Troubleshooting Workflow Automation in GoHighLevel

How can I get my GoHighLevel automation to work? Common problems and their solutions

Introduction

After you've spent hours creating your workflow in GoHighLevel, set up all its triggers, added the necessary actions, published it - and nothing happens. There are no emails, no messages, and no leads being moved in your GHL automation. It just stays idle.

It is one of the most irritating situations that occur within GHL for agency owners and business operators. And guess what? In most cases, there is a solution, which is often simpler than it may seem. There are only a few reasons why your GoHighLevel automation isn't working, and they are all fixable.

In this guide, we're going to look at the most common problems related to GHL workflows, understand why they occur and what to do to fix them.

Major issues causing GoHighLevel automation failure

1. Workflow is not published

Workflow exists in draft format

Being the most common cause of GHL automation failure, if the workflow is saved in Draft mode, it won't work - no matter how great you have built it. In most cases, users create the workflow entirely and do not remember to change its status to Published before trying it out.

How to Fix This:

Just access your workflow, click on the toggle in the top right corner, and change it to Published mode. After that, start the test again but use another contact.

2. Trigger is incorrectly set up

Incorrect trigger type or filters

The second problem often arising within GHL workflows is improper setting of triggers and/or filters. It may mean that you have used an incorrect trigger type or there are incorrect filters applied. For example, you have chosen Contact created while you have actually used Form submitted. Or you have set the tag trigger but haven't added the tag to contacts.

How to Fix This:

Access the trigger in your workflow and check whether it corresponds to the exact action performed by your contact. Also, review any filters applied to the trigger.

3. The contact has already gone through the workflow

Re-enrollment is disabled

By default, GoHighLevel does not allow for the same contact to go through the workflow more than once. Hence, whenever you test using the same email address multiple times, the automation will run once but fail silently on every other subsequent test - making it appear broken even though it works as intended.

How to Fix This:

Enable the "Allow Re-enrollment" feature in the workflow settings - or use different test contacts with different email addresses for every single test.

4. Email sending domain is not verified

Emails don't get sent because of domain problems

If your workflow is sending emails but the contacts never receive any, then chances are that there is a problem with the sending domain. Emails cannot be sent without a verified domain and either of two things happen; GHL will either block the emails completely or the emails end up in the spam folder - another commonly overlooked GoHighLevel automation fix.

How to Fix This:

Navigate to Settings → Email Services → Sending Domains and verify your domain with DNS records.

5. SMS not being sent because no phone number is provided

No Twilio/LC Phone number attached

Your SMS actions in your workflows will fail silently if there is no phone number added from Twilio or LC Phone provided by GoHighLevel. This is the most common problem with GHL workflows when getting started.

How to Fix This:

Go to Settings → Phone Numbers and ensure that there is a phone number assigned to your account. Make sure that the number you use in the action of your workflow is correct.

6. Workflow stuck due to Wait Steps

Automation is hanging in the middle of the workflow

If you have wait steps in your workflow - like "wait 1 day," your automation process is just paused in between those wait steps until the countdown ends. Many people panic while fixing their workflows, not knowing about the waiting period.

How to Fix This:

See the contact’s workflow journey in the Contacts page and see which step they are at. If you are testing, then remove the wait steps or reduce them to 1 minute.

GoHighLevel Automation Troubleshooting: Step-by-step Guide

First of all: Go to your contact’s profile, scroll down to the Workflow tab and see their workflow enrollment history. GHL will show you the exact step where your contact is now - or if they are never enrolled. That one simple step solves 80% of all workflow troubleshooting problems.

1. Make sure that the workflow is set to be Published, not Draft

2. Take a look at the trigger type and filters - they must correspond to the contact action precisely

3. Go to the contact profile and see their workflow enrollment history

4. In case of the same test contact used - activate re-enrollment or use another email

5. Make sure that your sending domain is verified in the settings

6. Make sure that a phone number is added in order to send SMS

7. Check for any wait steps that may pause the workflow execution

8. Take a look at the workflow execution log in case of errors

Checklist for troubleshooting automation at GoHighLevel

• Follow this checklist before creating a support ticket

• Workflow is configured as Published and not Draft

• Trigger type aligns with what the contact does in the trigger

• Trigger filters are not overly restrictive and configured correctly

• Re-enroll option is selected or new contact is being tested

• Checked contact’s enrollment history on their profile page

• Domain for sending emails is verified with proper DNS configuration

• Phone number is linked for sending SMS messages

• Wait steps checked -workflow is not stopped halfway during sequence execution

• Execution log checked for error messages for failed steps

• Received email/SMS notification -also looked in spam folder

Contacting GoHighLevel Support

Once you have tried everything in the checklist above, but your automation using GoHighLevel is still not working, it is time for you to file a ticket with their support team. You must provide the following information to ensure that your problem is solved quickly:

Information to be provided in your support ticket

The name and ID of your sub-account, the name of your workflow, screenshots of your trigger and actions, the contact ID of the test contact, and screenshots of your enrollment history.

Conclusion

Not having GoHighLevel automation working is stressful - especially when you have leads on the way and a business to run. However, in the vast majority of cases, the problem is related to just one of several things that can be fixed easily: a draft workflow, a wrong trigger, re-enrollment setting, or an integration. First of all, follow the checklist provided in this tutorial. It only takes about 10 minutes to fix any GHL workflow problem once you know precisely what to do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why won't my GoHighLevel workflow work at all?

The most likely cause of a non-working GHL workflow is that it is still on Draft mode. The second most likely reason is improper trigger configuration - either an incorrect trigger is selected or filters on the trigger prevent contacts from entering. Your workflow troubleshooting process should begin with making sure your workflow and trigger configurations are set correctly.

Q. Why does GoHighLevel send emails from my workflow but contacts don't receive them?

In case emails are being sent but not delivered, the problem is with your sending domain. You must verify your email domain in order for your emails to be delivered properly. It is required to do this in GoHighLevel Settings -> Email Services -> Sending Domains section. Not doing this is one of the critical automation fixes you have to do when setting up your account.

Q. How do I determine what is causing an error for a contact in my GoHighLevel workflow?

Navigate to the contact record in GoHighLevel and open the Workflow tab. This will show all workflows in which the contact was included, the step they got to, and if there were any steps that failed. You can also see errors from failed steps in the execution logs inside the workflows themselves.