Tips and Tricks #19: The 3 C's of Data in Zoho Subscriptions

Tips and Tricks #19: The 3 C's of Data in Zoho Subscriptions

With Zoho Subscriptions, your customers can sign up for a plan by entering their details in the hosted payment pages. By default, customers will be required to enter certain basic contact information like their name and billing details. This information will be used to create new customers and subscriptions automatically in Zoho Subscriptions.

However, your business requirements may vary, and you might need additional information from your customers when they sign up. This can easily be achieved using custom fields. But, what if you had created a custom field just for internal use? Who'd be able to view these fields?

In this post, we'll help you understand how the custom fields you create can be viewed by you, your customers and your application. 

1. How you see your data

Let's say you create a custom field called "Customer Rating" and your business process hinges on this custom field. In this case, it's important that you have easy access to this field. Fortunately, with Zoho Subscriptions' column customization options, you can choose to display custom fields in a module's list view, thereby letting you view your custom fields without having to perform additional clicks. Column customization is available for the Customers , Subscriptions , Invoices and Credit Notes modules.


To do this, click the column customization icon in the list view of supported modules.

Apart from column customization, you can also tailor-make views for particular needs by creating custom view filters. These filters can be based on custom fields. The filters that you create can be shared with everyone in your staff or only with certain users and roles, based on your preferences.


Click the view filters dropdown, above the list view of a module and click + New Custom View. 

2. How your customers see your data

The custom fields that you create should only be shared with your customers on a need-to-know basis. For example, if you have a custom field called "Loyal Customer", you might not want to display it to your customers on their invoices.

In this section, we'll take a look at how and when you can show/hide custom fields for your customers in various places like hosted payment pages, the customer portal and your invoice templates. 

Hosted Payment Pages

Using custom fields in hosted payment pages is a great way to collect additional data from customers, right when they sign up to your service. To do this, go to Settings > Preferences > Customer > Custom Fields > + New Custom Field. Make sure to enable the Show in Customer Portal/Hosted Page option.



Now, the custom field will be visible to your customers in the hosted payment pages. 

Customer Portal

It's important to note that enabling a custom field in the hosted payment pages will also display the custom field in the customer portal. Your customers will be able to edit custom fields in their customer portal, if you allow them to do so.

While you cannot restrict access to editing custom fields alone, you can configure whether your customers can edit their contact details, which includes custom fields, from the client portal. To do this, go to Settings > Preferences > Branding > Portal Settings. Here, check/uncheck the Allow customers to edit their information option, based on your preferences. 

Email Notifications

The email notifications that are sent to your customers from Zoho Subscriptions will not include any custom fields by default. So, if there's a custom field that's essential for your customer to see in an email, it can be done by editing the email template and adding a placeholder for the custom field.

To do this, go to Settings > Email Notifications. Here, click on a template name to edit the template and select a placeholder for the custom field from the Insert Placeholder dropdown.

Now, when the email is sent, the placeholder will be replaced with the custom field's value. 

Invoices and Credit Notes

For the same reasons that you'd include a custom field in an email notification, you can also include custom fields in invoice and credit note templates.

To do this, ensure that the Show in all PDF option is enabled while creating or editing a custom field.



You can learn more about customizing invoice templates from our help document. 

3. How your application sees your data

This section is especially for third party applications like Zapier or your own SaaS application that works with Zoho Subscriptions primarily through the powerful REST APIs.

Zoho Subscriptions can be tightly integrated with your web application by sending and receiving data through API calls, Webhooks and Custom Functions.

For example, if your customer's subscription status changes from Live to Cancelled, you can configure a webhook to deliver this information to your web application's database. This webhook will contain a payload with the Status identifier. However, your web application's status identifier may be named differently, or in a different format. This is where modifying the payload comes in handy.

In Zoho Subscriptions you can modify a webhook's payload in a format that works best with your application. To do this, go to Settings > Automation > + New Webhook. Here, you can modify the payload of your webhook in the Body section.


That's it folks, we hope you've found this post helpful. We're always looking for feedback and suggestions, so feel free to rattle off in the comments below. Until next time!

Cheers,
Varun Steven
The Zoho Subscriptions Team



      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • Tip #4 : Refer and Earn Workflow system for your Subscription Business

            Hello everyone, We've been coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which can be implemented for your business. In continuation to the previous post, this week we will be seeing about how you can implement the Refer and Earn Workflow system to acquire more customers. Why are Referrals important? Customer Acquisition is crucial for any business to sustain itself in a constantly evolving market. It involves persuading new consumers to purchase your products. Customers
          • Tip #2 - Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date

            Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a custom function workflow every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation of this previous blog, this week we will be seeing about Cancellation of Offline Subscriptions based on the Expected Payment Date. Business Scenario: In general, for any business, the customers make payments via online as well as offline. In case of subscription where the automatic collection of charge is enabled (aka online subscription), the customer's
          • Tip #3 : Send SMS Reminders for your Subscription Business

            Hello everyone, As you all know, we are coming up with a tip every week to address specific business scenarios. In continuation to the previous blog, this week we will be seeing how you can use SMS reminders for your Subscription Business. Using SMS messages for your Subscription Business: While managing your subscription business, more often than not, you need to keep your customers informed about upcoming renewals, payment reminders and cancellations. By keeping them informed in advance, you can
          • Tips And Tricks - Announcement

            Hello everyone, Every business is unique and each of them follows a specific workflow. While managing your customers' subscriptions with Zoho, you might have some needs unique to your business. Custom Functions helps you address such needs. This is a start to a series of posts, where we will be coming up with a custom function workflow every week that addresses specific business scenarios. Watch this space for further updates! Also, if you have any specific business scenario which needs to be addressed,
          • Tip #6 : Accessing external URLs from Zoho Subscriptions

            Hello everyone, We have been sharing a tip every week to address specific business scenarios which you can implement for your subscription business. Last week, we shared a tip about implementing the Approval Workflow system. This week, let's look at how you can access external URLs with the help of Custom Link. Business Scenario: Every business functions differently and has its unique requirements. At times, businesses might want to access other websites or applications by appending specific information

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Add Webhook Response Module to Zoho Flow

                                    Hi Zoho Flow Team, We’d like to request a Webhook Response capability for Zoho Flow that can return a dynamic, computed reply to the original webhook caller after / during the flow runs. What exists today Zoho Flow’s webhook trigger can send custom acknowledgements
                                  • Zoho Inventory - Managing Items With Multiple Suppliers

                                    Hi community, I'm working on a project at the moment for a car parts wholesale business. Each Item (part) has its own original manufacturer part number (sometimes more than one part number for the same item). When purchasing parts from 3rd party suppliers,
                                  • Finding missing records

                                    I have a challenge and I am not really sure where to start with it. I can't find any similar threads on here, can anyone help: I have two forms, FormA and FormB. Both forms have records that contain a field called Job_Number. What I am trying to achieve
                                  • is it possible to add more than one Whatsapp Phone Number to be integrated to Zoho CRM?

                                    so I have successfully added one Whatsapp number like this from this User Interface it seems I can't add a new Whatsapp Number. I need to add a new Whatsapp Number so I can control the lead assignment if a chat sent to Whatsapp Phone Number 1 then assign
                                  • Customer Portal on Zoho Desk

                                    Hi, I'd like to know more about the items below I found when setting up the Customer Portal on Zoho Desk. Could someone help me explaining these in details? Especially the 2nd and 3rd point. Thanking you in advance! Permissions Customers can sign up for Customer Portal Customers can view tickets of their organization (contacts) Customers must register to access Customer Portal Display Community in Customer Self Service portal
                                  • 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
                                  • 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
                                  • File Field Validation

                                    Hello all, We are tracking our customer NDA agreements in our CRM and have created 2 fields to do so, an execution date field and a file upload field. I want to create a validation rule to ensure that when the execution date field is populated that the
                                  • Canvas: is it possible to have a fixed header?

                                    Hello. Does Canvas provide the option to have a fixed header, similar to the standard view? It would also be interesting for other parts of the interface, like the header or sidebar of the tab section. Thanks!
                                  • Automatically Add Recurring Zoho Meeting Events to Zoho Calendar / Zoho Meeting Calendar

                                    Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement regarding recurring meetings created inside Zoho Meeting. At the moment, when we schedule a recurring meeting in Zoho Meeting, it does not appear in Zoho Calendar
                                  • When moments in customer support get "spooky"

                                    It’s Halloween again! Halloween is celebrated with spooky symbols and meanings based on history and traditions, with each region adding its own special touch. While we were kids, we would dress up in costumes along with friends, attend parties, and enjoy
                                  • How Zoho Desk contributes to the art of savings

                                    Remember the first time your grandmother gave you cash for a birthday or New Year's gift, Christmas gift, or any special day? You probably tucked that money safely into a piggy bank, waiting for the day you could buy something precious or something you
                                  • Empowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM

                                    Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individuals
                                  • How can I delete duplicate transactions?

                                    I want to delete the duplicates not simply exclude them. I have duplicates, because I had automatic bank feeds turned on (had to make sure this critical functionality was working before migrating to Zoho). Now when I import my csv's exported from Wave,
                                  • Limited layout rules in a module

                                    There is a limit of 10 layout rules per module. Is there a way to get that functionality through different customization or workflow + custom function (easily accessible), etc. Having just 10 is limiting especially if module contains a lot of data. Are
                                  • Enhance Sign CRM integration

                                    Hello all, I'm working on a custom Deluge script to enhance the integration between Zoho CRM and Sign by using a writer merge template for additional flexibility. I want to replicate the post-sign document integration that exists between CRM and Sign
                                  • Python - code studio

                                    Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already
                                  • Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

                                    Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities
                                  • Replacing email ID,

                                    In zoho sheets If I am sending it as an email attachments can I replace sender email ID from notifications to my email ID.
                                  • Move orders scan ISBN

                                    Hi We have ISBN setup to be searched in items zoho but move orders dissent recognize the ISBN is there q missing configuration? regards, JS
                                  • ViewID and Zoho Desk API

                                    I'm looking at the documentation for Listing contacts and it looks like you can filter by ViewID. I assume this is views created in a department or all departments. Is this correct? And if so, how do I find the ViewID for that view? EDIT: I see the view
                                  • Ability to Link Reported Issues from Zoho Desk to Specific Tasks or Subtasks in Zoho Projects

                                    Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you're doing well. When reporting a bug from Zoho Desk to Zoho Projects, we’ve noticed that it’s currently not possible to select an existing task or subtask to associate the issue with. However, when working directly inside Zoho
                                  • Automatically Update Ticket Status in Zoho Desk Based on Actions in Zoho Projects

                                    Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to manage tasks related to customer tickets, and it works well for linking and tracking progress. However, there are a few important automation capabilities
                                  • Print Tickets

                                    We have field engineers who visit customers. We would like the option to print a job sheet with full details of the job and account/contact details.
                                  • Zoho Desk integration with Power BI

                                    Hi, I want to be able to create a Power BI report which has live updates of ticket data from zoho desk, is this possile at all? Thanks Jack
                                  • Ability to Attach Images When Reporting Issues to Zoho Projects from Zoho Desk

                                    Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to report bugs directly from support tickets into the Zoho Projects issue tracker. This integration is extremely useful and helps us maintain smooth coordination
                                  • Ability to Choose Task List and Add Subtasks When Creating Tasks from Zoho Desk

                                    Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to seamlessly connect customer tickets with project tasks. While the integration works great overall, we noticed two important limitations that affect our workflow
                                  • Sync Task Status from Zoho Projects to Zoho Desk

                                    Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re actively using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration, which helps our support and project teams stay aligned. However, we noticed that when we change a task’s status in Zoho Projects, the change is not
                                  • Default/Private Departments in Zoho Desk

                                    1) How does one configure a department to be private? 2) Also, how does one change the default department? 1) On the list of my company's Zoho Departments, I see that we have a default department, but I am unable to choose which department should be default. 2) From the Zoho documentation I see that in order to create a private department, one should uncheck "Display in customer portal" on the Add Department screen. However, is there a way to change this setting after the department has been created?
                                  • Retainer invoice in Zoho Finance modlue

                                    Hello, Is there a way of creating retainer invoices in the Zoho Finance module? If not can I request this is considered for future updates please.
                                  • Can we do Image swatches for color variants?

                                    We want to do something like the attached screenshot on our new zoho store. We need image swatches instead of normal text selection. We want to user to select an image as color option. Is this doable? I don't see any option on zoho backend. Please h
                                  • Zoho CRM IP Addresses to Whitelist

                                    We were told to whitelist IP addresses from Zoho CRM.  (CRM, not Zoho Mail.) What is the current list of IP Addresses to whitelist for outbound mail? Is there a website where these IP addresses are published and updated?  Everything I could find is over
                                  • Color of Text Box Changes

                                    Sometimes I find the color of text boxes changed to a different color. This seems to happen when I reopen the same slide deck later. In the image that I am attaching, you see that the colors of the whole "virus," the "irology" part of "virology," and
                                  • The difference between Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns

                                    Greetings Marketers! This post aims to differentiate between Zoho Marketing Automation and Zoho Campaigns. By the time you get to the end of the post, you will be able to choose a product that objectively suits you. What is Zoho Marketing Automation?
                                  • How to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?

                                    I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possible
                                  • Zoho Mail Android app update - View emails shared via Permalink on the app.

                                    Hello everyone! In the latest version(v2.8.2) of the Zoho Mail Android app update, we have brought in support to access the emails shared via permalink within the app. Earlier, when you click the permalink of an email, you'll be redirected to a mobile
                                  • Let us view and export the full price books data from CRM

                                    I quote out of CRM, some of my clients have specialised pricing for specific products - therefore we use Price Books to manage these special prices. I can only see the breakdown of the products listed in the price book and the specialised pricing for
                                  • Weekly Tips: Manage External Images in Zoho Mail

                                    When you receive emails every day, whether from clients, newsletters, or services, many of them contain external images that automatically load when you open the message. While this can make emails look more engaging, it can also impact your privacy and
                                  • How to display Motivator components in Zoho CRM home page ?

                                    Hello, I created KPI's, games and so but I want to be able to see my KPI's and my tasks at the same time. Is this possible to display Motivator components in Zoho CRM home page ? Has someone any idea ? Thanks for your help.
                                  • Introducing Record Summary: smarter insights at your fingertips

                                    Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce the Record Summary feature. This powerful addition makes use of Zia to simplify how you interact with your CRM data, providing a seamless, consolidated view of critical record information. Scrolling through the
                                  • Next Page