."Sales Qty"))*100
      This formula calculates the percentage of sold items that were returned, giving you the Return Rate % for each product category and month in your pivot.
    4. Click Save.

  3. Set up your pivot table as shown below.
    1. Columns: Month
    2. Rows: Product Category
    3. Data: Sales (USD), Return Rate (%)

  4. Hide the Return Rate % column from the pivot as shown below.

  5. Click Visuals and select Only Data Bars.
  6. Right-click on any Sales cell and select Conditional Formatting.

  7. In the Conditional Formatting dialog, under Based On, choose Return Rate (%).
  8. Define three conditions based on the following zones:
    1. Critical Risk - Set the condition as Greater than or Equal to 10 and choose Red fill in Additional Formatting options.
    2. Warning Zone - Set the condition as Between 5 to 10 and choose Amber fill.
    3. Healthy Zone - Set the condition as Less Than or Equal To 5 to 10 and choose Amber fill.

  9. Click OK to save the conditions.

What you should see

  1. Green Sales Bars where return rates are low → sustainable business.
  2. Amber Bars where returns are rising → early warning.
  3. Red Bars where sales are hit by high returns → high-priority fix.

With one glance, your pivot now tells a double story: who’s leading in sales and who’s at risk due to high returns.

Best Practices

  1. Highlight what matters most: Focus on key risk signals like high return rates or unexpected spikes. This keeps the pivot sharp and attention where it belongs.
  2. Use KPI-driven thresholds: Base your rules on meaningful KPIs (like Profit Margin % or Return Rate %), not arbitrary numbers. This ensures the colors always map to business impact.
  3. Keep colors intuitive: Stick to natural associations: Green = Healthy, Red = Risk, Orange = Caution. This makes insights instantly recognizable for everyone.
  4. Pair visuals for impact: Don’t stop at colors. Combine conditional formatting with Data Bars to highlight magnitude, or Sparklines to reveal trends over time. Layering visuals makes patterns clearer without adding extra clutter.
  5. Test across different data ranges: For broader cues, try Color Bands to show intensity (like a heatmap of return rates) or Icon Bands to flag quick signals
  6. Avoid overlapping rules: Overlaps can confuse users. Keep each condition distinct to avoid conflicting colors on the same cell.
  7. Explore Color Bands and Icon Bands: If you want a broader visual cue beyond rule-based formatting, try Color Band (gradient shades that show intensity, like heatmaps) or Icon Band (symbols that signal performance trends). These are especially effective where quick scanning matters more than raw numbers.
  8. Think ahead for storytelling: Design your formatting with the end reader in mind. The goal isn’t to decorate numbers; it’s to tell a story at first glance.
When done right, conditional formatting turns pivots into a decision board. Your wins glow green, your risks flash red, and your opportunities pop out without a single extra click.

Keep Exploring

  1. Help Documentation
    1. Pivot Tables in Zoho Analytics 
    2. Conditional Formatting in Pivot 
    3. Visuals in Pivot
  2. Help Videos
    1. Creating Pivot tables
    2. Adding Visuals in Pivot table




      • Sticky Posts

      • Tip of the Week - Spot Risky Sales with Conditional Formatting

        In Zoho Analytics, small tweaks can lead to big insights. One such feature is Conditional formatting based on other columns, your key to instantly spotting where sales success is overshadowed by product returns. Our tip this week shows you how to apply

        • Recent Topics

        • Update on PDF Download Issues Caused by Antivirus Software

          Hello users, Antivirus software is designed to protect your computer from malicious software and threats. However, they may mistakenly identify legitimate files and software as threats at times. This is known as a false positive. We have received reports

        • Accounting on the Go Series-54: Effortlessly Find Your Zoho Books Customers in Your Phone’s Contact List

          Hello Zoho Books users! How are you all ? We’re happy to share a handy new feature in Zoho Books mobile app. Now, you can access your Zoho Books customers right from your phone's contact list, making it easier to stay connected on the go. How this can

        • Integration of Phase 2 -e-invoicing- KSA

          Zoho Team, I want to get a training of integration of phase 2 invoicing KSA in zoho step by step.

        • I can not save new invoice

          Hello Now I am trying to save a new invoice but I can not save it because showing unpaid invoice warning which are not overdue. Please let me know how to skip unpaid invoice warning letter and save new invoice. Thank you

        • ADD CONDITIONS FOR FIELD IN ZOHO BOOKS TEMPLATE CUSTOMAZATION

          HELLO I WANT TO ADD CONDITIONS FOR FIELD IN ZOHO BOOKS TEMPLATE CUSTOMAZATION FOR SALES ORDER . I HAVE SET %StatusStamp% IF APPROVAL I WANT THAT TEXT TO BE DISPLAYED WITH GREEN COLOR OTHERWISE OF OTHERR STATUS RED COLOR AS SHOWN IN CODE BELOW . BUT IT

        • Accounting on the Go Series-55: Seamlessly Add New Vendors While Creating Transactions from Scanned Documents

          Hi there! We’ve made handling documents and vendors in Zoho Books even simpler. Now, when you upload a document and scan it, if the app detects a vendor that isn’t already in your organization, you don’t have to leave the page to add them manually. With

        • Accounting on the Go Series-57: Effortlessly Add and Manage Bank Accounts from the Zoho Books Mobile App

          Hi all, Great news for our users in the US and Canada! Managing your finances just got a whole lot easier. Zoho Books has always made it seamless to integrate bank accounts and fetch feeds automatically. Now, we’re taking it up a notch—directly from the

        • Accounting on the Go Series:58-Effortless Compliance: Download XML for Invoices & Credit Notes on Mobile

          Hi there! In Mexico, XML files are crucial for electronic invoicing and fulfilling SAT (Tax Administration Service) requirements. These files ensure your transactions are accurately recorded and tax-compliant. Now, you don’t need to rely on the web app

        • Auto Generated Invoice number YEAR

          Auto Generated Invoice number shows transaction year as 25 even though it's 24 still.

        • Books generiert keine valide XRechnung

          Hallo zusammen, ich möchte hier ein Problem ansprechen, das mir aktuell bei der Nutzung von Books erhebliche Schwierigkeiten bereitet, und hoffe auf Austausch oder Lösungsansätze von anderen Nutzern. Bei der Erstellung von XRechnungen mit Books treten

        • WHEN UPDATE ORGANIZATION INFO OLD INVOICES ALSO CHANGE INVOICING DATA

          Hi We have updated our tax information because we have become a company, up until now we were an individual. The problem is that when updating the data in the zoho books profile all the old invoices change their tax information as well. Is there a way

        • Cash based businesses cannot use the new fixed asset module

          Hello all, If your bookkeeping is reporting in cash, you cannot use the new fixed acid module, as it does all the depreciation bookings accrual and not cash. This is definitive and you can't turn them into a cash booking. They will never appear in your

        • Invoice import error - duplicate customer name column - there are no duplicates

          It is not allowing the importing of any rows because of a duplicate customer name problem, but there are no duplicates in the custoemr name row. Has anyone dealt with this issue before?

        • [WEBINAR][Feb 2025] Automate your entire financial operations from receipts to reconciliation with Zoho Books & Zoho Expense integration

          Hello there, We are hosting a free, live webinar on the importance of travel and expense management solutions for businesses, and how Zoho Expense automatically syncs with Zoho Books to simplify your accounting even further. The webinar is on February

        • Customize Layout

          I am using "Customize Layot" for customize Quotation template but I try to add logo into the header by "%ScaledLogoImage%" code but dont add logo into header. what is problem?

        • Problem - cant add Users (i.e. Zoho one / CRM Users) to BCC or CC in email, i.e. Sales orders or Retainers

          I can go to zoho books email templates, and select any email template, and automatically include any Zoho One user, i.e. member of staff. However in the context of sending an email, it will not let us add a member of staff from the user list, instead

        • UK MTD ITSA

          UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax I have had notice this is to apply from April 2026. What is Zoho doing about this? I will need to start planning to implement this in the next months so need an update as to what I will and will not be able to do in

        • Partial refunds

          I am trying to process refund for a one item invoice, however the refund is partial: i am getting this error while creating credit note, can anyone share some wisdom about this

        • Zoho Books Roadshows are back in the UAE!

          Hello there, Business owners and accounting professionals of the UAE, we’re coming to your cities! FTA accredited Zoho Books is now officially one of the Digital Tax Integrators in the UAE. With the newly launched direct VAT filing capabilities, we're

        • New user After moving over from QBO

          New user observations/suggestions. QBO took away a lot of features I was used to with the desktop version. Chaos ensued. Zoho Books has a lot of what I was used to and a bit more. Good deal Some things I have run into and suggest some upgrades. 1: The

        • Sole Trader - Financial Advisor (Appointed Representative) - Paid via Capital Account but no Invoicing...

          Hi. I'm about to venture into a new business after 12 months of intensive learning/exams. A little chuffed if I may say so especially at 52! I really like the look of ZoHo Books for my modest enterprise but I'm in need of some guidance, please. My services

        • Multi-Unit Inventory with Flexible Unit Selection (Purchase in One Unit, Sell in Another)

          We need multi-unit inventory management in Zoho Books with the flexibility to choose units (e.g., Box or Piece) at the time of purchase or sale. For example, if 1 Box = 10 Pieces, we should be able to record purchases in Boxes but sell either in Boxes

        • Disputed Purchase Invoices

          We have recently moved to Zoho Books from Sage. In Sage we were able to post a purchase/vendor invoice but mark it as on dispute. This would usually be a pricing query or if something was damaged. It would show in their ledger, so we could agree their

        • No TDS Deduction

          In some of our case, where we are reselling items at the same rate we purchased. In this scenario, Indian IT Law has a provision to request customer not to deduct TDS if the transaction value is same. TDS is paid by us (intermediary reseller) before we

        • CBSA - GST CHARGES on imports

          Hi there, We have a questions about landed cost categorization. We received a shipment from overseas. CBSA invoiced us for the GST on the items. Now we entered the CBSA-GST as a separate bill and attached it as landed cost to the main invoice based on

        • Zoho Books

          How do I manually insert opening balance?

        • Sales order & purchase order item links for item details

          This is fantastic for checking lots of things, I use it a lot. It would be great to see it extended to invoices & bills On another note, may as well throw in my favourite whinge ..... Wish you guys would get the PO receive differences sorted urgently,

        • Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account.

          Hello, I'm trying to add bank charges to a customer payment, but I get the error message "Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account." I found this old thread, where it says that I need to "select a Bank account for the 'Deposit To' dropdown

        • How to add receipts

          How to add receipts

        • Is it really true that I can't set the default 'deposit to' account in 2025?

          I've been using Books for 7 years and the default account has never been a problem. I usually manually reconcile invoices and have never had a thought about which account. It has always been my account. However, I recently noticed that for the past 4

        • Support for auto-upgrade in TrueSync (for Windows)

          WorkDrive TrueSync app now supports auto-upgrading to the latest version for Windows OS. You must manually download and install the TrueSync app version 3.4.0 to avail this feature. Download the latest TrueSync app for Windows (version 3.4.0) Supported

        • WorkDrive API Documentation

          WorkDrive provides users and developers an extensive set of APIs to help integrate functionalities of Zoho WorkDrive with other Zoho applications and third-party tools. We have published the official WorkDrive API Documentation page for all external users.

        • March 15, 2023: Zoho Docs is discontinued

          As of today (March 15, 2023) Zoho Docs is discontinued for all users. We would like to thank our customers for trusting us for so many years! Going forward, we're confident you'll enjoy using Zoho WorkDrive for all your advanced file management and collaboration

        • Introducing WorkDrive 4.0: Enhanced productivity. Advanced data administration. (Phase 1)

          Hello All, We're excited to share the release of WorkDrive 4.0, which includes important new features and enhancements focused primarily on productivity, secure collaboration, data administration, integrations, and user experience. Read the official announcement

        • Ask the Experts: Five-hour live Q&A session with Zoho WorkDrive product experts

          Have questions about WorkDrive 5.0? Let’s talk! We recently launched Zoho WorkDrive 5.0, packed with powerful updates to help your team work smarter, stay secure, and get more value from your business content. From content-centric workflows and AI-powered

        • External download link limit

          Can You please help us to understand this For Zoho WorkDrive external users, the download limit is a maximum of 5 GB total download size and a maximum of 50 first-level files and folders What is the meaning of first level? We are using these files in

        • Dynamically catching new file creations

          I have a team folder with many subfolders, and in those folders we add new documents all the time. I'd like to have a workflow or script to notify me (and then take other actions) when a file is added anywhere in that structure that ends in "summary.txt".

        • Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

          I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload

        • Workflow workdrive rollout

          Hi! When will workflow be rolled out to all users? Thanks.

        • Sync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)

          Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:

        • Next Page