As an agency owner for over a years, I count on software and automation to streamline procedures and provide outcomes. So when GoHighLevel arised on the scene few years back, it most definitely captured my attention Migrate From ClickFunnels To GoHighLevel.
The idea was appealing– an all-in-one client management system with marketing, sales, and solution devices integrated together. As an entrepreneur always looking to streamline and scale my company, it felt like a desire become a reality theoretically. That wouldn’t want a solitary solution that does it all?
However in this extensive GoHighLevel evaluation, I’ll take you inside my dreadful journey of attempting (and falling short) to switch to this popular brand-new software application. You’ll find out:
If you’re thinking about whether GoHighLevel is right for your very own organization needs, hopefully you can learn from my excruciating mistakes and blew up expectations.
Spoiler: I do NOT suggest GoHighLevel. If you need a CRM, start with this listing of ideal CRMs rather. I utilize Keap.
Some GoHighLevel Alternatives
If you’re trying to find a sales, marketing, and job monitoring option to GoHighLevel, after that below are a few we advise.
Backstory: Why I Considered Switching from Keap
To comprehend what attracted me to GoHighLevel in the first place, you require context concerning my previous setup. For over 5 years I had been happily relying upon Keap (previously Infusionsoft) to meet all my client administration and automation demands.
I located Keap user-friendly to utilize and it took care of every little thing I required– CRM, email marketing, sales funnels, subscription sites, and client support.
Keap’s CRM and sales and marketing automation are created to help local business maintain their customers while including brand-new ones effortlessly. Automate follow-ups with emails and texts, making certain leads and clients receive the best messages at the correct time. Usage web site and social media forms to improve lead follow-up, and handle your growth with very easy consultation scheduling and lead monitoring. Boost sales with automated pricing quote, invoicing, and settlement handling, freeing up your time. With Keap, small businesses can conserve 10 hours per week and increase earnings by 39%. Start with a 14-day free trial, no credit card called for.
Why we like Keap
Keap supplies a comprehensive consumer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation solution tailored for small companies and business owners. We appreciate Keap’s concentrate on simplifying sales procedures and nurturing client partnerships via powerful automation devices. The platform’s all-in-one approach integrates CRM, e-mail marketing, invoicing, and task administration, making it specifically attractive for companies looking to combine their technology stack.
Essentially, it just worked accurately with very little fuss or maintenance required. My open and click-through rates were terrific (like 35% excellent). Automations ran efficiently without any concerns.
So why on earth was I attracted to uproot my entire functional structure from a system that functioned to attempt something unproven and untried?
In hindsight I can confess I obtained attracted by the siren telephone call of “shiny object disorder”. You know the feeling: when everyone’s discussing a new device that will certainly transform your organization … The grass often looks greener beyond, and I questioned whether GoHighLevel may reduce rubbing factors that I ‘d found out to tolerate over the years with Keap.
I stood up to at first, but a few more aggravations led me to assume maybe it was time for a change.
The Financial investment: Migrating My Firm to GoHighLevel
Previously this year I chose to start. I enrolled in HighLevel’s Agency plan at $297/month, spending considerably greater than the $97/month starter price.
This had not been a decision I ignored. I understood switching systems was mosting likely to require migrating all my Keap data and basically reconstructing my entire tech facilities from square one using every one of the GoHighLevel integrations readily available.
Below’s a review of simply a few of the effort needed:
- By hand exporting 20,000+ e-mail customer documents
- Recreating loads of automations and workflows
- Relocating customer accounts, notes, and project data to the new CRM
- Reconfiguring my Stripe billing integration
- Setting up landing pages, coupons, and sales funnels throughout again
- Learning an entirely international UX and user interface layout
All in, I spent around 30-40 tiresome hours of configuration work transitioning every little thing over– in addition to dealing with lost performance during the switch.
But ultimately, it was a calculated investment I was willing to make. I figured some short-term pain would certainly pay off with GoHighLevel supplying a better long-term option for my company, Dripify. Oh just how incorrect I was …
It only took me about a month of hands-on use to realize I had actually made a large error. The concerns started piling up quickly, up until it got to a point I needed to reduce my losses and switch back to Keap entirely.
Let’s walk through the horrible problems I ran into.
Safety Issues & Numerous Vermin
Given GoHighLevel placed itself as an all-in-one automation system, I made sure to thoroughly recreate every workflow from my old Keap account.
These consisted of series for onboarding new email customers, onboarding new clients, automating follow-ups for webinar registrations, sending event reminders, handling membership expirations and much more.
Whatever seemed to be operating fine … till suddenly it had not been. One early morning, I awoke to discover 171 entirely irrelevant e-mails had been sent out to individuals that must NOT have received them. This happened three days in a row, with a various set of 160 people every day.
I desperately tried troubleshooting and restoring the automation from the ground up. Yet the problem continued.
When I seriously reached out to their assistance team, they slightly asserted “web server issues” were to blame. Yet this description didn’t make any sense, considering that the errors proceeded taking place each morning like clockwork unrelated to any downtime.
In my mind, this huge failing was totally unacceptable and just didn’t work for my service. I have countless get in touches with relying on my automated campaigns running efficiently.
So if GoHighLevel was going to be totally unreliable, just how could I delegate mission-critical workflows and delicate customer data to their innovation?
The unintuitive user interface only intensified these issues …
Aggravating UX
Originating from Keap where every little thing was seamless and intuitive, GoHighLevel’s learning contour really felt high and complex.
Basic jobs like editing and enhancing workflows included excavating through menu systems that were all over the place. Trick setups were unexplainably scattered in totally different sections. Moving between functions felt disjointed or complex.
I’ll tell you what I indicate by talking about their funnel builder as an instance. There were 3 separate setups panels to take care of overall, private, and item arrangements. Yet for some insane factor, the links to gain access to each of these core settings were expanded on opposite sides of the display. What!?
As somebody who values tidy, thoughtful style, this seriously annoyed me.
It reinforced that GoHighLevel still seemed like a work-in-progress rather than a refined item all set for prime-time usage. Their priorities seemed concentrated on packing in every feature imaginable, with inadequate use as a second thought.
And speaking of features, I quickly realized the small cost tag included costly compromises …
Deceptive Pricing Migrate From ClickFunnels To GoHighLevel
One of GoHighLevel’s greatest marketing points is the economical price for accessibility to a lot of features. However I rapidly discovered this affordable base expense was deceitful.
They nickle-and-dimed customers with erratic costs for core performance. Unexpectedly my credit card declarations had unclear $10 costs from GoHighLevel occasionally.
As it turned out, you get billed every time you send out an e-mail with their servers. So for high quantity individuals, this amounted to thousands of bucks in unforeseen costs.
Between these per-email costs and paying added for deliverability add-ons like Mailgun, my “budget friendly” GoHighLevel registration wound up costing considerably greater than my Keap plan.
The low price tag was alluring, however simply not realistic in practice. This bait-and-switch left a poor preference in my mouth.
Email Fees Suffered
The last dealbreaker was seeing my very carefully nurtured e-mail open rates plummet practically overnight after switching to GoHighLevel.
Previously, my target market engagement continually struck 35-40% open prices in Keap month after month. But once I migrated their records over to GoHighLevel, performance tanked instantly to a useless 9% open price.
Despite how much I maximized my sending out practices or attempted every repairing method, I could hardly nudge open rates back into the teens– still a 50%+ decrease from my previous standards Migrate From ClickFunnels To GoHighLevel.
Let me repeat: my exact same audience and e-mails suddenly had terrible involvement. The only point I can believe that would certainly be creating this was whatever was occurring behind the scenes at GoHighLevel. For a company so depending on email marketing, this was a big deal.
Between the debilitating deliverability concerns, hidden costs, busted features, and dreadful user interface, I had finally reached my limitation …
Why I Stop GoHighLevel after 37 Days
Just 45 days after migrating my agency to GoHighLevel, I recognized I had made a significant mistake. The disadvantages substantially outweighed any type of advantages.
No software is perfect, however the large volume of troubles was beyond appropriate.
At the end of the day, software program boils down to trust. If I can’t trust it to take care of critical features effectively or think a supplier has my best interests in mind, then it’s time to walk away– even after investing significant time, cash, and effort moving.
So I made the difficult phone call to turn around training course and return back to Keap completely simply weeks after going all in on GoHighLevel. Let’s discover what I picked up from this fiasco.
Secret Takeaways: What I Picked up from My GoHighLevel Blunder
My time with HighLevel can be summarized as an expensive accident. However in hindsight, it educated me a few essential lessons:
- Stick to what jobs. Do not upset what’s functioning unless something is definitively better across the board. Modification brings risk.
- Veterinarian declares completely. Marketing hype around new software application usually covers larger underlying defects. Deep due persistance is crucial.
- Select simplicity over features. Well-designed tools must make your work life simpler, not extra difficult and unpleasant.
- Openness develops trust. Nontransparent pricing, questionable reseller terms, and finger-pointing to avert problems damages count on.
- Seek impartial reviews. Pleased assistance assesses indicate less if extreme problems suggest inadequate general functionality.
- Excellence is difficult. No single option can flawlessly satisfy every distinct organization need. Locate the least-bad fit.
- Development over change. Incremental enhancements generally exceed risky wholesale reinvention of what already functions fine.
In other words, I found out to be extra doubtful of “too good to be true” marketing cases and less attracted by the allure of shiny new items. The devices you utilize daily need to make trust fund through openness and efficiency, not glossy advertising.