Back to Projects

Customer Onboarding with Branching SMS

A 14-day GoHighLevel onboarding workflow with conditional branching based on customer engagement signals and product tier.

2024 GHL Backend Specialist GoHighLevel

GoHighLevelSMS BranchingCustom FieldsWorkflow LogicConditional Triggers

taimoorakhtar.com/projects/ghl-onboarding-workflow

Introduction

A SaaS client was losing 35% of new signups within the first 14 days. Their existing onboarding was a 6-email blast that didn't react to user behavior — high-engagement users got the same hand-holding as power users who'd already configured their workspace. Low-engagement users got nothing extra.

The Challenge

The client's existing automation tool couldn't read product usage signals back into the CRM. Onboarding was time-based only — Day 1 email, Day 3 email, Day 7 email. There was no way to branch on 'has user completed setup' or 'has user invited a teammate'. Result: tone-deaf messaging at scale.

The Solution

Rebuilt the entire onboarding stack in GoHighLevel with conditional branches keyed to engagement custom fields populated via webhook from the product. The workflow now has 6 distinct paths based on Day-3 engagement state, with re-converging logic at Day 14 for revival sequences.

Technical Deep Dive

Engagement signal ingestion. Product fires webhook to GHL on key actions: setup_completed, first_teammate_invited, first_integration_connected, first_export_run. Each populates a boolean custom field on the contact.

Branching at Day 3 checkpoint. Workflow uses If/Else conditional checking custom field states. Power users (3+ signals) get advanced tips. Engaged users (1-2 signals) get specific next-step nudges. Cold users (0 signals) get a re-engagement sequence.

SMS escalation for cold path. Cold-path users receive an SMS at Day 5 from a real-name sender with a calendar link. Higher response rate than email-only. A2P 10DLC compliant per the registered campaign.

Revival sequence for partial dropouts. Users with Day-3 signals but no Day-10 signals enter a revival workflow with a different angle — case study content rather than how-to content.

Re-convergence at Day 14. All paths re-merge at Day 14 with a single 'how's it going' SMS from the account manager, triggering manual review for accounts that haven't converted.

Key Features

6 distinct conditional onboarding paths
Webhook-fed engagement signals from product
SMS-escalated cold path with compliant sender
Revival sequence for partial dropouts
Manual review trigger at Day 14 for unconverted accounts

Results & Impact

14-day retention improved from 65% to 81%
Conversion-to-paid rate up 22% in first quarter post-launch
Support ticket volume on onboarding questions dropped 40%
Sales team's manual outreach focused only on the right accounts

Lessons Learned

"Time-based drips are dead — every modern onboarding needs to read state from the product."

"Branching workflows are 80% of the value of any CRM. Make the branches reflect actual user behavior, not assumptions."

"Re-converge your branches — keeping users in parallel paths forever makes the workflow ungovernable."

Related Work

Have a similar build in mind?

I'm available for engagement on GoHighLevel implementations, A2P 10DLC compliance, AI automation pipelines, and CRM migrations. Most projects start at $300–$1,200 depending on scope.

Book a 30-min call WhatsApp View More Projects