Part 1 in a Series: Learn about the tools we use at JAGmedia. Gain insights on why we use them and why you may want to use them if it’s the right fit for you.
This is the first part of a series on the digital toolbox here at JAGmedia. Be prepared this is a meaty one! I’ve been in the website design field for over three decades and used a variety of tools. Many of them were individual tools that I used for email newsletters, appointment calendar, website – well you get the picture.
Now we are in the era of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems. CRM systems are typically an all-in-one platform that can include elements like website, email, online courses, calendar and automations designed for your customer journey. It’s also good for your sanity to have all of your tools in one place.
Go High Level (aka High Level) is the CRM system I chose to use a year ago and will continue using this system. Why? Because there are so many great tools that I use and many more still yet to explore. I will focus here on the major tools that I currently use.
Why JAGmedia switched to Go High Level
- Tech Support
- Website Platform
- Automation Workflows
- Appointment Calendar
- Forms & Event Registration
So just to go back in time, two years ago I started using another CRM system, Kajabi. While my website looked good it did not have the ease of use of the WordPress platform which I’ve used for close to two decades. There were things that should have been relatively simple that were very complicated.The biggest problem for me was the subpar tech support.
Everyone needs to rely on tech support, including website designers. Support was mainly via email and I was paying close to $300 a month. Emails did not give solutions that I needed for the most part were not timely and oftentimes I would get a repeat of the same email from a different person. I was only able to get a phone call tech support once. That just did not cut it for me.
After a year of frustration with Kajabi, I made the switch to Go High Level. Let me tell you first Go High Level has excellent tech support. It’s 24/7 Tech Support over Zoom so that the support person can see what’s on your screen and show you what you need to click. The typical experience for me is that it’s a short wait period. While it’s not perfect because you’re talking to a real human, it’s the best that I’ve experienced over the years.
Moving on to the website part. As a website designer it’s really important to have a platform I love. I’ve been using WordPress for close to two decades and it is the best platform. I love that Go High Level works in tandem with WordPress. (I did keep my website when I used the previous platform so that I didn’t lose it.) I’ll come back to this a little later.
I use the Go High Level website builder for a landing page for people who live in the Delray Beach, Florida area. This is a good example of how the whole system comes together. Click here to see the website to give you a better picture of the features I’ll cover in this article. Overall, it’s a good builder with templates you can customize. There are options for desktop and mobile versions of your website ( the mobile part is a bit trickier than the desktop version. As with any platform there will be a learning curve depending on your skill level.
You’ll see a button that you click to receive our lead magnet, a free eBook download, how to avoid five big mistakes with your website. Click the button and it leads to a form on the page, with three fields plus a required checkbox to receive our email newsletter. That’s the first part.
The second part is where you will receive an email with the link for your free download. It’s part of what’s known as a nurturing sequence. You will receive a series of four emails over the course of a month related to the ebook with more valuable content. There is also a prompt to schedule a free consultation.
When you click the free consultation link, you will see my appointment calendar from Go High Level and schedule your free consultation. then you will receive an email with the date, time and Zoom link. Plus, reminder emails, a very important step. All of these steps are part of a workflow automation so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time. I use workflow automations for a variety of tasks.
I also use a Go High Level workflow automation for registrations for my monthly event, JAGmedia GOLD Hour. Note that this is my main website created in WordPress, which aligns well with go high level. You’ll see a registration link on the Events page, that clicks to a form created in go high level, also part of a workflow. After you register, you receive an email with meeting details. I also receive an email that shows me that you registered. There’s also a dashboard where you can keep track of all registrations. The automation workflow is based on the date and time of the meeting.
It also includes reminder emails based on when you register, including the date of the event. There’s also a follow-up email sent after the event in my automation.
The great thing is is that you can duplicate a workflow and then customize it, something I do for my events on a monthly basis.
More Go High Level Features
- Email Builder
- Conversations
- Online Courses
- Shopping cart / E-commerce
So far I’ve mentioned the website builder, workflow automations, forms and the appointment calendar. There’s also an email newsletter builder.
My email opt-in is set up so that people subscribe when they download my free ebook or register for an event. You can use one of the templates and customize it or create your own. You can also schedule the email and get statistics: typical things you’d expect, plus send to pre-built groups.
Tags are used for creating groups of people (also known as segments) where are you can send an email targeted to a specific segment. For example, if I want to send an email only to people who live in Delray Beach, there’s a tag for that. I really like the pre-built segments, for example there’s one for people who have engaged in the past 60 days, past five campaigns etc.
There’s another feature that works in tandem with the email newsletter builder that’s called Conversations, so that you can keep track of your customer engagement. When you reply to one of my emails, I will see it in the Conversations tab in the dashboard. I can reply to you in addition to see when you subscribed, tags and other details.
The Go High Level dashboard has access to many features and I’m only covering a few that I use frequently. There is a Membership tab that is used for creating online courses, whether they are live or recorded. there is a portal for anyone who registers for your courses and where they can access your content including video. Creating the courses is pretty intuitive, though customizing the customer portal and check out pages used in transactions is more of a challenge.
This leads to the shopping cart / eCommerce feature included in the Go High Level system. When you create your courses, for example, you create a product page so that people can buy from you. Stripe and PayPal are payment systems available among others.
Overall, Go High Level is a great CRM system to use. I love the seamless integration with websites whether it’s WordPress or their own website builder, along with newsletter features nurturing sequences and workflow automations for lead magnets registration and more. As I mentioned before I plan on continuing to use Go High Level. After using it for a year I decided to become an affiliate, where compensation is received after ordering from one of my links. If you want to take it for a spin, click my link below for your 14 day free trail of Go HIgh Level.
