Send a client brief
When to use this
Use this guide early in a lead: before you price anything, let the client tell you about the day in their own words, on their own time.
Sending client briefs is included on every plan, and so is your public enquiry link, which collects the same brief from anyone who finds it.
What a brief is
A client brief is a friendly guided form you send from a lead. The client confirms the basics, describes the style they are after, uploads inspiration photos, and indicates budget, and it all lands back on the event ready for your proposal work.
Every event type has its own brief. Out of the box it’s BloomBoard’s default: the flow described below. On the Studio plan you can reword, reorder, require, hide, or add your own questions to any event type’s brief from Business → Client briefs, under Your briefs. With Forms switched on for your studio, the page is called Forms and the card Your forms. See Customize your client brief. If you haven’t customized an event type, nothing below changes.
Step-by-step walkthrough
Compose the brief from the lead
Lead cards on the events board suggest the brief as a next step. Composing mints a private link you can email from BloomBoard or copy into any channel you already use.
To add a new client and send the brief in one go, select New lead on the Events board. Type the Client name and choose the Event type. BloomBoard names the new event with the client’s name and the occasion in words, for example “Acme · Corporate event”.
After you send, the dialog shows the steps that come next. After Copy link, it says Link copied, and the first step reads Copied. BloomBoard does not email anything when you copy the link.
The event’s proposal also opens with a Brief section that invites you to send one. Not sending a brief for this event? Select the × in the top-right corner of that card. The section is hidden on this event for everyone in your studio, and it comes back once the event has a brief. Undo in the message that appears brings it straight back. To send one later, choose Send a brief in the event’s ⋯ menu, or Send one on the lead’s card.
When you send by email, a line under the send buttons tells you where the client’s reply goes. It reads “Replies come to your Inbox and forward to”, then your business email from Business details. When no business email is set, it shows the account owner’s login email, marked “(your login email)”. With a connected mailbox, it reads “Sending as” your address, and replies land in that mailbox and in your BloomBoard Inbox.
Your message is the note the client reads first, in the email and at the top of their brief. BloomBoard starts you with a friendly opening line; write it your way, then choose Save as my default under the box and every brief you compose from then on starts with your words instead. The line under the box reads “Your default” while it’s in use; choose Use BloomBoard’s wording there to go back to the built-in message. The default is shared by everyone in your studio.
The Questions panel also holds the reply promise the client sees after they submit — within 2, 3, or 5 days, or simply “soon” if you would rather not commit to a number.
The client fills it in, at their pace
The brief opens by asking for the client’s email address — it is required (a small star marks it, as it marks every required question, with ”* needed to continue” under the buttons), so even a brief you shared by copied link or WhatsApp leaves you a way to reach them. The form tells the client this plainly: you can still reach them even if they don’t get to finish. Then it walks them through short steps: the basics (date, venue, guests, which they confirm or correct), the people involved, what they need with simple counters and an honest “not sure” option, their style in chips and words, inspiration photos (with hearts for favorites), a budget range, and final notes, all reviewed before sending — or, on a customized brief, your own reworded questions, your own added questions, and no built-in question you’ve hidden, in the order you set up in the editor. If they close the tab halfway, the link picks up where they left off. After submitting they see a simple confirmation — their enquiry has been received, when you will be in touch (your reply promise), and that they can close the tab.
Photos a client adds count toward your monthly upload limit. When that limit is used up, the photos step tells the client that photos can’t be added right now and that they can share photos with you later.
Until the client sends the brief back, their photos stay with the brief: they are not in your Media library yet. When the brief comes back, the photos land on the event, join the library, and are analyzed for a description, tags and a palette like any other photo.
Because the email comes first, you keep it even when they never finish: the address they typed shows on the lead card and on the brief panel in the event workspace (with a copy button), so you can follow up yourself. For safety, BloomBoard never emails an address the form visitor typed. Automatic nudges go only to the client email you put in the composer.
When you email a brief with Automations on, the built-in Brief nudges send its nudge. That nudge is skipped once the brief is back for the event after the email went out, also when your client filled in a link you copied. See Automations.
If you archive the event or move it to Canceled before the client finishes, the automatic brief reminder pauses. Restore the archived event, or move the canceled event to another column, to make it eligible again. The private brief link itself keeps working while the event is archived or canceled; use Revoke in the brief actions if you need to close that link.
Review the submission
When the brief comes back you get the submission on the event, next to everything else about the job. The email the client gave lands on their contact card automatically — filled in when it was blank, or flagged for your review if it differs from what you had. From there, build the proposal on a foundation the client gave you themselves.
Choose Read their brief — on the event’s brief card, or in the review panel — to open the full submission as a document: one section per page, in the order and wording the client actually saw — your own questions read exactly like the built-in ones. It’s the same view whether the brief came from a lead you sent it to or from your public enquiry link.
If you removed one of your own questions after a client had already answered it, their answer still shows at the end of the document under Also answered, so nothing a client wrote is ever lost.
If the event has no arrangements yet, needs with a quantity become arrangement placeholders ready for you to cost. BloomBoard files each one into the best matching arrangement group already in your studio: for example, a bridal bouquet goes under Personal Flowers, while table centerpieces go under Dining & Tables. Your renamed groups are respected when their names still describe the same area. If there is no sensible match, the placeholder stays ungrouped; BloomBoard never creates a new group for you.
If you already started the event’s arrangements, the client’s needs appear as suggestions instead. Add the ones you want from the review, and BloomBoard organizes them into the same matching groups.
Need the client to change something after they’ve sent it? Use Reopen for edits on the brief card — it asks you to confirm, then their link starts working again. Nothing already sent is lost: the card keeps a View their answers button while they edit, and if they submit again, Read their brief lets you switch between every version they’ve sent. You only ever see completed submissions, never a half-finished edit.
Make the budget ranges yours
The budget options the client sees come from the Budget question card on Business → Client briefs (called Forms when Forms are switched on for your studio). Every brief and form offers the same ranges, including the ones your enquiry form asks. Shape them to your market there, and the Clients see preview on the card shows exactly what clients will see.
- Where each range starts holds the amounts. Select Add an amount for another range. Every amount needs a number before it saves: until then the card shows “Fill in every amount.”
- Offer “Under R15,000” adds a range below your first amount, and its name follows that amount. With a minimum spend set, the minimum already hides every range below it.
- Minimum spend is the lowest amount you take on. Every range below it disappears, and a client typing their own number is held to it. Nothing a client picks can undercut your minimum. Leave it empty for no minimum.
- Clients must choose a budget removes “I’d rather talk it through” from the budget step, so the client picks a range or types their own number. It applies to your enquiry form and to briefs you have already sent that haven’t come back yet. A client who chose “talk it through” before you turned this on can still finish and submit. This only governs event types whose brief you haven’t customized. Once you customize a brief, its own Budget question has its own Required switch in the editor, and that switch decides whether “talk it through” shows for that event type.
The card saves as you go, and Saved shows beside the page title. An amount or the minimum saves when you leave the field or press Enter, and Escape puts the saved value back.
A good brief saves a revision later. The style words, photos, and budget range all pay off when the first proposal already feels like the client’s day.