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As an company proprietor for over a decade, I depend on software program and automation to streamline operations and ship outcomes. So when GoHighLevel emerged on the scene few years again, it positively caught my consideration (truly simply referred to as “HighLevel” however discovered at “GoHighLevel.com”) .
The concept was interesting – an all-in-one consumer administration platform with advertising, gross sales, and repair instruments built-in collectively. As an entrepreneur at all times trying to simplify and scale my enterprise, it appeared like a dream come true on paper. Who wouldn’t need a single resolution that does all of it?
However on this in-depth GoHighLevel overview, I’ll take you inside my disastrous journey of attempting (and failing) to change to this in style new software program. You’ll be taught:
- The backstory of why I made a decision emigrate to GoHighLevel
- How a lot time and cash I invested within the transition
- The myriad points that emerged as soon as I used to be totally onboarded
- How poor help left issues unresolved
- Why I in the end regretted consuming the GoHighLevel Kool-Help
In the event you’re contemplating whether or not GoHighLevel is correct in your personal enterprise wants, hopefully you possibly can be taught from my painful errors and inflated expectations.
Spoiler: I do NOT suggest GoHighLevel. In the event you want a CRM, begin with this checklist of finest CRMs as a substitute. I exploit Keap.
Key Takeaways:
- Watch out for Shiny Object Syndrome: Keep away from the temptation to change to new, unproven software program platforms just because they appear extra thrilling. Keep on with what’s working except a brand new resolution gives clear, across-the-board enhancements.
- Prioritize Simplicity: Select well-designed instruments that simplify your work life slightly than complicate it. An intuitive and user-friendly interface is essential for effectivity.
- Demand Transparency: Search for transparency in pricing and phrases. Be cautious of hidden charges and unclear reseller fashions, as these can erode belief within the software program supplier.
- Search Unbiased Opinions: Depend on unbiased, complete opinions and testimonials when evaluating software program. Take note of the general usability and performance slightly than simply help opinions.
Backstory: Why I Thought-about Switching from Keap
To know what attracted me to GoHighLevel within the first place, you want context about my earlier setup. For over 5 years I had been fortunately counting on Keap (previously Infusionsoft) to satisfy all my consumer administration and automation wants.
I discovered Keap intuitive to make use of and it dealt with every little thing I wanted – CRM, e mail advertising, gross sales funnels, membership websites, and consumer help.
For probably the most half, it simply labored reliably with minimal fuss or upkeep required. My open and click-through charges had been nice (like 35% nice). Automations ran easily with no points.
So why on earth was I tempted to uproot my complete operational basis from a system that labored to strive one thing unproven and untested?
In hindsight I can admit I received seduced by the siren name of “shiny object syndrome”. You recognize the sensation: when everybody’s speaking a few new software that can revolutionize what you are promoting… The grass usually appears greener on the opposite facet, and I questioned whether or not GoHighLevel would possibly cut back friction factors that I’d discovered to tolerate through the years with Keap.
I resisted at first, however a number of extra frustrations led me to suppose perhaps it was time for a change.
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The Funding: Migrating My Company to GoHighLevel
Earlier this yr (2023) I made a decision to make the leap. I signed up for HighLevel’s Company plan at $300/month, investing considerably greater than the $97/month starter value.
This wasn’t a choice I took frivolously. I knew switching platforms was going to require migrating all my Keap information and primarily rebuilding my complete tech infrastructure from scratch.
Right here’s an outline of simply a number of the effort required:
- Manually exporting 20,000+ e mail subscriber data
- Recreating dozens of automations and workflows
- Transferring consumer profiles, notes, and undertaking information to the brand new CRM
- Reconfiguring my Stripe billing integration
- Establishing touchdown pages, promos, and gross sales funnels once more
- Studying a completely international UX and interface design
All in, I invested round 30-40 tedious hours of setup work transitioning every little thing over – to not point out coping with misplaced productiveness through the change.
However in the end, it was a calculated funding I used to be prepared to make. I figured some short-term ache would repay with GoHighLevel offering a greater long-term resolution for my enterprise, Dripify. Oh how incorrect I used to be…
It solely took me a few month of hands-on use to understand I had made an enormous mistake. The problems began piling up shortly, till it reached a degree I needed to lower my losses and change again to Keap fully.
Let’s stroll via the nightmarish issues I encountered.
Safety Points & Plenty of Bugs
Given GoHighLevel positioned itself as an all-in-one automation platform, I took care to meticulously recreate each single workflow from my outdated Keap account.
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These included sequences for onboarding new e mail subscribers, onboarding new purchasers, automating follow-ups for webinar registrations, sending occasion reminders, managing membership expirations, and rather more.
The whole lot appeared to be functioning tremendous…till out of the blue it wasn’t. One morning, I awoke to seek out 171 utterly irrelevant emails had been despatched to customers who ought to NOT have obtained them. This occurred three days in a row, with a distinct batch of 171 individuals every day.
I frantically tried troubleshooting and rebuilding the automation from scratch. However the issue continued.
After I desperately reached out to their help crew, they vaguely claimed “server points” had been in charge. However this rationalization didn’t make any sense, for the reason that errors continued occurring every morning like clockwork unrelated to any downtime.
In my thoughts, this large failure was utterly unacceptable and simply didn’t work for my enterprise. I’ve hundreds of contacts counting on my automated campaigns operating easily.
So if GoHighLevel was going to be completely unreliable, how may I entrust mission-critical workflows and delicate consumer information to their know-how?
The unintuitive interface solely compounded these points…
Irritating UX
Coming from Keap the place every little thing was seamless and intuitive, GoHighLevel’s studying curve felt steep and complex.
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Simple duties like modifying workflows concerned digging via menu programs that had been in every single place. Key settings had been unexplainably scattered in completely totally different sections. Transferring between features felt disjointed or complicated.
I’ll inform you what I imply by speaking about their funnel builder for example. There have been 3 separate settings panels to handle total, particular person, and product configurations. But for some loopy purpose, the hyperlinks to entry every of those core settings had been unfold out on reverse sides of the display. What!?
As somebody who values clear, considerate design, this severely irritated me.
It bolstered that GoHighLevel nonetheless felt like a work-in-progress slightly than a refined product prepared for prime-time use. Their priorities appeared centered on cramming in each function underneath the solar, with poor usability as an afterthought.
And talking of options, I quickly realized the low price ticket got here with expensive compromises…
Deceptive Pricing
One in all GoHighLevel’s largest promoting factors is the reasonably priced value for entry to so many options. However I shortly discovered this low-cost base value was misleading.
They nickle-and-dimed customers with sporadic charges for core performance. Abruptly my bank card statements had obscure $10 expenses from GoHighLevel right here and there.
Because it turned out, you get charged each time you ship an e mail via their servers. So for high quantity customers, this added as much as lots of of {dollars} in surprising prices.
Between these per-email charges and paying further for deliverability add-ons like Mailgun, my “reasonably priced” GoHighLevel subscription ended up costing considerably MORE than my Keap plan.
The low sticker value was tempting, however simply not sensible in follow. This bait-and-switch left a foul style in my mouth.
E-mail Charges Suffered
The ultimate dealbreaker was seeing my rigorously nurtured e mail open charges plummet virtually in a single day after switching to GoHighLevel.
Beforehand, my viewers engagement persistently hit 35-40% open charges in Keap month after month. However as soon as I migrated their data over to GoHighLevel, efficiency tanked immediately to a pathetic 9% open charge.
Regardless of how a lot I optimized my sending practices or tried each troubleshooting trick, I may barely nudge open charges again into the teenagers – nonetheless a 50%+ decline from my earlier benchmarks.
Let me repeat: my EXACT SAME AUDIENCE AND EMAILS out of the blue had terrible engagement. The one factor I may suppose that might be inflicting this was no matter was occurring behind the scenes at GoHighLevel. For an company so depending on e mail advertising, this was an enormous deal.
Between the crippling deliverability points, hidden charges, damaged options, and horrible interface, I had lastly reached my restrict…
Why I Give up GoHighLevel after 45 Days
Simply 45 days after migrating my company to GoHighLevel, I knew I had made an enormous mistake. The cons dramatically outweighed any advantages.
No software program is ideal, however the sheer quantity of issues was past acceptable.
On the finish of the day, software program comes right down to belief. If I can’t belief it to deal with important features competently or consider a vendor has my finest pursuits in thoughts, then it’s time to stroll away – even after investing vital time, cash, and energy migrating.
So I made the powerful name to reverse course and return again to Keap fully simply weeks after going all in on GoHighLevel. Let’s discover what I discovered from this debacle.
Key Takeaways: What I Realized From My GoHighLevel Mistake
My time with HighLevel will be summed up as an costly misadventure. However in hindsight, it taught me a number of key classes:
1. Follow what works. Don’t upset what’s working except one thing is definitively higher throughout the board. Change brings danger.
2. Vet claims totally. Marketing hype round new software program usually obscures greater underlying flaws. Deep due diligence is crucial.
3. Select simplicity over options. Effectively-designed instruments ought to make your work life simpler, no more sophisticated and messy.
4. Transparency builds belief. Opaque pricing, shady reseller phrases, and finger-pointing to evade issues destroys belief.
5. Search unbiased opinions. Glad help opinions imply much less if extreme points indicate poor total usability.
6. Perfection is not possible. No single resolution can completely meet each distinctive enterprise want. Discover the least-bad match.
7. Evolution over revolution. Incremental enhancements sometimes outweigh dangerous wholesale reinvention of what already works tremendous.
In brief, I discovered to be extra skeptical of “too good to be true” advertising claims and fewer tempted by the attract of shiny new objects. The instruments you employ day by day ought to earn belief via transparency and efficiency, not slick promoting.
Lesson discovered.
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