GoHighLevel Tutorial: How to Set Up Your Account in 2026

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Getting started with GoHighLevel can feel overwhelming. The platform covers an enormous amount of ground, and the sheer number of menu options on day one can trigger decision paralysis. This tutorial walks you through the exact setup steps most users need to complete in their first week, in the right order.

Step 1: Set Up Your Agency Account

When you first log in to GoHighLevel, you land in the Agency view. Before anything else, fill in your agency profile by going to Settings, then Agency Settings. Add your agency name, logo, contact information, and primary timezone. If you are on the Unlimited or SaaS Pro plan, configure your white-label domain here so clients log in at your branded URL.

Step 2: Create Your First Sub-Account

Sub-accounts (also called Locations) are the containers for each client’s data. Everything is isolated per sub-account: contacts, pipelines, automations, funnels, and campaigns.

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To create a sub-account: click Sub-Accounts in the left sidebar, click Add Location, enter the business name, address, phone, website, and timezone, then click Save. Once created, switch into that sub-account by clicking on it.

Step 3: Import or Add Contacts

Your contacts are the engine of everything in GoHighLevel. You can add them manually, import via CSV, or connect a form to capture them automatically. To import via CSV: go to Contacts, click Import Contacts, upload your file, map the columns to GoHighLevel fields (name, email, phone), and add tags during import to segment contacts right away.

Step 4: Build Your First Pipeline

Pipelines track where contacts are in your sales or service process. Go to Opportunities, click Pipelines, then Add Pipeline. Name the pipeline and add stages that match your actual process (for example: New Lead, Contact Made, Appointment Booked, Proposal Sent, Won, Lost). Once created, you can drag contacts between stages and set automations that trigger when contacts move to a specific stage.

Step 5: Create Your First Automation Workflow

Workflows are GoHighLevel’s automation engine. A workflow has a trigger (what starts it) and a sequence of actions (what happens next).

Example: Automated follow-up for a new lead. Go to Automation, click Create Workflow, and choose Start from Scratch. Set the trigger to Form Submitted. Add an action to send a welcome email. Add a wait step of one day. Add an action to send a follow-up SMS. Publish the workflow. This three-step sequence handles the critical first 24 hours of a new lead automatically.

Step 6: Connect Your Calendar

To set up appointment booking: go to Settings inside the sub-account, click Calendars, then Create Calendar. Set your availability, appointment duration, and buffer time. Connect your Google Calendar to sync availability in real time. Copy the booking link or embed the widget in your funnel or website. You can also connect calendar bookings to automations so that when someone books a call, they automatically get added to your pipeline and receive a confirmation email and reminder SMS.

Step 7: Send Your First Campaign

Once your contacts are imported, send your first email campaign by going to Marketing, then Email Campaigns, and clicking Create Campaign. Choose a template or start from scratch, write your subject line and body, select your recipient list, then schedule or send immediately.

For SMS: go to Marketing, then SMS Campaigns, click New SMS Campaign, write your message (keep it under 160 characters to avoid message splitting), select recipients, and send.

Next Steps After Initial Setup

Once the basics are running, explore: Funnels (build a landing page with a form connected to your pipeline), Reputation Management (automate review requests after closed deals), Snapshots (create a reusable configuration so you can replicate this setup for new clients in minutes), and Reporting (set up client dashboards so clients can see results without emailing you for updates).

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