Credit Management: #4 Credits on Unused Period

Recall a familiar situation. You sign up for a monthly gym membership. You pay the subscription fee upfront, get motivated, and show up consistently for the first week. Then, suddenly, you get caught up in work deadlines, travel plans, or a dip in motivation.

You walk to the front desk and ask, "Can you pause my membership for a week?"

The gym staff happily pauses your access, but what payment have you already made for the rest of the month? Gone.

When you return, you continue from where you left off, minus the days you didn't turn up. You don't complain out loud, but deep inside, you know that value quietly slipped away.

This is surprisingly common across subscription businesses. Customers pause subscriptions for obvious reasons such as travel, budget constraints, seasonal usage, or simply not having enough time to use the service. But the hard reality is that customers take short breaks, but their payments don't.

Many subscription systems today pause access, but not the billing value. Customers lose the amount they paid for but never used. They may not complain immediately, but they quietly remember the experience the next time renewal arrives. This tiny friction can snowball into churn. When the customer feels value is wasted, they hesitate to return, downgrade instead of renewing, or may even cancel early before the actual renewal cycle.

Introducing Pause Period Credits 

Pause Period Credits solves this experience gap with fairness built into every pause. Instead of forfeiting unused value, customers receive a credit note reflecting the prorated portion of the billing cycle they didn't use. When the subscription resumes, the credit is applied automatically as a discount or offset. This makes the pause feel fair, transparent and respectful.

Challenges in Manual Credit Calculation 

Although the idea of pausing subscriptions and offering credits sounds simple, executing it is complex. Businesses need to accurately prorate the unused value, issue credit notes that reflect the exact service gap, and adjust the billing date without breaking the cycle. The complexity increases when pauses are backdated or extended across the renewal period, as even a small discrepancy can ripple into a larger accounting mismatch.

When these calculations are handled manually, errors and inconsistencies become almost inevitable. Disputes over missed dates or incorrect credits can easily arise, leading to unnecessary back-and-forth communication. The result? Delays in resolution, dissatisfied customers, and operational strain for the finance team.

How it works in Zoho Billing 

Zoho Billing efficiently simplifies pause-related credits. When a subscription is paused, the system automatically calculates the unused portion of the cycle. However, the credit note is not generated immediately. It will be created when the subscription is resumed.

Depending on how the subscription resumes, the credit is applied accordingly.

1. Out-of-Term Resume: If the customer resumes the subscription after the current billing cycle, a new invoice is generated, and the credit note is automatically applied.
2. In-Term Resume: If the customer resumes within the same billing period, the credit note is created but applied only on the next invoice, provided "Redeem Credits" is enabled.

This ensures fairness and flexibility while keeping every billing event traceable and accurate.

Note:  For businesses wanting to predict credit adjustment before the resume date, Zoho Billing shows exactly how much credit will be generated for a given pause period before resumption when you provide the resume date while pausing the subscription.

The entire process is transparent and consistent, and there is no guesswork. 

Pause Period Credits work differently for different frequencies. Here are some scenarios for your understanding,

Scenarios: 

Imagine a monthly subscription,

A customer subscribes to a service priced at $300 for a period from June 1st to June 30th. On June 10th, they pause their subscription and resume it on June 15th, leaving five days unused.

For this subscription,

Item	Value
Subscription Amount	$300
Amount Per Day ($300/30)	$10
Paused Days	5 Days
Credit Amount (5x$10)	$50

 

In this case, Zoho Billing will calculate $50 as credits. The credit note will be generated automatically when the subscription resumes. It will only be applied to the next invoice post-generation.

For Yearly Subscription,

Customer A subscribes to a plan priced at $3500 for 365 days. After five months of active usage, the subscription is paused for two months (precisely 60 days).

For this subscription,

Item	Value
Subscription Amount	$2000
Amount Per Day ($3500/365)	$9.58
Paused Days	60 Days
Credit Amount (60x$9.58)	$570

 

Upon subscription resumption, a credit note of $570 will be automatically generated and applied to the customer's account.

In a different scenario,  

Consider a subscription from 1st June to 30th June, priced at $300. The customer paused the subscription on 15th June and resumed it on 5th July.

For this subscription,

Item	Value
Subscription Amount	$300
Cost per Day ($300/30)	$10
Unused paid days (15th to 30th)	16 days
Credit Amount (16x$10)	$160

 

When the subscription resumes, a credit note of $160 is generated automatically. Since this is an out-of-term resumption, a new invoice is created for the resumed period, and the credit note is immediately applied to that invoice.

What Pause Period Credit Brings In 

Instead of treating pauses as lost value, they become a value-preserving retention tool for businesses. With this credit model, offering credits for the unused period builds trust with customers, and they feel covered. For businesses, it makes the billing transparent, and the revenue becomes more predictable.

Today's subscription economy is crowded. Customers compare experiences down to the most minor details. If pausing feels like losing money, cancellation becomes easier. If the pressure value is paused, returning becomes natural.

Pause Period Credit transform a pause from a quiet pain point into a moment of trust building.

Here's another situation that every business encounters. What if a customer doesn't pause, but decides to cancel instead? What happens to the remaining value then?

Should it turn into a credit or a refund?

In the next post, we will venture into the Advanced Refund Policy. 

• Topic Participants

• Hari | Zoho Billing

  

• Sticky Posts

• Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

  Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

• Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

• Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

• Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

• Recent Topics

• This domain is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

  This is the error i keep getting when trying to use my Zoho Domain Mail. This domain is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details Find attached. I hope this can be resolved very quickly so i can go on and make

• Auto CC - Moving Departments

  We have Auto CC e-mail replies to your support mailbox enabled. We have two departments: Helpdesk (helpdesk@domain.com) Delivery (delivery@domain.com) If we create a Helpdesk ticket, and reply, replies are CC'd to helpdesk@domain.com (OK) We then move

• I have error AS101 when I try to add paypal@mydomain.com to Zoho

  Please help me with this. I tried to call the help line 4 times but don't get any response.

• unable to send message reason 554 5.1.8 Email outgoing blocked

  unable to send message reason 554 5.1.8 Email outgoing blocked

• Mailk got blocked / Inquiry About Email Sending Limits and Upgrade Options

  Dear Zoho Support Team, My name is Kamr Elsayed I created this account to use for applying for vocational training in Germany. As part of this process, I send multiple emails to different companies. However, after sending only 8 emails today, I received

• SMTP email sending problem

  Hello, I've sent emails before, but you haven't responded. Please respond. My work is being disrupted. I can't send emails via SMTP. Initially, there were no problems, but now I'm constantly receiving 550 bounce errors. I can't use the service I paid

• unblock my zoho mail account. outlines@zoho.com

  please unblock my zoho mail account, outlines@zoho.com

• Unable to see free plan option

  Hello Zoho Support Team, I hope you are doing well. I am trying to sign up for Zoho Mail, but I am unable to see the option for the free plan. Could you please guide me on how I can access or activate the free plan? Thank you for your assistance.

• Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected.

  I just made payment for my Zohomail Today and have been debited so i will like to be Unblocked because this is what it says (Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected) Thank you i await your swift responses

• How to remove some users in zoho accounts

  How to remove some users in Zoho accounts.

• Forwarder

  Hi, I tried to add a forwarder from which emails are sent to my main zoho account email . However, it asks me for a code that should be received at the forwarder email, which is still not activated to send to my zoho emial account. So how can I get the

• Forwarder

  Hi, I tried to add a forwarder from which emails are sent to my main zoho account email . However, it asks me for a code that should be received at the forwarder email, which is still not activated to send to my zoho emial account. So how can I get the

• DKIM cannot be enabled for the domain as no verified default selector present

  Hi Support Team, For Domain DKIM record trying to enable status. but showing error "DKIM cannot be enabled for the domain as no verified default selector present" So, please resolve the issue. Thank you.

• I can't log in to my account on Thunderbird

  I've just had to rebuild my PC (calamitous mess from Microsoft with Win10/Win 11 'upgrade' - they confirmed I had to start with a new build). I have used Zoho mail for years via Mozilla Thunderbird, but now I've had to download the latest version of TBird,

• Sorten the domain of zoho mail ids

  I recently created zoho mail id and am quite excited with the features. But one issue ig nobody wanna type this big zohoaccounts.com I mean silly bold Suggestion zmail.com (sound gmail) (attraction) or some genz words looks cool

• Weekly Tips : Customize your Zoho Mail Notifications

  In a professional context, email communication remains one of the most crucial channels for staying connected and managing workflows. Keeping track of your emails, task updates, or important announcements can be overwhelming—especially if you are juggling

• How to move emails to Shared Mailbox?

  Hello, I created a Shred Mailbox instead of using a distribution group. But I cannot move previous emails to certain shared mailbox. Is it possible move some emails from inbox to shared mailbox?

• Email task creator when task is updated/marked complete

  I am looking for a way to notify the creator of a task in zoho todo when - Task is updated Task is closed Comments entered 1 and 2 are critical, and I cannot find a zoho flow to do this. There is no way that as a manager I will know when someone has completed

• The attendees will now be redirected to the landing webpage when they exit the webinar, set by the organizer.

  Hello All, In the latest version of the Zoho Meeting iOS mobile app (v1.3.16), we have brought in the below enhancements:   Post Webinar Re-direction Revamped exit UI for Webinar Post Webinar Re-direction:  The attendees will now be redirected to the

• Download API file contents from browser

  Hi Team - is there something being planned to be able to trigger file downloads from the browser via a deluge script? i.e. retrieve a file via API, trigger the file download directly from the browser. Or... using the convertToPdf function (https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/functions/file/convert-to-pdf.html)

• 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

• When using "locations" in zoho books, can you keep the two locations totally separate from each other?

  I am looking to add a location but I don't want to intermingle the banking or other accounts. I want that to be like two separate independent branches that use different banking accounts, accounts payable, and accounts receivable. The people who are in

• Adding a Channel to SalesIQ

  I have a client that currently uses Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk. They would like a live chat to place on their website that has a mobile app and chat bots (something like SalesIQ). However, they would also like to have all this work over SMS as well. Does the SalesIQ API allow this? Can I add visitors without them being a visitor on a website? Thanks! Bryan Redeagle

• DataPrep Bigquery Connection failed

  Hello everybody, I want to create a connnection beetwen Bigquery and Dataprep but when I try to connect my project I got this error Loading tables has failed. Table list fetched from the data source expired.

• How Do I Refund a Customer Directly to Their Credit Card?

  Hi, I use books to auto-charge my customers credit card. But when I create a credit note there doesn't seem to be a way to directly refund the amount back to their credit card. Is the only way to refund a credit note by doing it "offline" - or manually-

• Zoho Flow Needs to Embrace AI Agent Protocols to Stay Competitive

  Zoho Flow has long been a reliable platform for automating workflows and integrating various applications. However, in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-driven automation, it risks falling behind competitors like n8n, which are pioneering advancements

• Important Features Missing

  Hey all I love linkthread, but i am missing some important features. I want to be able to include my Google Tag Manager. I have all the important stuff in my GTM Container: Facebook Pixel, LinkIn Pixel, Zoho Pagesense and so on. So i am able to do retargeting

• Zoho SignForms: Prefill parameters with spaces render as “+” in the document (even when using %20)

  Hello Zoho Sign team, we are using SignForms with prefill parameters passed via URL. Spaces in parameter values are being rendered as “+” in the finalized document—even when we URL-encode spaces as %20. This is critical for us because we prefill addresses

• Currency selector (based on variable) usage in comparsion

  Hi, I've developed a currency selector based on the following topic, and it's working well in pivot tables and charts: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/how-can-i-allow-my-users-to-choose-a-currency-for-the-dashboard I also have a comparison

• Customize Column in Projects - Default View for Template?

  Is there a way to have the columns you'd like to see added to a template? I want my customized columns to show up every single time I create a project from that template. It appears I can customize them in the template but when I create the project they do not transfer over.  Template: See below how the columns in order are : Task, Owner, Status, Assigned, Website URL, Blog H1..etc. When I create a project from that same template it comes out as: Task, Owner, Status, Tags, Start Date, End Date, etc

• Ask the Experts 24: Analytics, data administration, and mobile experience with Zoho Desk

  Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Ask the Experts(ATE) series! We were so focused on our Autumn 2025 release that we didn't host an ATE session last month. In this month's ATE, we'd like to expand our areas for discussion: we'd like to listen to your

• Multi-Page Forms in Zoho Creator!

  Let’s make long applications easier to handle by dividing them into pages, adding a progress bar, and guiding users step by step through complex data entry. This would be a total game-changer for the user experience and could significantly boost completion

• Unable to Receive Emails on Zoho Mail After Office 365 Coexistence Setup – Error: 553 Relaying Disallowed

  Hello, My domain name is bigniter.com, and I’ve been using Zoho Mail as my email service provider without any issues. Recently, I followed the steps outlined in the Zoho documentation to enable Coexistence with Office 365: 🔗 https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/coexistence-with-office365.html#multi-server

• Email login error

  Login successfully but email page error

• Shared Mailboxes Disappeared

  Zoho Mail users in our company haven't been able to see their Shared Mailboxes for the past few hours. I've checked with App and Web Access, but they can't access them. When I send emails to their addresses, I get no error messages. They're still visible

• Remote Server is misconfigured

  Dear Team, I am unable to use email id as remote server is misconfigured. It would be really great if you could help on this and get this resolved. Thanks & Regard Rohit Gupta

• 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.

• Free webinar alert on October 16 - Less Complexity, More Security: Workplace + Directory

  Hello Zoho Workplace Community! Security and productivity shouldn't be at odds—and with Zoho, they're not. Discover how Zoho Workplace + Directory delivers seamless collaboration with enterprise-grade security, all in one integrated ecosystem. Join our

• Email Recall Feature In Zoho Mail Which Should Also Work For Outside Organisation Members

  Add a feature to recall or undo sending an email within a configurable short time window (e.g., 30 seconds to 2 minutes) after hitting send, similar to Gmail’s undo send. Currently the sent email can not be recall If the recipient is not from within your

• Workdrive and ChatGPT Team Synced Connectors

  Hi, we want to be able to integrate Zoho Workdrive with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Team plan. Google Drive and OneDrive both offer this, zoho please catch up asap. We dont want to have to put our company files in google drive, we want to allow chatgpt Team edition

• Next Page