GoHighLevel Email Marketing: Campaigns, Sequences, and Deliverability
GoHighLevel’s email marketing tools cover everything from one-off broadcasts to multi-step nurture sequences. This guide covers the setup, best practices, and deliverability optimisation that most GHL users get wrong.
The Two Modes You Need to Understand
Campaigns — Broadcast Emails
One-time email sent to a list or smart list at a scheduled time. Use for newsletters, promotions, announcements, and re-engagement blasts. Similar to a Mailchimp campaign. Set the audience (smart list or tag filter), write the email, schedule the send, and review the results.
Workflows — Automated Sequences
Triggered email series that run automatically based on contact behaviour or events. Use for lead nurture sequences, onboarding emails, post-purchase follow-ups, and appointment reminders. Built in the Workflow builder, not the Campaigns section.
The Technical Foundation Most Users Skip
Email deliverability determines whether your emails reach inboxes or spam folders. This setup is non-negotiable.
Set up a dedicated sending domain
Do not send GHL emails from your main business domain (yourcompany.com). Create a subdomain for email sending: mail.yourcompany.com or em.yourcompany.com. This protects your main domain’s reputation if GHL emails encounter deliverability issues.
Configure SPF record
In your domain’s DNS settings, add an SPF TXT record that authorises GHL’s servers to send email on behalf of your domain. GHL provides the exact SPF record value in Settings > Email Services > SMTP. Without SPF, your emails are more likely to be flagged as spam.
Configure DKIM
DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to every email you send, verifying that the email was actually sent by you and was not tampered with in transit. GHL generates DKIM keys in Settings > Email Services. Add the provided CNAME records to your DNS. Takes 24-48 hours to propagate.
Configure DMARC
DMARC tells receiving email servers what to do when an email fails SPF or DKIM checks. Add a DMARC TXT record to your DNS: v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourcompany.com. This is the final layer of email authentication and is increasingly required for deliverability to Gmail and Yahoo.
Warm up your sending domain
A new sending domain has no reputation with email providers. Send small volumes initially (50-100 emails/day in week 1) and increase gradually over 4-6 weeks. Sending high volumes immediately from a new domain triggers spam filters and can permanently damage deliverability.
Subject Lines
The subject line determines whether the email gets opened. Best practices for GHL email subject lines: use the contact’s first name ({{contact.first_name}}), keep under 50 characters, create specific curiosity rather than generic promises, avoid spam trigger words (free, guaranteed, act now, limited time), and test plain subject lines against formatted ones.
Email Body
Start with the most important sentence — people read email on mobile and see only the first line before deciding to continue. Write short paragraphs (2-3 sentences maximum). One clear call to action per email. Plain text emails consistently outperform HTML templates for personal sequences; HTML templates work better for newsletters and broadcasts.
The From Name and Address
People open emails from people, not from companies. ‘Sarah from Acme Agency’ consistently outperforms ‘Acme Agency’ as a sender name for nurture sequences. Match the sender name to the persona in your email copy.
What Good Looks Like in GHL
| Metric | Poor | Average | Good | Excellent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open rate | Below 15% | 15-25% | 25-40% | Above 40% |
| Click-through rate | Below 1% | 1-3% | 3-6% | Above 6% |
| Unsubscribe rate | Above 1% | 0.5-1% | 0.2-0.5% | Below 0.2% |
| Spam complaint rate | Above 0.3% | 0.1-0.3% | 0.05-0.1% | Below 0.05% |
📌 If your unsubscribe or spam complaint rates are above the Poor benchmark, stop all campaigns immediately and audit your list quality, sending frequency, and email relevance before resuming. Continued high complaint rates damage your sending domain permanently.
Keeping Your GHL Email List Healthy
Regular maintenance tasks
- Suppress contacts who have not opened any email in 90+ days from broadcast campaigns
- Remove bounced email addresses immediately — GHL handles hard bounces automatically
- Run a re-engagement campaign to inactive contacts before suppressing them permanently
- Never purchase email lists — imported cold lists destroy deliverability
- Review unsubscribe rates per campaign — sudden spikes indicate relevance problems
Segmentation for better results
- Send different content to leads vs active clients vs past clients
- Segment by service interest — contacts interested in SEO should not receive web design campaigns
- Suppress contacts already in an active automation from broadcast campaigns on the same topic
- Create VIP segments for high-value contacts — they get personalised content, not generic blasts
Want Your GoHighLevel Email System Set Up Correctly?
SA Solutions configures GHL email deliverability, builds broadcast templates, and creates automated nurture sequences — from technical setup through to copywriting.