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

        • Rename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task

          So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in this

        • in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Q

          in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Quantity Returned\ pls check the recording fetch_salesorder

        • Estimates with options and sub-totals

          Hi It seems it would be great to be able to show multiple options in an estimate. For instance I have a core product to which I can add options, and maybe sub-options... It would be great to have subtotals and isolate the core from the not compulsory items. Thanks

        • Optional Items Estimate

          How do you handle optional items within an estimate? In our case we have only options to choose with. (Like your software pricing, ...standard, professional, enterprise) How can we disable the total price? Working with Qty = 0 is unprofessional....

        • Important Update : Zendesk Sell announced End of Life

          Hello Zendesk users, Zendesk has officially announced that Zendesk Sell will reach its End of Life (EOL) on August 31, 2027 (Learn more). In line with this deprecation, Zoho Analytics will retire its native Zendesk Sell connector effective October 1,

        • Zoho Sheets

          Hi, I am trying to transition into Zoho sheets, I have attached the issues encountered. Server issues, file trying to upload for more than 30 mins, even once uploaded my data aren't loaded. Simple calculations are not working I have attached the sample.

        • Zoho CRM + Zoho FSM : alignez vos équipes commerciales et techniques

          La vente est finalisée, mais le parcours client ne fait que commencer ! Dans les entreprises orientées service, conclure une vente représente seulement la première étape. Ce qui suit — installation, réparation ou maintenance régulière — influence grandement

        • Top Bar Shifting issue still not fixed yet

          I mentioned in a previous ticket that on Android, the top bar shifts up when you view collections or when you're in the settings. That issue still hasn't been fixed yet. I don't wanna have to reinstall the app as I've noticed for some reason, reinstalling

        • Power of Automation:: Automate the process of updating project status based on a specific task status.

          Hello Everyone, Today, I am pleased to showcase the capabilities of a custom function that is available in our Gallery. To explore the custom functions within the Gallery, please follow the steps below. Click Setup in the top right corner > Developer

        • Billing Management: #3 Billing Unbilled Charges Periodically

          We had a smooth sail into Prorated Billing, a practice that ensures fairness when customers join, upgrade, or downgrade a service at any point during the billing cycle. But what happens when a customer requests additional limits or features during the

        • No bank feeds from First National Bank South Africa since 12 September

          I do not know how Zoho Books expects its customers to run a business like this. I have contacted Zoho books numerous times about this and the say it is solved - on email NO ONE ANSWERS THE SOUTH AFRICAN HELP LINE Come on Zoho Books, you cannot expect

        • Citation Problem

          I had an previous ticket (#116148702) on this subject. The basic problem is this; the "Fetch Details" feature works fine on the first attempt but fails on every subsequent attempt, Back in July after having submitted information electronically and was

        • Failing to generate Access and Refresh Token

          Hello.  I have two problems: First one when generating Access and Refresh Token I get this response:  As per the guide here : https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/#oauth (using server based application) I'm following all the steps. I have managed to get

        • Zeptomail 136.143.188.150 blocked by SpamCop

          Hi - it looks like this IP is being blocked, resulting in hard bounces unfortunately :( "Reason: uncategorized-bounceMessage: 5.7.1 Service unavailable; Client host [136.143.188.150] blocked using bl.spamcop.net; Blocked - see https://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?136.143.188.150

        • Apply transaction rules to multiple banks

          Is there any way to make transaction rules for one bank apply to other banks? It seems cumbersome to have to re-enter the same date for every account.

        • How to bulk update records with Data Enrichment by Zia

          Hi, I want to bulk update my records with Data Enrichment by Zia. How can I do this?

        • How do I split a large CSV file into smaller parts for import into Zoho?

          Hi everyone, I’m trying to upload a CSV file into Zoho, but the file is very large (millions of rows), and Zoho keeps giving me errors or takes forever to process. I think the file size is too big for a single import. Manually breaking the CSV into smaller

        • Client Script Payload Size Bug

          var createParams = { "data": [{ "Name": "PS for PR 4050082000024714556", "Price_Request": { "id": "4050082000024714556" }, "Account": { "id": "4050082000021345001" }, "Deal": { "id": "4050082000023972001" }, "Owner": { "id": "4050082000007223004" }, "Approval_Status":

        • lead convert between modules

          Hello, The workflow we set up to automatically transfer leads registered via Zapier into the Patients module to the Leads module started to malfunction unexpectedly on September 25, 2025, at 11:00 AM. Under normal circumstances, all fields filled in the

        • Flow Task Limits - How to Monitor, Understand Consumption?

          So, I got an email last night saying that I've exhausted 70% of my tasks for this month, and encouraging me to buy more tasks. I started to dig into this, and I cannot for the life of me figure out where to find any useful information for understanding,

        • Cross References Do Not Update Correctly

          I am using cross references to reference Figures and current am just using the label and number, i.e. Figure #. As seen here: When I need to update the field, I use the update field button. But it will change the cross reference to no longer only including

        • Manage control over Microsoft Office 365 integrations with profile-based sync permissions

          Greetings all, Previously, all users in Zoho CRM had access to enable Microsoft integrations (Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks) in their accounts, regardless of their profile type. Users with administrator profiles can now manage profile-based permissions

        • How to Track and Manage Schedule Changes in Zoho Projects

          Keeping projects on track requires meticulous planning. However, unforeseen circumstances can cause changes to schedules, leading to delays. It becomes important to capture the reason for such changes to avoid them in the future. Zoho Projects acknowledges

        • Is there a notification API when a new note is addeding

          Trying to push to Cliq, or email notification when there's a new note added in module. How to implement this?

        • Collaborate Feature doesn't work

          Hello Team. It seems that the collaborate section is broken? I can post something but it all appears in "Discussions". In there is no way how I would mark something as Draft, Approval, post or any of the other filter categories? Also if I draft a post

        • Edit Permission during and after approval?

          When a record is sent for approval Can a user request for edit permission from the approver? We don't want to give edit permissions for all the records under approval Only on a case-by-case basis How can we achieve this?

        • Zoho web and mobile application not workingn

          Both zoho forms web and mobile application aren't working. I have checked my network connections and they are fine.

        • Bulk Moving Images into Folders in the Library

          I can't seem to select multiple images to move into a folder in order to clean up my image library and organize it. Instead, I have to move each individual image into the folder and sometimes it takes MULTIPLE tries to get it to go in there. Am I missing

        • Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | Breakout rooms and End to end encryption

          Hello everyone, We’re excited to share a few updates for Zoho Meeting. Here's what we've been working on lately: Introducing Breakout Rooms for enhanced collaboration in your online meetings and End-to-end encryption to ensure that the data is encrypted

        • Systematic SPF alignment issues with Zoho subdomains

          Analysis Period: August 19 - September 1, 2025 PROBLEM SUMMARY Multiple Zoho services are causing systematic SPF authentication failures in DMARC reports from major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Zoho). While emails are successfully delivered due

        • Accidentally deleted a meeting recording -- can it be recovered?

          Hi, I accidentally deleted the recording for a meeting I had today. Is there a way I can recover it?

        • How to access email templates using Desk API?

          Trying to send an email to the customer associated to the ticket for an after hours notification and can't find the API endpoint to grab the email template. Found an example stating it should be: "https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/emailtemplates/" + templateID;

        • Update Portal User Name using Deluge?

          Hey everyone. I have a basic intake form that gathers some general information. Our team then has a consultation with the person. If the person wants to move forward, the team pushes a CRM button that adds the user to a creator portal. That process is

        • Unable to retrieve Contact_Name field contents using Web API in javascript function

          Hello, I've added a field in the Purchase Order form to select and associate a Sales Order (Orden_de_venta, lookup field). I've also created a client script to complete some fields from the Sales Order (and the Quote), when the user specifies the related

        • Updating Woocommerce Variation Products Prices Via Zoho CRM

          I can update product prices with this flow: But I can't update variant products. I got a code from Zoho for this, but I couldn't get it to work. It needs to find the product in the CRM from the SKU field and update the variation with the price there.

        • Emails Disappearing From Inbox

          I am experiencing the unnerving problem of having some of the messages in my inbox just disappear.  It seems to happen to messages that have been in there for longer than a certain amount of time (not sure how long exactly). They are usually messages that I have flagged and know I need to act on, but have not gotten around to doing so yet.  I leave them in my inbox so I will see them and be reminded that I still need to do something about them, but at least twice now I have opened my inbox and found

        • Power of Automation :: Automatic removal of project users once the project status is changed.

          A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks and

        • Customizing Form Questions per Recipient Group in Zoho Campaigns/Forms

          Hello everyone, I would like to ask if it’s possible in Zoho Campaigns or Zoho Forms to send out a campaign where the form questions can be customized based on the group of recipients. Use case example: I have prepared 20 questionnaire questions. For

        • Forms - Notification When Response Submitted

          How do I set it up to generate an email notification when a response (class request) is submitted?

        • How to disable user entry on Answer Bot in Zobot

          Hi, I have an Answer Bot in my Zobot, here is the configuration: I only want the user to choose 1 of the 4 the options I have provided: When no answer found, user chooses 'I'll rephrase the question' or 'Ask a different question When answer is found,

        • Next Page