Past clients: nurture and rebooking

What you will be able to do

• Identify which of your past clients are likely to rebook or refer, and when
• Build a post-event sequence that runs from the thank-you note to the next booking
• Calculate client lifetime value and use it to decide how much effort past clients deserve

The cheapest booking you will ever win is from someone who has already booked you. They know your work, they trust you, and they do not need to be convinced from scratch. Yet many event businesses send a final invoice and never speak to the client again. A simple nurture plan turns a one-time event into a relationship that pays for years.

Read the transcript

Past clients: nurture and rebooking.

The cheapest booking you will ever win is from someone who has already booked you.

They know your work, they trust you, and they do not need to be convinced from scratch.

Who rebooks, and when.

Not every client will book you again, and that is fine.

A couple marries once, we hope.

The post-event sequence.

The weeks after an event are when a client's goodwill is highest.

Plan the touches in advance and set CRM reminders when the event is booked, so nothing depends on memory.

Templates you can copy.

"Hi, thank you for trusting us with .

Seeing was the highlight of our week.

Referrals without awkwardness.

Most happy clients are willing to refer you, but few think to do it unprompted.

Tell them exactly who you help best: "couples planning weddings of 80 to 150 guests" is easier to act on than "anyone".

Small touches between the big ones.

Between the sequence emails, small gestures keep you remembered without selling anything.

Congratulate a corporate contact on LinkedIn when they are promoted.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

Who rebooks, and when

Not every client will book you again, and that is fine. A couple marries once, we hope. But even they have friends getting engaged, parents with milestone birthdays and, one day, children’s parties. Map your clients by their rebooking pattern, and you will know who to contact and when.

A children’s entertainer may find that half of each year’s bookings are siblings, classmates and next year’s birthday. A corporate caterer may find that three or four office clients make up most of its revenue. Look at your own records before you decide where to focus.

The post-event sequence

The weeks after an event are when a client’s goodwill is highest. Plan the touches in advance and set CRM reminders when the event is booked, so nothing depends on memory.

1. Day 1 or 2: thank-you. A short personal note, not a template, mentioning one specific moment from the event.
2. Week 1 to 3: the deliverable or the recap. Photos, a highlight video, a summary of the night or, for corporate clients, a short debrief with what worked and what you would change next time.
3. Week 2 to 4: the review request. Ask every client for an honest review, with a direct link.
4. Month 2: the referral invitation. A gentle note that you would be glad to help anyone they know.
5. Ongoing: the newsletter, if they have given consent.
6. The trigger date. The anniversary, the next birthday or the next annual event, timed to reach them before they start planning.

Templates you can copy

Thank-you note. “Hi [name], thank you for trusting us with [event]. Seeing [specific moment] was the highlight of our week. We will have [deliverable] to you by [date]. Priya and Marco”

Corporate rebooking, 9 to 10 months later. “Hi [name], it is hard to believe it is nearly a year since your holiday party at [venue]. Last year your team loved [detail], and you mentioned you would like [change] next time. December weekends are starting to book, so I wanted to check whether you would like us to hold [date] for you. I can send a refreshed proposal this week. Marco”

Family occasion. “Hi [name], it was a joy to be part of [child]’s seventh birthday last spring. If you are starting to think about this year’s party, we have a few Saturday dates open in [month]. Would you like me to send some ideas? [Name]”

First anniversary for a wedding couple. “Hi [names], happy first anniversary. We still talk about [moment]. If you know anyone planning a wedding this year, we would be glad to help them the way we helped you. And if you are planning an anniversary dinner, we know a few places. Priya”

Each template mentions a real detail, gives a reason to write now and makes a small, specific offer. None of them begins with “Just checking in”.

Referrals without awkwardness

Most happy clients are willing to refer you, but few think to do it unprompted. Make it easy. Tell them exactly who you help best: “couples planning weddings of 80 to 150 guests” is easier to act on than “anyone”. Give them something to forward, such as a link to your planning guide. And thank every referrer personally when a referral books, whether or not you offer a reward.

Small touches between the big ones

Between the sequence emails, small gestures keep you remembered without selling anything. Congratulate a corporate contact on LinkedIn when they are promoted. Send a family a print of their favourite photo on the anniversary of the party, if your agreement with the photographer allows it. Share a past client’s event on social media, with their permission, and tag them. Send a short holiday card in December, written by hand if you can manage it. None of these needs to be long or expensive. Their job is to make sure that when the next occasion arrives, your name is the first one the client thinks of.

Worked example: client lifetime value

Client lifetime value is the total revenue a client brings over the whole relationship, including referrals. It tells you how much effort a past client deserves.

Lantern & Lane looks at its corporate clients. An average corporate client books a holiday party worth $4,500 and keeps rebooking for an average of four years. That is $18,000. Over that time, each corporate client refers, on average, one other company that books one event at $4,500. Lifetime value: $22,500.

A wedding couple books one wedding at an average of $7,600. Across Lantern & Lane’s records, every two couples refer one new wedding between them, worth $3,800 per couple on average, and one in five couples later books a family event worth $3,000, adding $600 per couple. Lifetime value: about $12,000.

The arithmetic changes behaviour. Losing a corporate client because nobody sent the rebooking email in September costs not $4,500 but up to $22,500. Spending an hour a year on each corporate client’s debrief, rebooking and holiday card is obviously worth it. These figures are an example; calculate your own from your records.

In Canada and the GTA

Consent runs out. Under CASL, a purchase gives you implied consent to send commercial messages for 2 years from the purchase. After that, you need express consent. For many event businesses, that is exactly the danger zone: a family’s next big occasion, or a couple’s anniversary, may come after the two years are up. Use the thank-you or the review request to ask for express consent: “Would you like our monthly newsletter, with planning tips and open dates? Reply yes and we will add you.” Record the reply, its date and wording in your CRM, because the onus of proving consent is on the sender.

Notes that deliver what the client already bought, such as their photos or the event debrief, are service messages rather than sales messages. A rebooking email, a referral request with an offer, or an anniversary note promoting your services is a commercial electronic message and needs a basis for consent, your identification and an unsubscribe link. The CRTC’s guidance on implied consent explains the time limits.

Corporate contacts and the B2B exemption. CASL does not apply to a message from someone at one organization to their counterpart at another, if the organizations have a relationship and the message concerns the receiving organization’s activities. A planner emailing a corporate client’s events lead about next year’s holiday party may fall within this. Contact between two individuals alone does not create a relationship, so when your contact leaves, treat their replacement as a new relationship and introduce yourself properly.

Reviews and referral rewards

Asking for reviews. Google’s policies let you ask customers for genuine reviews and share a review link or QR code. They do not let you offer incentives such as payment, discounts or free services for posting a review or changing a negative one, and they prohibit review gating: discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking only happy customers. Ask every client, not just the ones you expect to be glowing. Read Google’s Maps user-generated content policy.

The Competition Bureau has said that anyone who writes or permits reviews that give a false or misleading impression could be liable under the Competition Act. Do not write reviews for clients, even with their blessing, and do not let staff or family post reviews without disclosing the connection.

Referral rewards and disclosure. A thank-you gift for a referral that has already booked is common and generally fine in private. But if a past client who receives a reward or commission posts about you on social media, Ad Standards’ Influencer Marketing Disclosure Guidelines treat refer-a-friend programs as a material connection when the person earns compensation or benefits. Ask them to disclose it, for example with #ad or #[YourBrand]Partner.

Photos you send back. Under the Copyright Act, the photographer owns the copyright in photos taken since November 7, 2012, unless a signed written agreement says otherwise. A client who commissioned photos for personal purposes may use them for private, non-commercial purposes. If you are a planner or venue resending a photographer’s images to a past client in a newsletter, make sure your agreement with the photographer allows it, and credit them. Treat identifiable guests in photos as personal information and ask before featuring them.

GTA rebooking cycles. Corporate holiday party decisions in the GTA are often made between late summer and October, and many companies plan around a fiscal year that may not match the calendar year. Ask each corporate client when their budget is set and time the rebooking email for just before it. For families, the cultural calendar matters: a client who booked you for Diwali, Eid or a Lunar New Year celebration will plan the next one on a date that moves each year, so check the date and reach out several weeks before.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet and complete it for your own business, using Lantern & Lane as the model where it helps. Keep it with your marketing plan. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)