As an agency owner for over a decade, I depend on software application and automation to improve operations and provide results. So when GoHighLevel emerged on the scene few years back, it definitely captured my focus Is GoHighLevel Legit.
The concept was enticing– an all-in-one client monitoring platform with marketing, sales, and solution devices incorporated with each other. As a business owner constantly looking to simplify and scale my business, it felt like a desire happened theoretically. Who wouldn’t want a solitary service that does it all?
But in this extensive GoHighLevel review, I’ll take you inside my devastating journey of attempting (and falling short) to switch over to this popular new software application. You’ll find out:
If you’re thinking about whether GoHighLevel is right for your own service requirements, hopefully you can learn from my uncomfortable errors and blew up expectations.
Looter: I do NOT advise GoHighLevel. If you require a CRM, start with this list of ideal CRMs rather. I use Keap.
Some GoHighLevel Alternatives
If you’re searching for a sales, marketing, and task administration option to GoHighLevel, then below are a couple of we suggest.
Backstory: Why I Took Into Consideration Switching Over from Keap
To comprehend what attracted me to GoHighLevel to begin with, you require context concerning my previous setup. For over 5 years I had been happily relying upon Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) to fulfill all my customer monitoring and automation requirements.
I discovered Keap intuitive to utilize and it took care of every little thing I needed– CRM, e-mail marketing, sales funnels, subscription sites, and client support.
Keap’s CRM and sales and marketing automation are designed to aid small businesses maintain their clients while adding brand-new ones easily. Automate follow-ups with emails and texts, guaranteeing leads and customers obtain the best messages at the correct time. Use web site and social networks forms to simplify lead follow-up, and handle your growth with easy visit organizing and lead monitoring. Boost sales with automated pricing quote, invoicing, and payment handling, maximizing your time. With Keap, local business can conserve 10 hours weekly and increase earnings by 39%. Begin with a 14-day free trial, no charge card called for.
Why we like Keap
Keap uses an extensive customer connection management (CRM) and marketing automation remedy customized for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We appreciate Keap’s concentrate on streamlining sales procedures and nurturing client partnerships via powerful automation tools. The platform’s all-in-one method combines CRM, email marketing, invoicing, and job monitoring, making it particularly attractive for services seeking to combine their technology pile.
Generally, it simply functioned dependably with very little hassle or maintenance required. My open and click-through rates were excellent (like 35% excellent). Automations ran smoothly without any problems.
So why in the world was I attracted to uproot my entire operational foundation from a system that functioned to try something unverified and untried?
In hindsight I can admit I got seduced by the siren call of “glossy object disorder”. You understand the sensation: when every person’s speaking about a brand-new tool that will change your business … The turf typically looks greener beyond, and I wondered whether GoHighLevel may decrease rubbing points that I ‘d discovered to endure for many years with Keap.
I withstood in the beginning, but a couple of even more frustrations led me to believe possibly it was time for a modification.
The Investment: Migrating My Firm to GoHighLevel
Earlier this year I chose to start. I registered for HighLevel’s Company plan at $297/month, investing significantly more than the $97/month starter price.
This had not been a choice I ignored. I understood switching over systems was going to call for moving all my Keap data and basically reconstructing my entire tech framework from square one utilizing every one of the GoHighLevel integrations offered.
Here’s a review of just some of the initiative needed:
- Manually exporting 20,000+ e-mail subscriber records
- Recreating dozens of automations and workflows
- Moving client accounts, notes, and project information to the new CRM
- Reconfiguring my Stripe payment integration
- Establishing landing pages, promos, and sales funnels all over again
- Learning a totally international UX and user interface layout
Done in, I spent around 30-40 tedious hours of setup job transitioning whatever over– not to mention dealing with lost productivity throughout the switch.
However ultimately, it was a computed financial investment I was willing to make. I figured some temporary pain would settle with GoHighLevel giving a much better long-term remedy for my business, Dripify. Oh exactly how wrong I was …
It only took me regarding a month of hands-on usage to recognize I had actually made a huge blunder. The concerns started accumulating promptly, until it got to a point I needed to reduce my losses and change back to Keap entirely.
Let’s walk through the horrible troubles I experienced.
Safety Issues & Several Bugs
Offered GoHighLevel placed itself as an all-in-one automation platform, I made sure to thoroughly recreate every single workflow from my old Keap account.
These consisted of series for onboarding new email customers, onboarding brand-new customers, automating follow-ups for webinar registrations, sending event suggestions, handling membership expirations and far more.
Every little thing seemed to be functioning penalty … till unexpectedly it wasn’t. One early morning, I woke up to discover 171 totally unnecessary e-mails had actually been sent to customers who should NOT have obtained them. This happened three days in a row, with a various batch of 160 individuals each day.
I desperately tried repairing and reconstructing the automation from square one. However the problem lingered.
When I frantically reached out to their assistance team, they slightly asserted “web server concerns” were responsible. Yet this explanation really did not make any sense, considering that the errors proceeded happening each early morning like clockwork unconnected to any type of downtime.
In my mind, this substantial failing was entirely unacceptable and just really did not work for my service. I have hundreds of get in touches with depending on my automated campaigns running smoothly.
So if GoHighLevel was mosting likely to be completely unstable, just how could I leave mission-critical workflows and delicate customer data to their innovation?
The unintuitive interface just compounded these concerns …
Irritating UX
Originating from Keap where whatever was smooth and intuitive, GoHighLevel’s learning curve really felt high and difficult.
Straightforward tasks like modifying workflows involved digging via food selection systems that were all over the place. Secret settings were unexplainably spread in totally various areas. Relocating in between features felt disjointed or complicated.
I’ll tell you what I mean by talking about their funnel builder as an instance. There were 3 separate setups panels to manage general, specific, and item arrangements. Yet for some crazy reason, the links to accessibility each of these core setups were expanded on opposite sides of the display. What!?
As somebody who values tidy, thoughtful style, this seriously irritated me.
It enhanced that GoHighLevel still seemed like a work-in-progress rather than a sleek product all set for prime-time use. Their priorities seemed focused on cramming in every feature under the sun, with poor functionality as an afterthought.
And talking features, I quickly understood the low price tag included expensive concessions …
Deceptive Pricing Is GoHighLevel Legit
One of GoHighLevel’s greatest marketing factors is the affordable cost for accessibility to so many features. However I quickly learned this economical base price was deceitful.
They nickle-and-dimed users with occasional fees for core functionality. All of a sudden my bank card declarations had vague $10 fees from GoHighLevel here and there.
As it ended up, you obtain billed every time you send out an e-mail with their web servers. So for high quantity customers, this added up to numerous dollars in unexpected expenses.
In between these per-email fees and paying extra for deliverability attachments like Mailgun, my “budget-friendly” GoHighLevel registration ended up costing dramatically MORE than my Keap plan.
The low sticker price was tempting, but simply not sensible in practice. This bait-and-switch left a negative preference in my mouth.
Email Rates Suffered
The last dealbreaker was seeing my very carefully nurtured email open prices plunge nearly overnight after changing to GoHighLevel.
Formerly, my target market interaction consistently struck 35-40% open rates in Keap month after month. Once I migrated their records over to GoHighLevel, performance tanked instantaneously to a pitiful 9% open price.
No matter just how much I maximized my sending techniques or tried every repairing method, I can hardly nudge open prices back into the teenagers– still a 50%+ decline from my previous benchmarks Is GoHighLevel Legit.
Let me repeat: my exact same target market and e-mails suddenly had dreadful involvement. The only point I can assume that would 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 issues, concealed costs, broken features, and awful user interface, I had actually lastly reached my limit …
Why I Quit GoHighLevel after 37 Days
Simply 45 days after moving my company to GoHighLevel, I knew I had made a big blunder. The disadvantages considerably exceeded any benefits.
No software application is excellent, but the large volume of issues was beyond appropriate.
At the end of the day, software comes down to depend on. If I can’t trust it to handle crucial functions capably or believe a vendor has my benefits in mind, after that it’s time to leave– even after investing significant time, cash, and effort migrating.
So I made the difficult contact us to reverse program and return back to Keap completely just weeks after going done in on GoHighLevel. Allow’s explore what I gained from this debacle.
Secret Takeaways: What I Picked up from My GoHighLevel Mistake
My time with HighLevel can be summarized as a pricey ill fortune. Yet in hindsight, it taught me a few vital lessons:
- Stay with what works. Do not disturb what’s functioning unless something is definitively much better across the board. Modification brings risk.
- Vet declares completely. Marketing hype around brand-new software frequently covers larger underlying defects. Deep due persistance is important.
- Choose simpleness over features. Well-designed tools ought to make your job life easier, not much more complicated and unpleasant.
- Transparency builds trust fund. Opaque pricing, unethical reseller terms, and finger-pointing to avert troubles ruins trust.
- Look for impartial testimonials. Delighted assistance assesses mean less if excessive concerns suggest bad general functionality.
- Excellence is difficult. No single remedy can flawlessly fulfill every one-of-a-kind company requirement. Locate the least-bad fit.
- Evolution over revolution. Incremental enhancements typically exceed dangerous wholesale reinvention of what currently works penalty.
Simply put, I found out to be extra hesitant of “as well excellent to be real” marketing claims and less lured by the allure of glossy new items. The devices you use daily ought to gain trust fund via openness and performance, not glossy advertising.