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

    • Service locations are tied to contacts?

      Trying the system out. And what I discovered is that it seems that the whole logic of the app is, I'd say, backwards. There is a Customer - a company. The company has contact persons and service locations can be associated with different contact persons.

    • Enhancements to Zoho Maps integration tasks

      Hello everyone, We're excited to announce enhancements to the Zoho Maps integration tasks in Deluge, which will boost its performance. This post will walk you through the upcoming changes, explain why we're making them, and detail the steps you need to

    • Bug in Total Hour Calculation in Regularization for past dates

      There is a bug in Zoho People Regularization For example today is the date is 10 if I choose a previous Date like 9 and add the Check in and Check out time The total hours aren't calculated properly, in the example the check in time is 10:40 AM check

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • UPS Label size when generated via Zoho

      We've integrated UPS with Zoho inventory. When creating and downloading the shipping labels they are created in a larger paper size. I'd like them to be generated to print on a 4x6 printer. Zoho have told me I need to do this within our UPS portal. UPS

    • Canvas View in Zoho Recruit

      Is it possible or would it be possible to have the new 'Canvas View' in Zoho Recruit?

    • Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 12: Sandbox - Testing without the risk What is a sandbox environment? A sandbox environment is a virtual playground that allows you to test freely and experiment with various elements

    • 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".

    • Announcing new features in Trident for Mac (1.27.0)

      Hello everyone! Trident for macOS (v1.27.0) is here with new features and enhancements to improve scheduling and managing your calendar events. Let's take a quick look at them. Stay aligned across time zones. Both the scheduled and original time zones

    • Branding of native system emails

      Make system emails adjustable in terms of branding. We want our system to be completely white label, because it is not a CRM anymore, it's way more than that. We are following the strategy of "CRM for everyone" to use the CRM in all departments, not only

    • Slow uploads of large files

      I'm wanting to use Workdrive for transferring large images and video (we're talking things from 100MB-5GB). I'm running solo on a 500MBit/sec fiber connection. I'm getting upload speeds to Workdrive of no more than about 1-3Mbytes/sec when going through

    • Notes of Tasks in Zoho CRM

      Hello, Is there a way to filter the Notes that appear on a Task to only show the notes related to that specific Task and not display all the Notes of the objects related to that Task (Accounts, Contacts, Deal, etc). In essence, our team struggles to understand

    • Migrate Your Notes from OneNote to Zoho Notebook Today

      Greetings Notebook Users, We’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature that lets you migrate your notes from Microsoft OneNote to Zoho Notebook—making your transition faster and more seamless than ever. ✨ What’s New One-click migration: Easily import

    • need to upload from airtable to google drive

      I have a zapier zap that automates between airtable and google drive. When a customer uploads a new file into airtable via a client portal interface, zapier uploads that file into a folder linked to that customer's project record. I need to replicate

    • Default Sorting on Related Lists

      Is it possible to set the default sorting options on the related lists. For example on the Contact Details view I have related lists for activities, emails, products cases, notes etc... currently: Activities 'created date' newest first Emails - 'created

    • Custom Modules - Where are Comments??

      In the standard ticket module and in the tasks module, we have an interactive comment box that we can post important details/notes and can tag others if needed. Where is this functionality for Custom Modules? Ideally, custom modules would have very similar,

    • Credit Management: #1 Credit You Owe vs Credits Owed to the Business

      Think about the last time you ordered food online. You might have paid in advance through your card, but you received a $20 refund because your order got delayed or cancelled. In most apps, refunds don't go into the bank account directly; instead, they're

    • Tip #46- Turn Every Session into an Insight with Zoho Assist survey report- 'Insider Insights'

      Delivering exceptional remote support isn’t just about resolving issues, it’s about understanding how both customers and technicians experience each session. That’s where Survey Report in Zoho Assist come in. You can configure and customize survey questions

    • Enhancing Zia's service with better contextual responses and article generation

      Hello everyone, We are enhancing Zia's Generative AI service to make your support experience smarter. Here's how: Increased accuracy with Qwen One of the key challenges in AI is delivering responses that are both contextually accurate and empathetic while

    • Allow the usage of Multi-Select fields as the primary field on "Layout Rules"

      We want to force our users to enter some explanation strings when a multi-select field has been utilized. I can't understand the reason for the usage restriction of Multi-Select fields as a primary field. This is a simple "Display hidden mandatory field

    • Engage with your customers at scale using WhatsApp Marketing Template messages

      Hi everyone, To make it easier for organizations to communicate with customers, Desk now allows you to send individual, mass, and bulk WhatsApp template messages from both the Ticket and Contact modules. How is this going to benefit your business? WhatsApp

    • CRM/Bookings integration edits Contact names

      Hi there, I've installed the extension that connects Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings. When we get a new appointment from Bookings from an existing Contact, that Contact's record shows this: First Name was updated from asd to blank value Last Name was updated

    • Domain Change

      “Please update my Email-in domain from @biginmail.biginmail.in to @biginmail.zoho.com. Messages to the .in domain are bouncing.”

    • Webhooks Limit Exceeded

      Today, I received an error message saying, 'Total number of Webhook call exceeded', but when I look at Manage > Billing, it doesn't look like any of my invokeURL calls are being logged. Following the advice from this thread: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/webhooks-daily-limits-in-zoho-creator

    • why cant i access my email account. it keeps asking me for reverifiying my account by entering my password.

      I cant access my account. it keeps asking me for reverifcaton by entering my password. once its entered it asks for it over and over.

    • Option to block bookings from specific email address or ip adresss in zoho booking

      Sometime few of our client keep booking irrelevant booking service just to resolve their queries and they keep booking it again and again whenever they have queries. Currently its disturbing our current communication process and hierarchy which we have

    • Auto select option in CRM after Zoho Form merge

      Hi, I have a dropdown field in Zoho CRM that is filled with a Zoho Form. The data is filled but not automatically shown. After selecting the right value in the dropdown the information a second field is shown. So the question is; how can I make the dropdown

    • Option to Customize Career Site URL Without “/jobs/Careers”

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Career Site URL structure in Zoho Recruit. In the old version of the career site, our URL was simply: 👉 https://jobs.domain.com However, after moving to

    • Using IMAP configuration for shared email inboxes

      Our customer service team utilizes shared email boxes to allow multiple people to view and handle incoming customer requests. For example, the customer sends an email to info@xxxx.com and multiple people can view it and handle the request. How can I configure

    • スマホでキャンペンメールを見ると正しく表示されない

      キャンペーンのメール（HTML）を作成しましたが、スマホ表示に切り替えると正しく表示されません（添付参照）過去に作成したキャンペーンでは特に意識してませんでしたが、問題なく表示されていたようです。うまく表示される場合とされない場合の違いは何でしょうか？

    • Bring your CRM data straight into your presentations in Zoho Show

      Let's say you are working on a presentation about your team's sales pipeline for an upcoming strategy meeting. All the information you need about clients and leads is in Zoho CRM, but you end up copying details from the CRM into your slides, adjusting

    • Improved RingCentral Integration

      We’d like to request an enhancement to the current RingCentral integration with Zoho. RingCentral now automatically generates call transcripts and AI-based call summaries (AI Notes) for each call, which are extremely helpful for support and sales teams.

    • Introducing New APIs in Zoho Contracts

      We are excited to announce the release of new APIs in Zoho Contracts to help you automate and manage every stage of your contract lifecycle more efficiently. Here’s a quick overview of what’s new: 1. Complete Contract Draft You can use this API to complete

    • Vimeo

      For me Vimeo is the most important video social channel for media and filmmakers. Would others agree and like it added to Zoho Social.

    • Delete a department or category

      How do I delete a Department? Also, how do I delete a Category? This is pretty basic stuff here and it's impossible to find.

    • Organization Emails in Email History

      How can I make received Org Emails to show up here?

    • Create custom rollup summary fields in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, In Zoho CRM, rollup summary fields have been essential tools for summarizing data across related records and enabling users to gain quick insights without having to jump across modules. Previously, only predefined summary functions were

    • Editing the Ticket Properties column

      This is going to sound like a dumb question, but I cannot figure out how to configure/edit the sections (and their fields) in this column: For example, we have a custom "Resolution" field, which parked itself in the "Ticket Information" section of this

    • Deleting Fields in CRM Deletes Views in Analytics

      Hey friends! I'm having some issues when we modify some fields within ZohoCRM. There are times where we need to sunset a field and eventually completely remove it. In these instances, it seems like a lot of views are removed in Analytics. This ranges

    • Zoho Analytics Automatically Deletes Queries and Reports When a Synced CRM Field Is Removed

      We’ve encountered a serious and recurring issue that poses a massive data integrity risk for any Zoho Analytics customer using Zoho CRM integration. When a field is deleted in Zoho CRM — even an unused one — Zoho Analytics automatically deletes every

    • Next Page