# Mapping the Journey From Summit Registrant to Paying Client > Map every step from summit sign-up to booked call: emails, VIP, your own session, follow-up by behavior and long-term nurture in your CRM. URL: https://virtualsummits.com/your-customer-journey-strategy Author: Steve Eriksen (https://eventraptor.com/about-steve) Publisher: EventRaptor (https://eventraptor.com) Published: 2026-05-20 Updated: 2026-11-01 Section: Product News This guide is for coaches, therapists and experts who are [thinking about running a summit](/why-you-should-host-a-virtual-summit). A summit customer journey is the planned set of steps that takes someone from registering for your free event to booking a call or joining your program. There are eight stages to map: registration, pre-event emails, attendance, a VIP offer, your own session, follow-up based on what each person did, a clear invitation, and long-term nurture in your CRM. Most hosts plan the event in detail and barely plan the journey at all. I've seen it many times. EventRaptor made running a summit easy, but many of our customers still struggled afterward because they had no process for turning registrants and attendees into clients. They'd add hundreds of people to their list and convert few or none of them. In my experience, a good follow-up process might turn 10 to 15% of them into clients. I can't promise you that number. It does show how much of the result depends on what you do after people register. So here's the whole journey, with a table you can copy. If you're still getting to grips with the format, start with [how a virtual summit works for coaches and experts](/what-is-a-virtual-summit). ## Key Takeaways - Write down all eight stages before you invite a single speaker, so every email and page has a job to do. - Put a booking link in your welcome emails and on your VIP thank-you page, because some of your best prospects may never watch a session. - In your own session, teach one useful idea and finish with one specific invitation. - Tag people by what they did (bought VIP, booked a call, replied, stayed quiet) and send each group its own follow-up. - Keep nurturing for months after the event, because many summit registrants buy long after the event closes. ## The Eight Stages at a Glance | Stage | What the person needs | What you send or do | Where it runs | |---|---|---|---| | 1. Registration | A quick reason to say yes | Short page, one or two questions about their situation | EventRaptor registration page, synced to GHL/CRMRaptor | | 2. Pre-event emails | A reason to show up | Welcome email, dashboard link, reminders | EventRaptor welcome and reminder emails | | 3. Attendance | Easy access each day | Attendee dashboard, schedule, Zoom links | EventRaptor dashboard, Zoom | | 4. VIP offer | More time and extras | All-access pass on the thank-you page and during the event | EventRaptor VIP status and offer emails | | 5. Your session | A feel for how you think | Teach one thing, make one invitation | Your live or recorded session | | 6. Follow-up by behavior | A message that fits what they did | Separate sequences for each group | GHL/CRMRaptor tags and workflows | | 7. The invitation | A clear next step | Call, smaller offer or program | GHL/CRMRaptor calendar and funnel | | 8. Long-term nurture | Staying in touch until they're ready | Regular useful emails, next event invite | GHL/CRMRaptor | Each row has a job. If one row is blank in your plan, that's where people tend to drift away. ## Before Day One ### Registration Keep the page short. Say who it's for, what problem it helps with, the dates and who's speaking. Then add one or two registration questions you'll actually use later, such as "What's your biggest challenge with this right now?" Those answers turn into tags in your CRM, and weeks later they tell you what to say to each person. ### Pre-Event Emails Between signing up and day one, people forget why they registered. Your welcome email confirms the details, shows them where the attendee dashboard lives and gives one reason to catch your session in particular. Reminders then go out on the event's timing. For a fuller plan, here's a guide to [warming attendees up before day one](/summit-planning/pre-event-nurture-path-attendees-excited-before-day-one). ## During the Summit ### Attendance Make showing up effortless. Give people one dashboard with the schedule, today's sessions and the Zoom join links, plus a short reminder each morning. If someone can't find the link on day one, they're unlikely to come back on day two. ### The VIP Offer Most summits offer a VIP or all-access pass on the thank-you page straight after registration, and again during the event. It usually includes lasting access to the recordings plus bonuses. (Here are some ideas for [what to do with your summit recordings](/the-most-powerful-tool-known-to-man-ever-summits).) At Own Your Stage in February 2022, Jennie and I sold 109 VIP tickets at $47. VIP buyers have already paid you something, so treat them as some of your warmest prospects. Jon Schumacher, a podcast guest who uses summits for his consulting business, put a short video about his services and a booking calendar on the page buyers saw after purchasing the pass, and he linked to it in his welcome emails. From roughly 2,800 opt-ins and about 250 pass buyers, around 20 people booked calls. He took about 7 of those calls and closed 3 consulting engagements. As far as he knew, none of those three had watched a single summit session. That's one host's result and it doesn't predict yours. Still, it's a good reason to show your invitation early. One more thing. Build your offer before the event starts. At one summit I was too exhausted to put a proper offer together. Speakers and attendees loved it and it added 476 new people to our list, but it made only about $1,800 during the event. ### Your Own Session This is where people get to see how you think. Teach one useful idea, show a little of your method, and then make one invitation, like booking a call or applying for your program. Lucy Bedewi, a personality-driven copywriter, hosted the Out-Earn Your Man summit in September 2021. Right after she presented, she booked 4 discovery calls, and all 4 became clients. That's one person's result. It doesn't predict results for another host. If you're a therapist or healing practitioner hosting a summit, keep your session clearly educational. Summit content isn't therapy and shouldn't be framed that way. Never use stories or testimonials from therapy clients, and check your licensing board's advertising rules before you write your invitation or promotional emails. ## After the Summit ### Follow-Up Sorted by Behavior One email blast to everyone wastes the most useful thing you learned during the event, which is what each person did. Sort them like this: 1. VIP buyers get a thank-you, help using what they bought, and then an invitation to a call. 2. People who booked a call get a confirmation, a reminder and a short prep page with something to watch or read beforehand. 3. Registrants who answered your question a certain way get emails that speak to that challenge. 4. Anyone who replied or asked you something gets a personal reply from you, not a sequence. 5. Everyone else gets a short series recapping the best ideas, ending with an invitation. In GHL/CRMRaptor each group is a tag, and each tag can start its own workflow, which you can schedule with a [14-day post-summit follow-up plan](/automation/coaches-use-automation-follow-up-human-touch). ### The Invitation Make it specific and offer one option per email: a call, a smaller paid offer that solves one problem, or your main program. Some hosts build a ladder over time. They start with a mid-priced offer for one problem, move up to a bigger program that delivers the full transformation, and later add a membership for people who want to keep learning with them. You don't need the whole ladder for your first summit. A booking link and one program are enough. ### Long-Term Nurture A summit keeps paying long after the event closes. Own Your Stage brought in more than $24,000 within two weeks of the event, and more than $50,000 by February 2024 as new registrants kept buying. The people from that low-earning summit will keep buying for years too. These are our own results and they don't predict yours. They show why the journey should keep going after the event: send regular useful emails, invite people to your next event, and reopen call invitations every few months. ## How EventRaptor Carries the Journey for You Jennie and I have hosted 13 summits of our own and over 40 summits for clients, and the journey above is what we build each time. On the event side, registrations sync to GHL/CRMRaptor with tags and VIP status, so follow-up can start the moment someone signs up. Welcome emails and reminders run on the event's timing. The attendee dashboard and schedule are built from your speaker and session records, and promoter links show which speaker sent each registrant. On a done-for-you summit, our team also writes the swipe copy, VIP sales page and session descriptions and sets up Zoom, so your job is to teach, host and make the invitation. After the event, the conversation carries on in your CRM, where the calendars, workflows and long-term emails live. To be clear about the limits, EventRaptor doesn't track who watched which session. Live sessions run on Zoom. So your behavior groups come from purchases, bookings, replies and registration answers, and that's plenty to work with. You can see the full list of [summit features organized by job](/features). ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What Is a Customer Journey for a Virtual Summit? It's the planned set of steps from registration to client. The steps cover sign-up, pre-event emails, attendance, a VIP offer, the host's own session, follow-up based on what each person did, an invitation to a call or program, and long-term nurture. Planning these steps before the event means every page and email has a purpose. ### When Should I Invite Summit Attendees to Book a Call? Earlier than most hosts expect. Put a booking link on the VIP thank-you page and in welcome emails, invite people again at the end of your own session, and repeat it in your follow-up. Some ready buyers book without ever watching a session. ### How Do I Follow Up With Registrants Who Didn't Attend? Send them a short series that recaps the most useful ideas from the event and ends with one clear invitation. Then move them into your regular nurture emails. Plenty of people who miss the live event still buy later. ### Can Therapists Use a Summit Customer Journey Ethically? Yes, as long as the content stays educational and you follow your licensing board's advertising rules. Don't make clinical claims or promise mental health outcomes, and never use stories or testimonials from therapy clients. An invitation to a consultation or a group program fits naturally after an educational session. ### How Long Should I Nurture Summit Leads? Keep going for as long as people stay subscribed and find your emails useful. In our experience, people who joined through a summit have been buying for years. Regular emails and invitations to your next event keep you in mind until they're ready. ## Your Next Step Take a sheet of paper and write the eight stages down the left side. Next to each one, note what you'd send or say. Any blank rows are your to-do list. If you'd like someone to fill in those rows with you, from the registration question to the email that goes out three months later, [Book your Client Attraction Planning Call](/planning-call). We'll look at what you sell and how people find you now, and map a journey that fits your business.