Ultimate GoHighLevel Onboarding Checklist

I built this checklist because I was tired of forgetting steps. Every time I onboarded a new client into HighLevel, something would slip through — a phone number not configured, a calendar not synced, a workflow missing a notification. It's death by a thousand cuts when you're doing it from memory.

So I wrote it all down. Every step, in order, grouped by phase. This is the checklist I actually use, and it's the one I shared in the official HighLevel Facebook group — where it blew up.

Phase 1: Basic Client Information

Before you touch HighLevel, get the basics. This is the intake form stuff — boring but critical.

• Get admin contact information
• Check if they need extra users
  • Gather name, email, and phone for each additional user
  • Determine permission levels for extra users
  • Manually add extra users to the account
• Get legal business name
• Get friendly business name (the one customers see)
• Get physical business address
• Get business website URL
• Get social media account names and URLs

Phase 2: Account Setup

This is where you actually start building inside HighLevel.

• Update your internal agency client documentation
• Create the sub-account
  • SaaS client — Send the client link from your SaaS Configurator
  • Manual client — Install the appropriate snapshot into the account
• Send client their login details
  • Confirm they can log in successfully
• Send welcome email and SMS
• Send instructions for the initial onboarding video training series
  • Basic onboarding should be available through a Custom Menu Link

Phase 3: Gather Additional Setup Information

This is the deep intake. You need all of this before you can finish configuring their account.

Brand Guide

• Logos, favicons, and other key graphic elements
• Fonts and colors
• Tone of voice and company culture information

Phone and Domain

• Phone number preference
• New domain information
• Email signature information

Calendar Settings

• Hours of operation
• Meeting length
• Time between meetings
• Who needs meetings booked
• Notification settings

Sales Process

• Pipeline stages
• Opportunity information
• Custom information needed for tags, custom fields, and custom values

Workflows

• Timelines, flows, and automation requirements
• Specific content needed from their clients and prospects

External Tools

• Access information for any external software they're keeping
• URLs for external calendar links, payment links, shopping carts
• Voicemail message recording or script

Phase 4: Technology Settings

Some of these you can do on your own. Others need to be done with the client because they require the client's login credentials.

Do With the Client

• Connect their Google Business Account
• Connect Facebook Business Account
• Connect integrations as needed:
  • Google (Account, Business Page, Analytics, AdWords)
  • Facebook (Page, Ad Account)
  • TikTok
  • Zoom
  • Stripe
  • Slack
  • Clio
  • Shopify
  • QuickBooks
• Set up Outlook or Gmail calendar integration and determine sync settings
• Add and set up phone number
• Social Planner — connect all social accounts (Google Business, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram)
• Reporting — connect Google and Facebook accounts

Do On Your Own

• Set up two-factor authentication
• Check off Company Association setting
• Update business logo
• Update Business General Settings
• Set up missed call text back settings
• Install custom voicemail and adjust timeout
• Set up call forwarding
• Set up domain and confirm DNS settings
• Set up email (their own domain or LC Email)
  • Add subdomains if needed
  • If using their own domain, you may need Cloudflare access — might need to do this with the client
  • Configure reply and forward settings

Phase 5: Account Functional Setup

Now you're building the actual system they'll use every day.

• Upload key media (images, videos, documents)
• Create their calendar
• Existing website integration:
  • Install chat widget
  • Install website form
• Create or update client-specific tags
• Create or update client-specific custom fields
• Create or update client-specific custom values
• Import existing contacts and opportunities
• Add staff members
• Input custom values information
• Update SMS and email templates
• Set up or adjust workflows:
  • Client and prospect notifications
  • Chat widget workflow
  • Appointment reminder workflow
  • New leads pipeline
  • Existing client pipeline
• Update email campaigns

Phase 6: Client Onboarding and Training

The account is built. Now you hand it over and make sure they actually know how to use it.

Demos to Complete

• Overview demo of the internal system, links, and settings
• Phone demo including missed call text back
• Chat widget demo

Other Onboarding Items

• Provide guidelines on password strength and account security
• Explain privacy policy and terms of service
• Provide options for adjusting privacy settings
• Guidelines on email and SMS promotion (stay compliant with A2P)
• Send a client onboarding feedback survey

Mobile App

• Send instructions for the iOS or Android mobile app
• Provide training or demo video on the mobile app

Ongoing Support

• Share your internal knowledgebase
• Share FAQs
• Share support channels
• Share relevant YouTube training videos

Why a Checklist Matters

I wrote about this in my review of The Checklist Manifesto. Surgeons use checklists to prevent deaths. Pilots use them to land planes. We're not saving lives here, but we are saving client relationships.

The onboarding phase is where most agency churn happens. Not because the service is bad — because the setup was sloppy. A step gets missed, the client notices before you do, and now you're playing defense instead of delivering results.

This checklist won't make you perfect. But it will make you consistent. And consistency is what keeps clients paying month after month.

See Also

• HighLevel — The platform this checklist is built for
• Call Scripts — Put the right words in front of reps during live calls
• The Checklist Manifesto — Why simple systems prevent costly mistakes