Billing Management: #10 Solving Common Mistakes in Billing

Over the past few weeks, we have explored different facets of billing, from the simplicity of traditional one-time billing to the evolving landscape of subscriptions, retainers, and usage-based models. We've unpacked how billing isn't just about sending an invoice; it's about how a business communicates value, maintains trust, and keeps its financial rhythm steady.

As businesses grow, so does the complexity of billing. What once worked with a single invoice or payment can quickly become tangled when projects overlap, clients prepay, usage fluctuates, or charges go unbilled. While every business strives for precision in billing, even a small mistake can quietly cost time, money, and reputation.

In this final part of our Billing Management Series, let's step away from theory and get into the reality of businesses that struggle with billing errors, confusion, and missed revenue opportunities.

Missing Items 

Jessica runs a marketing agency. After wrapping up a major campaign, she sat down late into the night, manually typing the invoices. Halfway through, she realized she had missed adding a few minor tasks.

The client called the next morning. "Jessica, why is our invoice missing some items we agreed on?" they asked. Jessica could only apologize and rush to correct the total, feeling frustrated and embarrassed.

Zoho Billing keeps invoice creation error-free and straightforward. An invoice can be created and saved as a draft before it reaches the customer. This allows users like Jessica to double-check whether all the entries or items were added as agreed by the client. Once checked, the invoice can be sent, and through automatic reminders, follow-up can be done on the payment, leaving Jessica to focus on her campaigns instead of keeping it.

Invisible Hours 

Rakesh's firm was in the middle of a multiple-phase project. On Friday, he checked the milestone report and noticed something alarming.

"Wait, we logged 60 hours, right? Where are the extra 15?" he asked the team. They shrugged, looking sheepish. Some work had been done, but was never logged into the manual timesheets. Rakesh realized that the company might lose revenue without even knowing it.

Zoho Billing enables time logging from different devices and avenues to make it more accessible and reliable. It allows time logging in real time through the console, desktop version, mobile app (iOS and Android), and smartwatches. Once the time is logged, it automatically calculates the worked billable hours correctly and gives users confidence that the team's efforts were fully accounted for.

Subscription Chaos 

A fast-growing SaaS company had dozens of clients who upgraded and downgraded their plans each month. One afternoon, the finance team noticed a client's mid-cycle upgrade wasn't reflected correctly.

"Why does this invoice show the old plan?" demanded the client. "We upgraded last week!" yells the customer with frustration. Meanwhile, a failed payment had gone unnoticed, compounding the problem.

Zoho Billing automates subscriptions, handling plan changes, proration, and failed payment retries. Proration ensures that the customer is charged the precise additional amount required whenever they choose to upgrade their plan. Conversely, smart dunning assists the company by making three attempts before flagging it as unsuccessful. This also enables customers and users to receive notifications to ensure the renewal payments are successful.

Retainer Mystery 

At a law firm, partners argued over the amount of a client's retainer during a meeting. "Did we use $2500 or $3000 of this client's retainer?" one of the partners asked exasperatingly. Staff had been manually tracking prepayments, and this uncertainty delayed the issuance of the next invoice. Meanwhile, clients were called to verify balances, creating awkward back-and-forth conversations.

Zoho Billing promptly tracks advance payments under each customer record and applies them automatically to invoices. A comprehensive balance report provides precise information about the remaining retainer, ensuring alignment between partners and clients and minimizing internal misunderstandings.

Advance Invoice Dilemma 

A consulting firm must bill a client for a monthly strategy session. The finance team manually created the invoice, but accidentally issued a duplicate one. "Wait, did we just charge them twice?" someone asked with surprise. The client called, puzzled and frustrated, causing a tense back-and-forth over email before the error was resolved.

Zoho Billing automates advanced invoicing, tracking which invoices have been paid or applied. This ensures no duplicate invoices are sent to the client and keeps the renewal cycle intact. The clients receive clear, accurate bills for upcoming services.

Usage Puzzle 

A cloud storage company billed customers based on monthly data usage. Staff spent hours consolidating reports, calculating tiered charges, and applying discounts. Despite all this, the customer claimed, "We've double-counted somewhere."  He added, "Your invoice doesn't match my usage. Can you explain?" Hours were wasted checking logs and recalculating charges.

Zoho Billing integrates with your tracking system through APIs, promptly capturing usage data without any manual intervention. The usage is computed automatically according to the pricing configured, and it is visible on the invoices and in the customer portal.

Variable Usage Confusion 

An energy management company billed a commercial client based on electricity consumption. In a particular month, the client's usage spiked unexpectedly.

"I can't believe this is our invoice!  It's way higher than last month," the client exclaimed. Staff struggled to recalculate charges, delaying the invoice, and the frustrated client waited.

Zoho Billing automatically calculates variable usage charges according to the consumption rule. When usage data is added to the system, manually or by importing it, the corresponding charges will be applied and billed accurately with no room for errors while computing.

Compliance Headache 

Rio manages a mid-sized business with clients across multiple states and countries. Every month, he struggles with varying tax rules, be it GST or VAT calculation, and keeping his invoices compliant. "Did we apply the right tax for that international client?" he wonders, realizing a small mistake could result in penalties. The finance team spends hours cross-checking the invoices, often working late to ensure everything is accurate.

Zoho Billing offers edition-specific features that cater to different regions and compliance requirements. The editions starting from the USA, India, Australia, Canada, UAE, UK, and so on keep businesses covered in terms of taxable invoicing and compliance with local tax authorities. It automatically calculates applicable tax rates, applies local and international rules, and generates audit-ready invoices based on the country you choose. Zoho Billing ensures that every transaction is fully compliant, allowing Rio to move on without several hours of manual checks.

Precision in Billing Management 

Billing challenges encompass more than just numbers on a page; they also involve real people, their frustrations, and the risk of lost revenue. From missing line items to complex usage calculations, Zoho Billing automates various processes, ensures accuracy, and provides visibility across different levels.  Every invoice, advance request, or usage report is a professional touchpoint that strengthens clients' trust and allows businesses to focus on growth instead of chasing numbers. 

As we end this series on billing management, we are excited to make one extra post that will definitely excite everyone here. 

Hint: Zoho Billing now covers the Advanced Usage Billing Model. Keep guessing! 

• Topic Participants

• Hari Hara Sudhan. S

  

• 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

• Image field in custom module

  Hi guy, Is there any hope of adding a custom image field in the custom module? We created a custom module to keep track of assets, and it would be helpful if we could attach an image to the record. Thanks Rudy

• Deluge Function to Update Custom Field

  I'm trying to get a Deluge function (which will run as part of a Schedule in Desk) that retrieves all tickets with the status "Recurring" and updates the custom field checkbox "cf_recurring" to "true". Here's what I have, which doesn't work: searchValue

• "View ticket" link is broken

  The "View ticket" link in our Zoho ticketing system confirmation emails is broken (please see attached). Impacts ability to update/review details, and, refresh recollection at a later date. Any help would be much appreciated.

• import data from Apollo.ai into zoho crm via zoho flow

  I might be asking this question in the wrong forum. We use Apollo.ai to find potential new leads for our business, there are around 10000 leads that we have initially found. We have an Apollo.ai account but just to do searches, we dont use it as a crm.

• Can't Figure out Books and level 2 payment data

  Hello, I am having trouble figuring out how to collect level 2 payment data as required by my payment gateway. Last month it cost us almost $5000 in fees because of this. We are invoicing our clients with books and they pay through the link in that email

• Woocommerce Line Item Information

  I'd like to add each line item from a Woocommerce order to a zoho creator form record. The line items are found within the line items array, but I'm not sure how to get each item out of the array? Any help would be much appreciated.

• Synching changes to Stripe when changes are made in Zoho Billing

  We have a situation where we have merged customers in Zoho BIlling and then found out later that the payment in Stripe was not updated and still associated with the old customer record. The card gets updated and billed, but that payment is still associated

• How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

  How do I fix this? Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

• Disable Smart Filters By Default

  The smart filters "feature" is causing confusion for Zoho Mail users. New emails should be delivered to the inbox unless they have specifically opted to redirect them somewhere else. People don't understand that new emails might be waiting in a random

• ME SALE ESTE ERROR: No fue posible enviar el mensaje;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked

  Ayuda!! Me sale este error al intentar enviar mensajes desde mi correo electronico de Zoho! Tampoco recibo correos pues cuando me envia rebotan. Ayuda, Me urge enviar unos correo importantes!! Quedo atenta MAGDA HERNANDEZ +5731120888408

• Client Script | Update - Client Script Support For Custom Buttons

  Hello everyone! We are excited to announce one of the most requested features - Client Script support for Custom Buttons. This enhancement lets you run custom logic on button actions, giving you greater flexibility and control over your user interactions.

• Zoho Mail not working

  Zoho Mail not working

• I can't add a new customer in Zoho invoice? Anyone had this issue before?

  Ive been using Zoho invoice for over 6 years. Today I wanted to add a new customer to send an invoice to but it doesn't save when I try to access it from the pulldown menu when you go to send a new invoice.

• Spreadsheet View click & focus issue in Arabic (RTL) localization

  Hello Zoho Support Team, I am facing an issue in Zoho Creator Spreadsheet View when using Arabic localization (RTL). Scenario: My app supports English (LTR) and Arabic (RTL). I created a Spreadsheet View for a form. In English, everything works correctly.

• Customer address in Zoho Bookings

  Hello,  Is it possible to add customer address information to the Zoho bookings appointment screen? Or have it pull that information automatically from the CRM? We are wanting to use this as a field management software but it is difficult to pull the address from multiple sources when it would be ideal to have a clickable address on the appointment screen that opens up the user's maps.  It would also be advantageous for the "list view" to show appointment times instead of just duration and booking

• Ghost email notification on a form

  Hello, We have recently encountered an error where I can not see a email notification set up for a form which I am currently the owner, although neither the form nor the notification were created by me. However, neither can the Super Admin access the

• bulk edit records and run internal logic

  hi there is few logics in manner "it this than that" logics work well when i edit entry openning it one by one (via workflow "on add/edit - on success" , for custom field "on update/on user input") but when i try bulk edit records - logic does not work.  how can i turn on logic to work as programmed - for mass editing records via bulk edit?

• Limitations on editing a message in Cliq

  Hi I've checked the documentations and there's no mention of how many times a message can be edited. When trying with code, I get various numbers such as ~1000 edits or so. Please mention if there's a limit on how many times one can change a message via

• email address autocomplete

  Is there a way to eliminate certain addresses from showing up in auto complete when entering an address? Many old and unused addresses currently show up, many of which I would like to get rid of. Thanks

• How to use MAIL without Dashboard?

  Whenever I open Mail, it opens Dashboard. This makes Mail area very small and also I cannot manage Folders (like delete/rename) etc. I want to know if there is any way to open only Mail apps and not the Dashboard.

• How can i download and secure all my mails from the archive folders?

  Hi, i would like to download all my mails from my archive folders and secure it on my external HDD. Is this possible? Thx. amir

• How to open filtered report in popup using Zoho Creator Deluge?

  First report: There is so many records in Report, If I click one record, pop up is occur. Second report (Pop up): there is also so many record data, and this pop up is also Report, not Form. First report: It has got "Sales Order" field. when I click any

• Can you default reports/charts to report the current week?

  Our data table maintains two years of data. Management wants certain report to automatically filter the report to the latest calendar week. I know I can do this manually with filters but I want the report to automatically default to the latest calendar

• Rendering PDF to view on page

  My company upload lots of PDF files onto Zoho. But every time we open it, it downloads the file instead of viewing it on the web page. Does Zoho allow uploaded PDF files to be rendered to view on web page yet? I've been trying to use <embed> or <object> but it cannot be loaded.  (similar thread: https://help.zoho.com/portal/community/topic/how-to-open-a-pdf-file-of-a-view-in-preview-mode)

• Overlapping Reports in Dashboards

  It's rare, but occasionally it would be a good feature if I were able to overlap reports, either fully or partially in the Dashboards. Also, then having the ability to move objects to the front or rear, or make them transparent/translucent would be good

• Feature request - pin or flag note

  Hi, It would be great if you could either pin or flag one or more notes so that they remain visible when there are a bunch of notes and some get hidden in the list. Sometimes you are looking for a particular name that gets lost in a bunch of less important

• Admin guide: Handling Mailbox Settings for better user management

  Managing day-to-day email scenarios, such as supporting users with multiple email addresses, ensuring uninterrupted email access during employee absences, enabling secure mailbox sharing, and enforcing organizational security and compliance, can be challenging

• Cisco Webex Calling Intergration

  Hi Guys, Our organisation is looking at a move from Salesforce to Zoho. We have found there is no support for Cisco Webex Calling however? Is there a way to enable this or are there any apps which can provide this? Thanks!

• Designing a practical Zoho setup for a small business: lessons from a real implementation

  I recently finished setting up a Zoho-based operating system for a small but growing consumer beauty business (GlowAtHomeBeauty), and I wanted to share a practical takeaway for other founders and implementers. The business wasn’t failing because of lack

• DKIM (Marketing emails) UNVERIFIED (Zoho One)

  I'm having a problem with Zoho One verifying my Marketing Email DKIM Record for MYFINISHERPHOTOS.COM. I have removed and re-entered the ownership, DKIM (Transactional emails), SPF and Marketing DKIM and all of them come back verified except the DKIM (Marketing

• Zoho Recruit Community Meet-up - India

  Namaste, India. 🙏🏼 The Zoho Recruit team is hitting the road—and we 're absolutely excited behind the scenes. Join us for the Zoho Recruit India Meet-up 2026, a morning designed to make your recruiting life easier (and a lot more effective). Date City

• Generate a Zoho Sign link

  From time to time I get a response "I never received your you e-document for electronic signature" is there a way to generate a Zoho Sign link to share.

• Is it possible to create a word cloud chart in ZoHo Analystics?

  Hi there, I have a volume of transaction text that I would like to analyse using word cloud (or other approcah to detect and present word frequency in a dataset). For example, I have 50,000 records describing menu items in restaurants. I want to be able

• How to Fix the Corrupted Outlook 2019 .pst file on Windows safely?

  There are multiple reasons to get corrupted PST files (due to a power failure, system crash, or forced shutdown) and several other reasons. If You are using this ScanePST.EXE Microsoft inbuilt recovery tool, it only supports the minor corruption issue

• [Webinar] A recap of Zoho Writer in 2025

  Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce Zoho Writer's webinar for January 2026: A recap of Zoho Writer in 2025. This webinar will provide a recap of the features and enhancements we added in 2025 to enhance your productivity. Choose your preferred

• How to drag row(s) or column(s)?

  Hi. Selecting a row or column and then dragging it to a new position does not seem to work. Am i missing something or this is just not possible in Zoho Sheet? Cheers, Jay

• Building Toppings #5 - Creating and configuring custom service connections in Bigin Toppings

  Hello Biginners, Integrating Bigin with external applications extends its capabilities and enables customized functionalities. In our last post, we saw how to create a default service connection. Today, we'll see how to create a custom service connection

• Optimising CRM-Projects workflows to manage requests, using Forms as an intermediary

  Is it possible to create a workflow between three apps with traceability between them all? We send information from Zoho CRM Deals over to Zoho Projects for project management and execution. We have used a lookup of sorts to create tasks in the past,

• Marketing Tip #15: Rank better with keyword-rich URLs for product pages

  Your product page URL is a small detail that can make a surprisingly big difference. Clean, readable URLs help in two ways: They’re easier for customers to trust and remember (no one likes clicking a link that looks messy or random). They help search

• Conditional fields when converting a Lead and creating a Deal

  Hi, On my Deal page I have a field which has a rule against it. Depending on the value entered, depends on which further fields are displayed. When I convert a Lead and select for a Deal to be created as well, all fields are shown, regardless of the value

• Next Page