Email Campaigns Setup

This guide walks you through setting up your first email campaign in GoHighLevel, from domain authentication to delivery configuration. By the end, you will have a fully functional campaign ready to send.

Prerequisites

Before you create your first campaign, complete these setup steps:

Verified sending domain with DKIM and SPF records under Settings > Email Services
At least one contact list or Smart List created under Contacts > Smart Lists
Sender name and sender email address that recipients will recognize
Campaign content ready (subject line, body copy, call to action)

Configure Your Sending Domain

Authentication is the foundation of email deliverability. Without it, mailbox providers will reject or spam-folder your messages.

Navigate to Settings > Email Services > Sending Domain and click Add Domain. Enter your dedicated email domain (for example, mail.yourbusiness.com). The system generates DNS records you need to add through your domain registrar or DNS provider.

Add each record type to your DNS:

SPF Record: Create a TXT record with host @ and the value provided
DKIM Record: Create a TXT record using the selector and value provided
MX Record: Create an MX record with the priority and destination values shown
CNAME Record: Create a CNAME record for link tracking with the values provided
DMARC Record: Create a TXT record with host _dmarc and value v=DMARC1; p=none;

After adding all records, click Verify Domain in the platform. All checks should show green verified status. DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours but usually completes within a few minutes to a few hours.

Build Your Contact Audience

Navigate to Contacts > Smart Lists and click New Smart List. Give your list a descriptive name like “Newsletter Subscribers” or “Webinar Attendees.” Add filters to define your target audience:

Filter by tags such as “newsletter-opt-in” or “attended-webinar”
Filter by custom fields like location, industry, or interest area
Filter by lead source to target contacts from specific campaigns
Filter by last activity date to target engaged contacts (for example, activity within the past 90 days)

Exclude contacts with DND enabled for email and anyone who has previously unsubscribed. Save your Smart List. This list will auto-update as contacts meet or stop meeting your filter criteria.

Create Your Campaign

Navigate to Marketing > Emails > Campaigns and click New Campaign. Choose your starting point:

Start from scratch: Opens the drag-and-drop email builder with a blank canvas
Select a template: Browse the template library by category and industry
Use a saved template: Select from your custom templates under My Templates

If using a template, click Preview to review the layout, then click Continue to load it into the builder. The visual email builder opens with your chosen starting point.

Design Your Email Content

Use the drag-and-drop interface to build your message. The left panel contains all available content blocks. Drag elements onto the canvas and arrange them in your preferred order.

Add these core elements:

Header section: Include your logo and navigation links if relevant
Hero image: A banner image that communicates your primary message
Text blocks: Body copy explaining your offer or message
Button: A clear call-to-action button linking to your landing page, booking calendar, or offer page
Footer: Contact information, social links, and unsubscribe link (automatically included)

Click into any text block to edit it directly. Use the formatting toolbar to apply bold, italic, links, and alignment. Insert personalization tokens like {{contact.first_name}} or {{contact.company}} by clicking the Custom Values icon.

Toggle between Desktop and Mobile preview modes using the device icons in the toolbar. Verify that your layout renders correctly on both screen sizes. Adjust font sizes, image widths, and spacing as needed for mobile readability.

Click Save to preserve your work. You can return to edit the campaign at any time before sending.

Configure Delivery Settings

Click Send or Schedule to open the delivery configuration screen. Enter your sender details:

Sender Name: The name recipients will see in their inbox (for example, “Sarah from ABC Company”)
Sender Domain: Confirm your verified domain appears correctly
Sender Email: The from address (for example, team@yourbusiness.com)
Subject Line: Keep it under 50 characters and front-load the most important words

Select your audience by choosing the Smart List you created earlier. You can select multiple lists, and the platform will automatically deduplicate any contacts who appear in more than one list.

Enable Link Tracking to record clicks on every link in your email. Enable UTM Tracking to append campaign parameters for Google Analytics attribution. Add any post-send tags you want applied to recipients (for example, “received-march-campaign”).

Choose your delivery method:

Send Now: Delivers immediately to all recipients
Simple Schedule: Set a specific future date and time
Batch (Drip) Sending: Throttles delivery over time by sending in batches (recommended for lists over 10,000 contacts)
Smart Send: Uses 60 days of historical engagement data to recommend the optimal send time (requires at least 1,000 prior sends)

For most campaigns, Simple Schedule or Send Now works well. For large lists or if you want to maximize engagement, use Smart Send when eligible.

Send a Test Email

Before sending to your full list, always send a test. Click Test Email in the builder or on the Send or Schedule screen. Enter your email address or a team member’s address and click Send Test.

Check the test email for:

Subject line rendering and length
Personalization tokens displaying correctly
All images loading properly
Button links pointing to the correct destinations
Footer and unsubscribe link displaying correctly
Mobile layout rendering cleanly

Make any necessary adjustments in the builder, save your changes, and send another test if needed.

Test Your Setup

After sending your first campaign, verify these success indicators:

Campaign status shows Sent or Scheduled in the campaigns list
Statistics tab displays delivery metrics (delivered, opened, clicked)
No abnormal bounce rates (under 2% is healthy, under 5% is acceptable)
Open rates align with your industry benchmarks (15% to 25% for most B2B campaigns)
Click rates show engagement with your call-to-action (2% to 5% is typical)
Unsubscribe rate remains under 0.5% (rates above 1% suggest targeting or frequency issues)

Navigate to Marketing > Emails > Campaigns, click your campaign name, and review the Statistics tab. Check the link click breakdown to see which links drove the most engagement.

Send yourself a copy of the campaign and verify it arrives in your inbox, not your spam folder. Check the email on both desktop and mobile devices to confirm rendering.

Next Steps

Once your first campaign is live, build on your success:

Review campaign performance in the Statistics tab and identify what resonated with your audience
Create additional campaigns using the same template for consistency across sends
Explore Email Templates to build a library of reusable designs for future campaigns
Set up Workflows to automate email sends triggered by contact behavior
Enable Smart Send for data-driven send time optimization on future campaigns
Integrate A/B Testing to experiment with subject line variations and improve open rates