Go High Level – 2024

Designing an internal lead management feature to reduce human errors

The Challenge

Businesses often have their own internal processes when it comes to managing their leads and customers within their CRM system. Currently, users of GoHighLevel have to create inventive workarounds to process their leads in a certain way.

As a user of the software myself, I found it challenging to onboard customers to their new automated system – especially if they weren’t confident with the technology. They were afraid of triggering incorrect automation or doing something wrong.

My challenge was to create a solution that is user-friendly (for business owners to create and for their staff to execute) whilst minimising the risk of human error. Without these improvements, mistakes and incorrect judgements could be made, potentially impacting the relationship a business is building with a lead and ruining a sale.

Key Results

Methods

Research
Information architecture
Wireframing
UI prototyping
Usability testing

Role

Sole UX/UI Designer

Timeline

x weeks

What makes GoHighLevel unique?

Designed to be an all-in-one software for agencies to resell to their own niche of clients, the SaaS platform aims to provide every tool and feature that a business could ever need to “elevate their marketing and sales”. For those that want to have complete control over every process within their business, GoHighLevel is the platform that enables that.

Learn more about GoHighLevel

Founded in 2018 it has very quickly disrupted the SaaS industry, knocking its competitors (such as Clickfunnels, ActiveCampaign, Kajabi and many more) out of the park with their ability to shape their new and existing features based on community feedback. GoHighLevel’s business model and speed of launching new features is unparalleled in comparison.

Their primary target user is agencies, and ultimately the end user of the software are the small/medium businesses who work with the agencies that resell the SaaS. In January 2024 GoHighLevel reported they had almost 60,000 agency customers, spanning across 140 countries.

However, when you have an overwhelming range of features and functionalities available to you, it’s easy to become stuck.

The Solution

I designed a new feature called Internal Forms to allow the users of GoHighLevel to have smoother experience when managing internal processes for their leads. Usability testing and user insights influenced my design decisions, whilst also aiming to improve user satisfaction for the GoHighLevel SaaS itself.

I focused on making the experience useful and intuitive for various users of varying technical ability, as well as their unique use-cases. This solution will help ensure human error is minimised and contacts/leads are better managed.

If this feature was deployed within GoHighLevel then I would track and measure success by monitoring KPI’s such as adoption rate, number of forms created by users, error rate and number of customer support tickets.

Discovery

Defining the big problem

To address the need for a functional prototype, I conducted initial desk market research. This provided insights into the impact and importance of a reliable, more user-friendly way to manage leads within the software. Understanding this allowed me to create a deliverable that could be refined later.

The community of users had spoken…

A user had submitted a feedback request on the platform’s Ideas board (see below) and there were several comments supporting this idea.

There was clearly an opportunity for something to be improved.

Understanding how businesses were currently creating “work-around” solutions

Due to my familiarity with the software I had assumptions about how users were creating their own unique way of handling their leads and contacts entirely. However, after speaking to several users and doing a deeper dive into the Ideas board and the active online community group, it highlighted to me a few other methods users were using.

To better understand what this process looked like for those users, I did a cognitive walkthrough of each of their processes mentioned and created several user flows to better understand the number of steps taken and the possible friction points.

The problem with this is the user is leaving the platform to process leads, potentially leading to distraction of workflow.

Tasks involving more than 5 steps had a 40% higher error rate

Time-sensitive tasks after calls often lead to skipped or rushed entries

Suggestion prompts within CRMs are found to increase task completion rates by 22%

For technically advanced users, this isn’t even a problem

Many advanced users who knew the software inside out were very comfortable with how they trigger certain processes. However, being mindful that GoHighLevel’s target audience is agencies who resell the SaaS to business owners whose technical confidence will vary greatly, I believe that the majority of end users for the platform could benefit from a more streamlined, user friendly way of processing leads.

Based on my research, there was a need for the functionality of creating and submitting forms that were hosted internally within the platform, enabling users to update specified fields a business needed based on their own unique situations.

How this new feature will contribute to business goals

To cite GoHighLevel’s website: “…our goal has always been to create a sustainable, powerful, “all things marketing” operating system that creates limitless opportunities for our customers.”

Boosts user satisfaction and productivity

Users benefit from a more efficient workflow, with automation triggers and custom record-keeping reducing repetitive tasks and enhancing overall satisfaction with the platform.

Enhances product offering

This feature sets GoHighLevel apart from competitors by providing a solution for streamlined internal operations, catering to businesses needing efficient internal workflows.

Supports long-term business growth & vision

Incorporating this feature allows the SaaS to scale with customers’ evolving needs, supporting the growth of their users needs.

The research above led me to identify 3 pain points from the existing SaaS platform

Existing functionality isn’t scalable for businesses (or agencies)

If standard forms (in their current format) are used then they have to be embedded on a separate page – which requires a domain connection.

No clear indication of triggering automation

Several users are utilising custom field updates as the trigger, however this often leads to lack of clarity if their saved changes have triggered the required automation.

External tools required to simulate desired process

Third-party plugin software had been developed to provide the desired functionality (at a cost) of having an easily accessible form for users to submit within the contact record area.

Additionally, I had to work with some constraints…

Create accessibility to feature from multiple locations

Users needed to intuitively know where to go to create, edit and use the internal forms.

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