As an agency proprietor for over a years, I depend on software application and automation to improve procedures and supply results. So when GoHighLevel arised on the scene few years back, it certainly caught my attention How Much Does GoHighLevel Cost.
The concept was enticing– an all-in-one client management system with marketing, sales, and solution tools integrated with each other. As a business owner always aiming to streamline and scale my company, it seemed like a dream come true theoretically. Who would not desire a solitary remedy that does it all?
However in this comprehensive GoHighLevel testimonial, I’ll take you inside my devastating trip of trying (and falling short) to change to this popular new software application. You’ll discover:
If you’re taking into consideration whether GoHighLevel is right for your very own business requirements, hopefully you can gain from my painful errors and blew up assumptions.
Looter: I do NOT suggest GoHighLevel. If you need a CRM, start with this list of finest CRMs rather. I make use of Keap.
Some GoHighLevel Alternatives
If you’re seeking a sales, marketing, and task administration alternative to GoHighLevel, after that right here are a few we suggest.
Backstory: Why I Thought About Switching Over from Keap
To understand what attracted me to GoHighLevel in the first place, you require context concerning my previous configuration. For over 5 years I had actually been gladly relying upon Keap (previously Infusionsoft) to fulfill all my client monitoring and automation requirements.
I found Keap user-friendly to use and it managed whatever I required– CRM, e-mail marketing, sales funnels, subscription sites, and customer support.
Keap’s CRM and sales and marketing automation are designed to aid small companies maintain their clients while including new ones effortlessly. Automate follow-ups with e-mails and texts, making certain leads and customers obtain the appropriate messages at the correct time. Use web site and social networks kinds to enhance lead follow-up, and manage your development with simple appointment scheduling and lead tracking. Boost sales with automated pricing quote, invoicing, and repayment handling, maximizing your time. With Keap, small businesses can save 10 hours per week and increase earnings by 39%. Begin with a 14-day free trial, no charge card needed.
Why we like Keap
Keap offers a thorough customer partnership administration (CRM) and marketing automation option customized for local business and entrepreneurs. We appreciate Keap’s concentrate on enhancing sales processes and supporting consumer relationships through powerful automation devices. The system’s all-in-one technique combines CRM, email marketing, invoicing, and task monitoring, making it specifically attractive for organizations looking to combine their tech pile.
Generally, it simply functioned dependably with minimal hassle or upkeep needed. My open and click-through rates were fantastic (like 35% great). Automations ran smoothly with no concerns.
So why in the world was I attracted to uproot my entire operational structure from a system that worked to try something unproven and untried?
In knowledge I can admit I got attracted by the siren telephone call of “shiny things syndrome”. You recognize the sensation: when everyone’s discussing a brand-new device that will certainly transform your business … The lawn commonly looks greener beyond, and I questioned whether GoHighLevel might minimize rubbing factors that I would certainly found out to endure throughout the years with Keap.
I withstood in the beginning, but a few even more irritations led me to believe maybe it was time for a modification.
The Investment: Migrating My Agency to GoHighLevel
Earlier this year I decided to start. I registered for HighLevel’s Agency plan at $297/month, spending considerably more than the $97/month starter price.
This had not been a choice I ignored. I understood switching over systems was mosting likely to require migrating all my Keap information and basically restoring my whole tech framework from square one using every one of the GoHighLevel integrations readily available.
Right here’s an introduction of just a few of the initiative called for:
- Manually exporting 20,000+ e-mail customer documents
- Recreating dozens of automations and workflows
- Relocating customer profiles, notes, and job data to the brand-new CRM
- Reconfiguring my Stripe invoicing integration
- Setting up landing pages, promotions, and sales funnels all over once again
- Learning a totally foreign UX and user interface design
Done in, I invested around 30-40 tedious hours of setup job transitioning whatever over– in addition to managing lost efficiency during the switch.
However ultimately, it was a computed financial investment I was willing to make. I figured some temporary discomfort would settle with GoHighLevel providing a far better long-lasting solution for my business, Dripify. Oh just how wrong I was …
It only took me about a month of hands-on usage to recognize I had actually made a big error. The issues started accumulating promptly, until it reached a point I needed to reduce my losses and switch back to Keap completely.
Let’s go through the nightmarish troubles I encountered.
Security Issues & Numerous Bugs
Given GoHighLevel placed itself as an all-in-one automation platform, I made sure to meticulously recreate every single workflow from my old Keap account.
These included series for onboarding brand-new e-mail customers, onboarding brand-new clients, automating follow-ups for webinar registrations, sending out occasion pointers, handling subscription expirations and much more.
Every little thing seemed to be operating penalty … till instantly it wasn’t. One morning, I awoke to discover 171 completely unnecessary e-mails had actually been sent to customers who ought to NOT have obtained them. This occurred three days straight, with a various batch of 160 individuals every day.
I frantically tried troubleshooting and rebuilding the automation from the ground up. But the problem lingered.
When I frantically reached out to their assistance group, they vaguely asserted “web server problems” were to blame. But this explanation really did not make any feeling, because the errors continued taking place each early morning like clockwork unconnected to any type of downtime.
In my mind, this enormous failing was entirely undesirable and simply didn’t help my organization. I have thousands of calls counting on my automated campaigns running efficiently.
So if GoHighLevel was going to be entirely unreliable, exactly how could I delegate mission-critical workflows and delicate client data to their modern technology?
The unintuitive interface just worsened these problems …
Frustrating UX
Coming from Keap where everything was seamless and intuitive, GoHighLevel’s learning curve really felt steep and complex.
Simple tasks like modifying workflows included digging with menu systems that were all over the place. Trick setups were unexplainably scattered in entirely various areas. Moving between functions felt disjointed or confusing.
I’ll tell you what I indicate by talking about their funnel builder as an example. There were 3 different setups panels to manage general, private, and item setups. Yet for some crazy reason, the web links to accessibility each of these core settings were spread out on opposite sides of the screen. What!?
As someone who values clean, thoughtful style, this seriously upset me.
It strengthened that GoHighLevel still seemed like a work-in-progress as opposed to a sleek product all set for prime-time use. Their concerns appeared focused on packing in every feature under the sun, with inadequate functionality as a second thought.
And speaking of features, I soon understood the affordable price tag featured expensive concessions …
Deceptive Pricing How Much Does GoHighLevel Cost
Among GoHighLevel’s greatest marketing factors is the cost effective cost for accessibility to so many features. Yet I rapidly learned this cheap base cost was misleading.
They nickle-and-dimed individuals with occasional costs for core performance. Unexpectedly my charge card declarations had vague $10 fees from GoHighLevel here and there.
As it turned out, you obtain charged whenever you send an email with their servers. So for high volume individuals, this amounted to numerous dollars in unforeseen costs.
Between these per-email costs and paying added for deliverability attachments like Mailgun, my “affordable” GoHighLevel subscription ended up setting you back significantly greater than my Keap plan.
The low sticker price was alluring, however just not practical in practice. This bait-and-switch left a bad preference in my mouth.
Email Rates Suffered
The last dealbreaker was seeing my thoroughly supported email open prices drop virtually over night after switching to GoHighLevel.
Formerly, my target market involvement continually hit 35-40% open rates in Keap month after month. But once I moved their records over to GoHighLevel, efficiency tanked immediately to a pathetic 9% open price.
Regardless of just how much I maximized my sending out practices or attempted every troubleshooting technique, I can barely push open rates back into the teenagers– still a 50%+ decrease from my previous criteria How Much Does GoHighLevel Cost.
Let me repeat: my exact same audience and e-mails all of a sudden had awful engagement. The only point I can assume that would certainly be triggering this was whatever was taking place behind the scenes at GoHighLevel. For a company so based on email marketing, this was a big deal.
Between the crippling deliverability concerns, hidden charges, broken features, and horrible user interface, I had actually ultimately reached my limit …
Why I Stop GoHighLevel after 37 Days
Just 45 days after moving my company to GoHighLevel, I recognized I had made a big blunder. The disadvantages considerably outweighed any advantages.
No software program is excellent, yet the sheer volume of issues was beyond appropriate.
At the end of the day, software application comes down to trust. If I can’t trust it to take care of essential features effectively or believe a supplier has my best interests in mind, after that it’s time to leave– even after investing substantial time, cash, and initiative migrating.
So I made the hard contact us to reverse program and return back to Keap entirely simply weeks after going done in on GoHighLevel. Let’s discover what I learned from this debacle.
Key Takeaways: What I Learned From My GoHighLevel Mistake
My time with HighLevel can be summed up as a pricey accident. However in knowledge, it educated me a few vital lessons:
- Adhere to what works. Don’t upset what’s working unless something is definitively much better across the board. Adjustment brings risk.
- Veterinarian claims thoroughly. Marketing hype around new software typically obscures larger underlying flaws. Deep due persistance is vital.
- Select simpleness over features. Well-designed devices must make your work life simpler, not extra difficult and messy.
- Openness builds count on. Opaque pricing, shady reseller terms, and finger-pointing to avert problems ruins count on.
- Look for unbiased evaluations. Happy assistance assesses imply less if extreme concerns suggest inadequate general use.
- Perfection is impossible. No solitary service can completely meet every distinct organization need. Discover the least-bad fit.
- Development over transformation. Step-by-step renovations typically exceed risky wholesale reinvention of what already works penalty.
Basically, I learned to be more hesitant of “also great to be real” marketing insurance claims and less tempted by the appeal of glossy new things. The devices you make use of daily should make trust fund with openness and performance, not glossy advertising.