Setting up email marketing in GoHighLevel is the easy part. The hard part is building your reputation to avoid the dreaded spam folders.
I’ve outlined everything you need to do (and five things you definitely shouldn’t) to ensure your emails are sent to the right place.
Key Takeaways:
- Campaigns are singular emails, and workflow campaigns are automated sequences
- GoHighLevel email marketing costs $0.675 per 1000 emails
- Genuine, well-designed content with meaningful engagement will avoid spam folders
GoHighLevel Email Campaigns vs. Workflows
Before we get into the ins and outs of GoHighLevel’s email marketing, I want to talk about the difference between a campaign and a workflow.
Most other platforms will call a sequence of emails a “campaign” and a singular email a “blast,” but this is not the case for GoHighLevel.
Essentially, a campaign refers to a singular email, whereas a workflow campaign refers to a sequence.
- A campaign can be used to send one-off blasts and announcements that aren’t tied to a wider marketing initiative.
- In contrast, a workflow campaign is created in the automation tool and can be combined with other communication channels, such as SMS or WhatsApp messaging.
Using workflows gives you a lot of functionality and flexibility because you can determine what happens next based on the recipient’s actions.
I’ll get into this in more detail below, but I just wanted to straighten the definitions out before diving into the wider article.
How Much Does GoHighLevel Email Marketing Cost?
The good news is that GoHighLevel has its own SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) service called LC-Email. This means you don’t have to use a third-party app to send and receive emails.
The bad news is that the service is not included in your subscription price, so it costs extra.
However, at $0.675 per 1000 emails, it’s not exactly expensive (unless you plan to send millions of them!).
Email verification also carries a charge of $2.50 per 1,000 emails.
How to Create an Email Campaign in GoHighLevel
It’s straightforward to set up an email campaign in GoHighLevel.
To get started:
- Head to the relevant sub-account and select Marketing > Emails > Campaigns > +New.
- You can opt to use an existing template or start your email from scratch. If you’re new to this, I recommend using a template.
- Browse the templates (there are hundreds) and pick one you like.
- Click the eye icon to view the entire template, and if it’s suitable, click Continue.
- The template will now open in the editing tool.
Customize the template as you like. New elements can be dragged and dropped onto the page, and you can click on existing elements to edit them (change text, images, fonts, etc.).
When you’re done, it’s time to schedule and send your email, so click the button in the top-right corner.
Sending Options
Once in the scheduling tool, you have a range of sending options:
- Send now
- Schedule
- Batch schedule
- RSS schedule
Send now is the most straightforward. All you have to do is:
- Input the sender email, sender name, and email subject line.
- Write the preview text (some email clients show a snippet of what the email is about—a bit like what you see on a Google search result).
- Select your recipients.
- Switch on any tracking options you’d like to use.
- Hit Review and Send!
Here’s a bit of extra detail on the recipient options since you have several options:
- Choose Contacts: This lets you pick a single or handful of individual contacts from your contact list.
- Send to Smart List: A smart list is a group of contacts you can create in the GoHighLevel contacts tab.
- Choose Contacts from Tags: If you’ve been assigning tags to your contacts, you can select which tag to use.
- Pre-Built Segments: These are groups of contacts that are automatically created based on their interactions with any previous emails you’ve sent (see screenshot below).
Now, let’s move on to the other sending options.
Scheduling Emails
Scheduling provides the same data fields as above, with one extra step: You must choose the date and time when the email will be sent.
Make sure you have the correct timezone selected. You can’t change it in the email campaign feature, though. To do that, you have to go into the sub-account’s main settings and change it there.
Batch Scheduling
Batch scheduling should be used if you need to send the email to thousands of recipients.
Doing it this way prevents the servers from overloading and reduces the chances of your email being flagged as spam.
When doing this, you need to determine:
- The date and time on which the first batch is sent
- How many emails are in each batch
- How long the pause is between each batch
- Which days the batches can be sent
To guide you with this, GoHighLevel has provided the following information on how many emails it can send, so use this when deciding how to send your batches out:
- Frequencies of 30 sec–1 min: 1,000 emails per minute
- Frequencies of 5 min: 4,999 emails per minute
- Frequencies of 6 min–10min: 5,000 emails per minute
- Frequencies of Above 10 min: 10,000 emails per minute
RSS Schedule
Finally, if you want to send your email to an RSS feed, you have to add the following information:
- RSS feed URL
- Date, time, and days on which the email will be sent
- The maximum number of feeds
How to Set Up an Email Workflow in GoHighLevel
Now, let’s look at how you can set up a super-simple email sequence using the workflow tool.
First, create each email you want to add to your workflow campaign.
You can do this by following the steps above for a campaign. However, instead of sending the emails, you just need to save them and add them as a template.
To do this, click the Templates tab, select New > Create template from existing campaign, and choose the email from the dropdown box.
I suggest naming your templates in a logical way so you can quickly identify which ones belong to which workflow and in what order.
Next, select Workflow Campaigns > Create Campaign, and the workflow tool will open.
- Select Create Workflow > Start From Scratch, and the editing screen will open.
- To start, you have to select a trigger—exactly what will cause the first email to be sent. In my case, I have chosen a form submission.
- Next, select Send Email as the subsequent action. You will notice that you can create a basic email within the side panel, but selecting a pre-designed template is easier (plus, they look way more appealing!).
- Complete the email sender details, add a subject line, and select which email template you want to use.
- As your next action, you need to select Wait Step. Basically, you don’t want a string of emails sent out immediately after each other. So, choose how long the gap should be between each one (minutes, hours, days).
- Then, repeat the process. Add another email followed by the wait step, and so on.
When you’re done, save your workflow and publish it. It’s now live and ready for use!
Of course, you can make your workflows a lot more complex with split paths depending on how the recipients engage with the emails. You can also add other elements like tags, SMS messaging, and a whole lot more.
The reality is that using email workflows to their fullest potential requires proper knowledge of how the GoHighLevel automation tool works.
This is a steep learning curve, so I suggest getting to know how it works before attempting to use it for your email campaigns.
5 Things to Stop Doing Immediately
Sending emails goes beyond creating them and hitting the Send button.
You’ve got two main concerns:
- Your Domain Reputation: Something that email clients analyze before delivering your emails
- Where Your Emails End Up: Inbox or spam
Your reputation can be increased by not taking up these five bad habits and by following the best practices below.
The better your reputation is, the less likely you’ll end up languishing in people’s spam folders.
1. Writing Spammy Content
Spam belongs in a spam folder.
If your content overuses super promotional terms and phrases, that’s exactly where it’ll end up.
Yes, there’s a fine line to walk, especially if you’re running a promotion, but there’s a way to do it so that it comes across as genuine and thoughtful.
Here are a few examples:
| Spammy phrase | Genuine-sounding phrase |
|---|---|
| Act now before it’s too late! This exclusive offer expires at midnight! | We wanted to share a special offer with you—it’s available until midnight tonight if you’re interested. |
| You won’t believe how much money you can save! Don’t miss out! | We’re excited to help you save—take a look and see if this could be a good fit for you. |
| This is the ONLY solution you need to transform your life! | We’ve designed this to make things easier for you—here’s how it could help. |
2. Using Link Shorteners
Spammers are big fans of using link shorteners, and email clients are wise to them.
In short, avoid them like the plague.
The key is transparency. Use hyperlinks with anchor text that tells the reader exactly where they’ll go if they click on it.
Example:
To find out more, visit the SupplyGem website.
3. Asking for Pointless Engagement
Recipients don’t want to feel like you’ve wasted their time.
If they do, they’ll stop engaging with your emails, and your reputation will drop.
Think about why you are sending emails. They must have a purpose, and they must request engagement in a meaningful way that aligns with the email content.
Examples of meaningful engagement requests:
- Tried one of our tips or products? Let us know how it worked for you! Your story might inspire someone else.
- Take our quick quiz to discover which product suits you best.
- You’re invited to our upcoming webinar on our service offering. We’d love for you to join the discussion.
4. Going Overboard with Images
Yes, images make your emails look pretty and inviting, but they don’t always load up when a recipient opens them.
Think about your email from that perspective. If the images don’t load, is the content still readable? Can the recipient still engage with the email as intended?
If the answer is “no,” change your image strategy.
Also, don’t place crucial information on an image without writing a text version underneath.
5. Resorting to Sneaky Tricks
Lastly, never ever mislead or trick your recipients into engaging with your emails.
Doing so is a surefire way to get marked as spam.
For example, I’ve received an email with the heading “Your order is on its way!”
Of course, I opened the email (thus engaging with it) because I was frantically trying to figure out what on earth I had ordered.
Then I read the first line of the content, which said, “...is what could happen if you buy our amazing product today!”
This bait-and-switch tactic is not cool. It will ruin any trust you’ve built with your audience. No one likes to feel manipulated.
9 Essential GoHighLevel Email Marketing Best Practices
1. Use a Dedicated Domain and IP Address
You must set up a dedicated domain for your emails. If you don’t, there’s a high chance they’ll go straight to your recipient’s spam folder.
Also, doing this will enhance your sending reputation.
If you plan to send high volumes of emails, you should set up a dedicated IP address (for the same reasons).
Both of these things can be done within GoHighLevel in the sub-accounts email settings.
2. Enable Email Verification
Next, you should switch on email verification.
This will automatically check if the email addresses you are sending to actually exist or work.
Sending emails to dud addresses harms your domain reputation, which lessens the chances of emails getting sent successfully to valid addresses.
Also, if the system detects a hard bounce (an undelivered email), it can automatically mark it as invalid. This means the system will not send further emails to that address.
You can find these options by heading to the relevant sub-account and selecting Settings > Business Profile. Check the boxes next to:
- Mark emails as invalid due to hard bounce
- Verify email address when the first email is sent to a new contact
3. Add a DMARC Record
A DMARC record is something that tells servers how to handle incoming mail.
I won’t get into the technicalities of it, but you need it to ensure successful delivery.
To add a DMARC record, log into your domain provider, go into the DNS settings, and add the following record:
- Record type: “TXT”
- Name: “_dmarc”
- Content: “v=DMARC1; p=reject”
4. Apply Double Opt-In to Your Forms
A double opt-in is super-important for ensuring you only get high-quality leads that want to receive communications.
Essentially, when a person completes and submits a form, the single opt-in is where they tick a box agreeing to receive communications. A double opt-in adds another step, in which they receive an email asking them to verify their email address.
Like other best practices, using a double opt-in will keep your reputation squeaky clean and improve deliverability,
Creating a double opt-in can be achieved by setting up an automated workflow for the process.
5. Regularly Review Your Subscriber List
You don’t want to waste your time (and money) sending emails to subscribers who just aren’t engaged.
So, you must perform regular housekeeping and review your email list to ensure it only contains subscribers who are interacting with your emails.
View the analytics of your campaigns to see what your recipients are doing. You can remove the ones who have ignored your emails for several weeks.
If you don’t, you risk having unengaged individuals mark your emails as spam, which can damage your reputation.
6. Ensure Recipients Can Unsubscribe
Do not skip this step!
If you don’t include an unsubscribe link, your email deliverability rates will plummet. Besides, most data privacy laws like GDPR require you to include them.
Fortunately, this is a quick task. Head to the sub-accounts business profile and check the box next to Make email compliant by adding an unsubscribe link.
7. Match the From Address with Your Domain
The “From Email” is the address recipients see when they get your email.
You must match the domain of the “From Email” with your sending domain.
For example, if your sending domain is “mail.supplygem.com,” your “From Email” should include “supplygem.com,” like “contact@supplygem.com.”
Avoid using emails that don’t align with the root domain. This will make the recipient suspicious and affect deliverability.
8. Start Sending Emails Gradually
After you’ve set up your emails in GoHighLevel, don’t send thousands in one hit. As you can probably guess, this will virtually guarantee that your emails will end up in spam folders.
The trick is to warm up your new email domain by starting small and gradually ramping it up.
GoHighLevel has set out the following recommendations for how many emails you should send within the first seven days (if sending daily) or seven hours (if sending hourly):
| Stage | Hourly sending | Daily sending |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 1,000 |
| 2 | 300 | 2,500 |
| 3 | 600 | 5,000 |
| 4 | 800 | 6,500 |
| 5 | 1,000 | 8,000 |
| 6 | 1,500 | 10,000 |
| 7 | 2,000 | 14,000 |
After the first week, continue ramping up in a similar fashion.
9. Send Regularly (But Don’t Bombard)
Lastly, your domain reputation is largely affected by how often you are sending out emails.
Bizarrely, if you’re only sending emails every now and then, it will harm your reputation (which I find odd because no one wants to be spammed).
What you have to do is play a balancing game:
- If subscribers engage with your emails, you can start sending them more frequently.
- If subscribers are not engaging, slow the sending down or remove them from the list.
Here’s an example of what I mean for a subscriber who doesn’t engage:
- First Week of Subscribing: Send a daily email
- After the First Week: Slow to one a week
- After Three Weeks: Reduce frequency even more (couple a month)
- Exceptions: When you are running a promotion
10 Examples of GoHighLevel Email Marketing Templates
1. Marketing Agency
2. Black Friday
3. Advertising
4. Course Creator
5. Seasonal Savings
6. Non-Profit
7. Real Estate
8. Accounting
9. Spa Offer
10. Landscaping
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many GoHighLevel Email Marketing Templates Are Available?
There are hundreds of GoHighLevel email marketing templates available (too many to count!). You can choose from a wide variety of business categories, designs, and use cases.
Can I Use a Third-Party Email Provider with GoHighLevel?
Yes, you can use the third-party email provider MailGun with GoHighLevel. The two platforms integrate natively. If you prefer a different third-party platform, you can use Zapier to connect it with GoHighLevel.
