Zoho Backstage Review – Will It Help You Plan, Manage, And Optimize Your Events?

One of the things you may have noticed in the past year is that traditional big-time events like the Consumer Electronics Show and other world-famous conferences didn’t disappear. They just shifted online. 

And while many people are eager to return to in-person conferences, there are definitely some advantages to the all-digital format. First and foremost, it enables people from all over the world to attend your event, greatly expanding your potential reach. 

They are also much cheaper and can be very easy to organize—as long as you have the right tools. Online or offline Zoho Backstage makes event planning and management a breeze. 

So, before you hold your next event using a Zoom webinar or another tool, find out whether you’ll be better off using Zoho Backstage in this comprehensive review. 

What Is Zoho Backstage? 

Reviewing Zoho software is starting to become a favorite hobby of ours. So far, we’ve taken a look at Zoho Assist, Zoho Social, Zoho Projects, and Zoho PageSense. If you’ve read these reviews, then you won’t be too surprised by our conclusions from this one. 

Zoho has yet again created a strong and affordable alternative to some of the bigger names out there. And more importantly, it’s easy to use. 

The intuitive software makes it easy to plan, execute offline and online conferences, product launches, training sessions, and other meetups. It also packages everything you need in one place, including ticketing, outreach tools, built-in landing pages, and analytics. 

It’s all very straightforward, and you can even host the event on Zoho’s subdomain if you don’t want to or don’t have your own site. It’s also built for social marketing, promo banners, and maximizing SERP rankings. 

The one word that comes to mind is integration. Zoho Backstage integrates with major payment gateways like Stripe, Square, and PayPal and CRM, email marketing, and 500 other apps that greatly extend its functionality. 

Zoho Backstage Features

• Attendee chat groups
• Custom event badges
• Early bird and tiered pricing
• Event live casts
• Event reports and insights
• Hosting for virtual events
• Interactive sessions and presentations
• Mobile-optimized, multilingual websites
• Multiple ticket classes
• Online payments
• Online registration for virtual events
• Pre-built website themes and templates
• Promotional banners
• Ticket rules
• Tier-based custom sponsorship packages
• Website SERP listing
• Website builder

How To Use Zoho Backstage

Zoho Backstage is incredibly straightforward to use. After setting up your account, Zoho will walk you through everything you need to know in a handy tutorial. 

To be honest, though, it’s hardly necessary. Using it is extremely straightforward. From your dashboard, you can instantly create either an offline or online event, set the date, and then begin planning what you need to execute it. 

It also includes a handy progress tracker, so you know everything else you need to take care of to ensure your event is a success. You’ll be able to track organizers and speakers, set up tickets, customize your microsite (the hosted subdomain) and track how many people have visited. 

Best of all, there are tons of resources that help you learn how to better navigate Zoho Backstage and learn the ropes of how to effectively plan and manage events. Even if you’re an old pro, it’s definitely worth browsing these articles and resources for 30-40 minutes. You’ll be surprised at some of the cool tips you pick up. 

How Much Does Zoho Backstage Cost? 

Zoho Backstage has affordable tiered pricing. There is even a basic free plan that gives you access to many features, including unlimited events, one event portal, unlimited attendees, and even the site editor.

Upgrading unlocks a host of other useful features, including: 

• Event sponsorship 
• Engagement tools like crowdsource questions and polls.
• Email schedulers
• Mobile apps 
• And additional integrations

This doesn’t come cheap, however. With plans starting from $99/monthly ($79/month billed annually). But compared to Zoom, which starts from $149/month, it’s definitely a bargain. 

What’s also cool is the flexible pricing. So, you can use Zoho Backstage free for your smaller events and take advantage of their one-time pricing options when you really need to go all out on occasion. 

Zoho Backstage Features

Zoho Backstage hits the right balance between being feature-rich without overwhelming complexity. Their goal is to help you have a streamlined and successful event, so there are not too many granular details to distract you. 

A few of Zoho Backstage’s most useful features include: 

1. Agenda

If you’re hosting a major event, chances are, it’s not just going to be a one-hour webinar. You’re likely to bring in multiple speakers across multiple days and topics. 

With Zoho Backstage, you can easily create and manage your agenda to always know what’s going on at any given time and maximize gaps in these schedules to create opportunities for your audience to network and interact more with your platform. 

2. Ticketing

Whether your event is free or not, you need to issue tickets so you can track attendance and make the most out of your investment. That’s really what all events are. Whether you’re showcasing your top experts, hosting a panel discussion, or launching a product, the time alone you invest in creating and hosting an event needs to be worth it. 

Zoho makes it easy to issue and track tickets and create different ticket classes so you can have early bird specials, VIPs, and other types of promos to generate as much buzz as possible about your event.

3. Event Design 

Zoho is an all-in-one platform that includes your event landing page. You can host your landing page on Zoho’s subdomain and design it from a selection of pre-set and easy-to-use layouts. 

You can customize with your logos, color scheme and provide all the information necessary making it easier for your attendees to get all the information they need to know. 

4. Sponsor Management 

Offline or online, sponsors are the lifeblood of many events. Upgrading to a premium allows you to add sponsors to make your event more profitable and boost your reach. 

You’ll also have access to push notifications, mobile and web app-based presentations, and other engagement tools. 

5. Analytics 

Zoho Backstage includes a range of metrics so you can see how well your event is performing. And this starts well before the occasion. You can see the number of tickets purchased, cash flow, net profit, and promotions. You can also balance this against the cost of hosting the event to see exactly how much you’ve netted from it or where you might need to start pushing ticket sales more aggressively.

Who Should Use Zoho Backstage? 

Digital events are becoming increasingly popular marketing tools. As more businesses start to harness live content, webinars, and other types of online community spaces, you’ll need to get more organized than what the free or even paid version of Zoom offers. 

The advantage is that Backstage starts free, so it’s a great toe in the water for businesses and marketers looking to experiment with the format before they invest more heavily in it. 

It’s also worth considering, even if you have a dedicated event management solution already. For example, HubSpot and Zoom do not integrate together very well. So, if you create an email campaign in HubSpot that’s tied to a Zoom event, it can get really clunky and even lead to your guests being unable to attend the event. 

Zoho Backstage solves this challenge and integrates well not only with their suite tools but 500 others, so it’s worth checking out. 

Is Zoho Backstage Worth It? 

Absolutely. They offer a powerful combination of tools. Even at the free level, you get access to ticketing, payment gateways, event design, and other great features. 

It’s also less than half the cost of Zoom, and they give you the flexibility of going with one-time event pricing, so you don’t have to be trapped in an expensive monthly or annual subscription, and you discover this format doesn’t work for you. 

Best of all, it’s easy to use, meaning there’s little lost time picking it up and getting an event created in just a few minutes. 

Zoho Backstage Pros

• Easy to use
• Free plan 
• Feature-rich 
• One-time pricing option available
• Can design landing pages
• Mobile-friendly 
• Push notifications 
• Engagement tools 
• Helpful analytics 

Zoho Backstage Cons

• Would be nice if it integrated with more Zoho products
• Doesn’t offer the most customization

Zoho Backstage vs. Zoom 

Both Zoho Backstage and Zoom offer event hosting. The difference, however, is that Zoho provides a wide array of additional features that are better suited for creating larger events, especially those that span across multiple days.

It’s also worth noting that Zoom and Zoho Backstage aren’t mutually exclusive. Zoho Backstage has a Zoom integration, so there are ways to leverage both platforms to maximize your event success. 

Zoho Backstage Review: The Bottom Line

Zoho Backstage is yet another fantastic Zoho product. It’s perfect for those looking to take advantage of the rising digital event content marketing trends and people looking for a replacement for the existing event management solution. Give the free plan a shot now and see how well it works for you!