GoHighLevel guide · Updated October 2026
How to Use GoHighLevel:A Plain-English Guide.
New to GHL and not sure where to click first? Here’s the order that works.
To use GoHighLevel, set up seven things in order: the Launchpad checklist, your business profile, your contacts, your calendar, your sales pipeline, phone, text and email, and your first workflow. Each step below says what it is, why it matters, and exactly where to click.
Rather skip the learning curve? See the shortcut.
The Steps
Set Up GoHighLevel in Seven Steps.
Step 1: Start With the Launchpad
When you first log into a GoHighLevel sub-account, the SubAccount Launchpad gathers the setup tasks, videos, and shortcuts in one place. Use it as your checklist: it groups setup into foundational setup, marketing and lead generation, sales and conversations, website and payments, and e-commerce.
Where to click: Open your sub-account and look for the Launchpad.
Step 2: Fill In Your Business Profile
Add your business name, address, hours, and branding so everything GoHighLevel sends looks like you. This is also where you find your Location ID, which apps that connect to GoHighLevel often ask for.
Where to click: Settings → Business Profile
Step 3: Import Your Contacts
Bring in the customers and leads you already have. Upload a CSV file (up to 50MB), match each column to a contact field like name, phone, and email, and run the import. Columns that don’t match can become custom fields or be skipped.
Where to click: Contacts → Import → Contacts, then map your columns and click Bulk Import
With Lexi: Lexi keeps your contacts current: tell her what happened and she updates the contact and adds the note.
Step 4: Set Up Your Calendar
Create the calendar customers book on. Give it a name, set the appointment length, your weekly hours, buffer time between appointments, and how much notice you need. You can also send Google Calendar invitations.
Where to click: Calendars → Calendar Settings → Create Calendar
With Lexi: Lexi books appointments on the GHL calendar you pick, 24/7, and handles moves and cancellations.
Step 5: Build Your Sales Pipeline
A pipeline is your sales process, broken into stages like New Lead, Booked Call, and Closed. Each potential deal is an opportunity that moves through those stages, so you can see where every customer stands.
Where to click: Opportunities → Pipelines → Create New Pipeline
Step 6: Turn On Phone, Text, and Email
Get a phone number and turn on texting and email so you can talk to customers from one inbox. In the United States, business texting from a local number requires A2P 10DLC registration with the phone carriers, so plan for that step.
Where to click: Use the sales and conversations steps in your Launchpad
With Lexi: Lexi comes with her own phone line, set up for you, and you forward your existing number to her.
Step 7: Build Your First Workflow
Workflows are GoHighLevel’s automations. A trigger starts the workflow, like a form being submitted, and actions are what happen next, like sending a confirmation email and text. Build it in Draft, then switch it to Publish to turn it on.
Where to click: Automation → Workflows → + Create Workflow
Steps and menu names based on HighLevel’s help center, checked October 2026. HighLevel updates its menus, so names may shift slightly.
The Part Most Guides Skip
Setting Up GHL Is One Day. Running It Is Every Day.
After GoHighLevel is set up, someone still has to answer the calls, reply to the texts, follow up with every lead, and keep working the contact list. GoHighLevel gives you the tools to do that. It doesn’t do the daily work for you, and that daily work is where most sales slip.
The Call You Missed
Your calendar is perfect. But nobody picked up when the customer called at 5:47 PM.
The Lead in the Pipeline
They’re sitting in “New Lead.” A pipeline shows you the deal. It doesn’t call them back.
The List You Imported
Hundreds of past customers, all in your CRM. Getting zero emails, slowly forgetting you exist.
The Shortcut
Or Let Lexi Run GoHighLevel for You.
Lexi is a 24/7 AI business partner that works inside GoHighLevel: she answers your calls, follows up with every lead, books appointments on your GHL calendar, sends email and text campaigns, and keeps your contacts up to date. Every Lexi account comes with a GoHighLevel sub-account at no extra cost, set up for you. Already have GHL? She plugs into your account.
New to GoHighLevel?
Get a GHL account free with Lexi, set up for you, with Lexi already working inside it.
Already on GoHighLevel?
Create one token in your settings and Lexi plugs into the account you have.
Not Sure Yet?
Talk to her for six minutes. Play your own customer and hear how she’d handle the call.
$299/mo founder pricing plus usage. GoHighLevel included. U.S. businesses only.
Common Questions
GoHighLevel Questions, Answered
GoHighLevel (also called HighLevel or GHL) is an all-in-one marketing and CRM platform for businesses and agencies. It includes CRM and pipelines, a website and funnel builder, email and text marketing, phone calling, booking calendars, and AI tools. Plans start at $97 per month, with usage charges for phone, text, email, and some AI features.
Start with your business profile, your contacts, and your calendar. Those three give everything else something to work with. Then build your pipeline, turn on phone, text, and email, and create your first workflow. The SubAccount Launchpad in your account lists these setup tasks in one place.
A workflow is an automation: a trigger starts it, and actions run after it. For example, when a lead submits a form, a workflow can send a confirmation email and text. You build workflows under Automation, then Workflows, and switch them from Draft to Publish to turn them on.
A pipeline is your sales process broken into stages, like New Lead, Booked Call, and Closed. Each potential deal is an opportunity that moves through the stages. You create pipelines under Opportunities, then Pipelines.
Go to Contacts, click Import, choose Contacts, and upload a CSV file up to 50MB. Then match each column to a contact field, such as name, phone, and email, and click Bulk Import. Columns that do not match can become custom fields or be skipped.
Yes, for business texting from a local number in the United States. U.S. carriers require A2P 10DLC registration for business text messages sent from local numbers. Plan for it when you turn on texting.
GoHighLevel plans start at $97 per month for Starter, $297 for Unlimited, and $497 for Agency Pro. There is a 14-day free trial, and usage charges apply for phone numbers, texts, emails, and some AI features. Prices can change, so check HighLevel for current pricing.
Yes. You can hire an agency, or use Lexi, an AI teammate that works inside GoHighLevel. Lexi answers your calls 24/7, follows up with every lead, books appointments on your GHL calendar, sends email and text campaigns, and keeps your contacts up to date. She sets herself up by interviewing you about your business.
Every Lexi account comes with a GoHighLevel sub-account at no extra cost. It is set up for you, with Lexi already working inside it. Lexi costs $299 per month at founder pricing plus a one-time $100 setup fee and usage, for businesses in the United States.
No. Lexi is built for and sold to businesses in the United States. Pricing is in U.S. dollars, and her phone numbers and text messaging run on U.S. carrier registration.
You Learned the Tools. Now Get the Teammate.
GoHighLevel holds your business together. Lexi keeps it moving, answering, following up, and booking while you do the work you love.
Talk to Lexi Now →Free 6-minute demo. No card. No sales call.