As an agency proprietor for over a years, I rely on software application and automation to simplify operations and deliver results. So when GoHighLevel emerged on the scene few years back, it most definitely captured my attention GoHighLevel Plans.
The concept was attractive– an all-in-one customer administration platform with marketing, sales, and service devices incorporated together. As a business owner constantly seeking to streamline and scale my business, it seemed like a desire become a reality on paper. Who would not desire a single solution that does it all?
But in this in-depth GoHighLevel testimonial, I’ll take you inside my disastrous journey of attempting (and falling short) to change to this popular new software program. You’ll find out:
If you’re considering whether GoHighLevel is right for your own business requirements, with any luck you can pick up from my excruciating blunders and inflated expectations.
Spoiler: I do NOT advise GoHighLevel. If you require a CRM, start with this listing of finest CRMs instead. I make use of Keap.
Some GoHighLevel Alternatives
If you’re trying to find a sales, marketing, and task administration choice to GoHighLevel, after that here are a couple of we suggest.
Backstory: Why I Thought About Switching from Keap
To recognize what attracted me to GoHighLevel to begin with, you need context about my previous setup. For over 5 years I had been happily counting on Keap (previously Infusionsoft) to fulfill all my customer management and automation demands.
I discovered Keap instinctive to utilize and it took care of every little thing I required– CRM, e-mail marketing, sales funnels, membership sites, and client assistance.
Keap’s CRM and sales and marketing automation are created to assist local business keep their clients while including brand-new ones easily. Automate follow-ups with e-mails and texts, guaranteeing leads and clients get the appropriate messages at the correct time. Use internet site and social media sites kinds to streamline lead follow-up, and handle your development with easy visit organizing and lead tracking. Boost sales with automated quoting, invoicing, and settlement processing, freeing up your time. With Keap, local business can save 10 hours weekly and rise income by 39%. Start with a 14-day free trial, no bank card needed.
Why we like Keap
Keap uses a comprehensive client connection management (CRM) and marketing automation service tailored for local business and entrepreneurs. We appreciate Keap’s focus on simplifying sales processes and nurturing client connections with effective automation devices. The platform’s all-in-one technique combines CRM, email marketing, invoicing, and job management, making it specifically appealing for companies wanting to combine their technology stack.
Generally, it just worked dependably with very little fuss or upkeep needed. My open and click-through rates were terrific (like 35% terrific). Automations ran smoothly without issues.
So why on earth was I tempted to uproot my entire operational structure from a system that functioned to try something unverified and untried?
In hindsight I can confess I obtained seduced by the siren call of “glossy item disorder”. You know the sensation: when everyone’s talking about a brand-new device that will certainly revolutionize your business … The grass often looks greener beyond, and I questioned whether GoHighLevel might lower rubbing factors that I would certainly found out to tolerate throughout the years with Keap.
I resisted in the beginning, however a couple of more disappointments led me to believe perhaps it was time for a modification.
The Financial investment: Migrating My Firm to GoHighLevel
Earlier this year I chose to take the plunge. I signed up for HighLevel’s Firm plan at $297/month, spending dramatically greater than the $97/month starter expense.
This had not been a choice I took lightly. I recognized switching systems was going to need migrating all my Keap information and basically rebuilding my entire tech facilities from scratch using every one of the GoHighLevel integrations offered.
Below’s a review of simply a few of the initiative needed:
- By hand exporting 20,000+ email subscriber records
- Recreating lots of automations and workflows
- Relocating customer accounts, notes, and task data to the brand-new CRM
- Reconfiguring my Stripe billing integration
- Establishing landing pages, promos, and sales funnels throughout again
- Learning a totally international UX and interface layout
Done in, I invested around 30-40 tiresome hours of arrangement job transitioning every little thing over– in addition to handling shed performance throughout the button.
However inevitably, it was a calculated investment I was willing to make. I figured some short-term pain would settle with GoHighLevel supplying a better long-term remedy for my business, Dripify. Oh how wrong I was …
It only took me regarding a month of hands-on usage to understand I had actually made a huge mistake. The problems started piling up swiftly, up until it got to a point I needed to reduce my losses and change back to Keap completely.
Let’s go through the horrible issues I came across.
Safety And Security Issues & Numerous Bugs
Provided GoHighLevel placed itself as an all-in-one automation system, I made sure to diligently recreate every single workflow from my old Keap account.
These consisted of sequences for onboarding brand-new email subscribers, onboarding new clients, automating follow-ups for webinar enrollments, sending out occasion tips, taking care of subscription expiries and much more.
Whatever seemed to be operating penalty … up until instantly it had not been. One morning, I woke up to discover 171 totally pointless e-mails had actually been sent to customers that should NOT have actually gotten them. This occurred three days in a row, with a various set of 160 individuals daily.
I anxiously attempted repairing and reconstructing the automation from scratch. Yet the issue persisted.
When I desperately reached out to their support team, they vaguely declared “web server issues” were at fault. However this description really did not make any kind of feeling, considering that the errors continued occurring each early morning like clockwork unconnected to any type of downtime.
In my mind, this substantial failing was completely inappropriate and just really did not benefit my business. I have countless calls relying upon my automated campaigns running smoothly.
So if GoHighLevel was going to be totally unreliable, just how could I hand over mission-critical workflows and sensitive customer data to their innovation?
The unintuitive user interface just worsened these issues …
Irritating UX
Originating from Keap where everything was seamless and intuitive, GoHighLevel’s learning curve felt steep and challenging.
Straightforward jobs like editing workflows included digging through food selection systems that were all over the place. Secret setups were unexplainably spread in entirely different areas. Relocating between features felt disjointed or complicated.
I’ll tell you what I imply by talking about their funnel builder as an example. There were 3 different setups panels to handle overall, private, and product setups. Yet for some insane factor, the links to gain access to each of these core setups were expanded on opposite sides of the screen. What!?
As somebody that values tidy, thoughtful design, this seriously annoyed me.
It reinforced that GoHighLevel still seemed like a work-in-progress rather than a sleek product all set for prime-time usage. Their concerns seemed focused on packing in every feature under the sun, with poor functionality as an afterthought.
And talking features, I quickly recognized the low price tag included expensive concessions …
Misleading Pricing GoHighLevel Plans
One of GoHighLevel’s greatest selling factors is the inexpensive rate for access to a lot of features. Yet I rapidly discovered this low-cost base price was deceitful.
They nickle-and-dimed customers with erratic fees for core performance. Unexpectedly my charge card declarations had obscure $10 costs from GoHighLevel occasionally.
As it turned out, you obtain charged each time you send an e-mail through their servers. So for high quantity customers, this amounted to numerous bucks in unanticipated prices.
Between these per-email costs and paying added for deliverability attachments like Mailgun, my “cost effective” GoHighLevel membership wound up costing significantly greater than my Keap plan.
The low sticker price was appealing, but simply not reasonable in practice. This bait-and-switch left a bad preference in my mouth.
Email Rates Suffered
The last dealbreaker was seeing my carefully supported email open prices plummet practically overnight after changing to GoHighLevel.
Formerly, my audience interaction constantly struck 35-40% open rates in Keap month after month. Once I moved their records over to GoHighLevel, efficiency tanked instantaneously to a pathetic 9% open price.
No matter how much I enhanced my sending out techniques or tried every repairing trick, I might hardly push open prices back right into the teens– still a 50%+ decrease from my previous benchmarks GoHighLevel Plans.
Let me repeat: my exact same audience and emails instantly had dreadful involvement. The only point I can believe that would certainly be creating this was whatever was taking place behind the scenes at GoHighLevel. For a company so depending on email marketing, this was a big deal.
In between the debilitating deliverability concerns, hidden fees, busted features, and dreadful user interface, I had lastly reached my limitation …
Why I Give up GoHighLevel after 37 Days
Simply 45 days after migrating my firm to GoHighLevel, I knew I had made a big error. The disadvantages substantially outweighed any kind of advantages.
No software program is perfect, yet the large volume of problems was beyond acceptable.
At the end of the day, software program boils down to trust. If I can not trust it to manage critical functions effectively or believe a supplier has my benefits in mind, after that it’s time to walk away– even after spending substantial time, money, and effort migrating.
So I made the tough call to reverse program and return back to Keap completely simply weeks after going all in on GoHighLevel. Allow’s explore what I gained from this debacle.
Key Takeaways: What I Learned From My GoHighLevel Blunder
My time with HighLevel can be summarized as an expensive misadventure. However in hindsight, it taught me a few vital lessons:
- Stay with what works. Don’t upset what’s functioning unless something is definitively far better across the board. Adjustment brings risk.
- Vet asserts thoroughly. Marketing hype around brand-new software often covers larger underlying imperfections. Deep due diligence is necessary.
- Pick simplicity over features. Well-designed tools should make your work life less complicated, not much more difficult and messy.
- Openness develops trust fund. Opaque pricing, shady reseller terms, and finger-pointing to escape issues damages count on.
- Seek honest testimonials. Pleased support evaluates mean much less if too much concerns imply poor general use.
- Excellence is difficult. No solitary service can completely fulfill every one-of-a-kind company need. Find the least-bad fit.
- Development over change. Incremental enhancements generally outweigh risky wholesale reinvention of what already works penalty.
Basically, I found out to be more skeptical of “too great to be real” marketing insurance claims and less attracted by the appeal of glossy new items. The tools you make use of daily ought to make count on through openness and efficiency, not slick advertising.