Email & Communications Guide

Two Types of Email in GHL

VATable's GoHighLevel CRM handles email in two distinct ways. Understanding the difference is key to using the system effectively.

Where Emails Live in GHL

Email-related features are spread across several areas of GHL. Here's your quick-reference map:

Email Performance at a Glance

Based on the last 7 days of VATable's email activity (as of 18 March 2026):

Top performers: "Email - Internal Notification" (100% open rate), "Email - from Charles" (100%), "Email - Acknowledgement" (67.7% open, 9.7% click)

Where to Find Email Services Settings

From any page in GHL, click Settings at the very bottom of the left sidebar. In the Settings menu, look under the "Business Services" section for "Email Services".

The settings page path is:

Settings › Business Services › Email Services

Where to Find Templates

Email templates are managed in the Marketing section:

Marketing › Emails › Templates

You can also reach this page via this direct link:

Current Email Templates (19 Total)

VATable currently has 19 email templates. Here are the key ones organised by purpose:

Client-Facing Templates

Internal Case Brief Templates

Draft / Copy Templates (Need Cleanup)

How to Preview a Template

1. Navigate to Marketing › Emails › Templates
2. Find the template you want to preview in the list
3. Hover over the template name and click the eye icon or click on the template name to open it
4. The template will open in the email builder, showing you exactly how it will look when sent to a client
5. Click Back or the back arrow to return to the templates list without making changes

Method 1: From the Contact Record

This is the best method when you're already looking at a contact's details.

1. Go to Contacts in the left sidebar and search for the contact by name, email, or phone number
2. Click on the contact's name to open their record
3. In the contact detail panel, you'll see communication options at the top. Click the email icon (envelope icon)
4. A compose window will open. Enter a Subject line for your email
5. Type your message in the body area. You can use the formatting toolbar to add bold text, links, bullet points, etc.
6. Optionally, click the template icon to insert a pre-built email template
7. Click Send to dispatch the email

Method 2: From the Conversations Inbox

Use this method when you want to reply to an existing conversation or compose from the central inbox.

1. Click Conversations in the left sidebar
2. To reply to an existing email thread, find and click on the conversation in the left panel. The full conversation history will appear on the right
3. Type your reply in the message box at the bottom. Make sure the channel selector shows Email (not SMS or another channel)
4. To start a new email to a contact, use the search bar at the top of the conversations panel to find the contact, then select "Email" as the channel
5. Compose your message, add a subject if needed, and click Send

Attaching Files

You can attach files to manual emails:

• Click the paperclip icon in the compose area to attach a file from your computer
• Alternatively, drag and drop a file directly into the message compose area
• Maximum attachment size varies but generally up to 25MB per email
• For larger files, upload to the GHL Media Storage and share a link instead

On a Contact's Record (Activity Tab)

Every email sent to or received from a contact is recorded on their Activity tab. This is the single source of truth for a contact's communication history.

1. Go to Contacts and open the contact's record
2. Click the Activity tab (or it may be visible in the right panel by default)
3. Filter by Emails to see only email activity
4. Each email entry shows: the subject line, date/time sent, whether it was automated or manual, and the delivery status
5. Click on any email entry to expand it and see the full message content

In the Conversations Inbox

The Conversations inbox also preserves the full threaded history of all communications (email, SMS, calls, chat) with each contact.

1. Go to Conversations in the sidebar
2. Search for the contact or scroll through the conversation list
3. Click on a conversation to see the full email thread, including both sent and received messages
4. Each message shows the timestamp, sender, and delivery status

Bulk Email Statistics

To see aggregate statistics for all emails sent (not per-contact), use the Marketing section:

Marketing › Emails › Statistics

This shows overall performance metrics, top-performing emails, and trends over time. You can filter by date range and by specific campaigns.

Which Workflows Send Emails?

Several VATable workflows include automated email actions. These are triggered without any manual intervention when conditions are met.

Email Status Indicators

GHL shows delivery status for every email sent. Here's what each status means:

• Delivered — The email was successfully accepted by the recipient's mail server. This does not guarantee it reached the inbox (it could be in spam), but it left GHL successfully.
• Opened — The recipient opened the email. GHL tracks this via an invisible tracking pixel embedded in the email. Note: some email clients block tracking pixels, so "not opened" doesn't always mean unread.
• Clicked — The recipient clicked a link within the email. This is the strongest engagement signal.
• Bounced — The email could not be delivered. This could be a "hard bounce" (invalid email address) or "soft bounce" (mailbox full, temporary server issue). Hard bounces should be cleaned from your contact list.
• Failed / Error — GHL could not even attempt to send the email. This usually indicates a configuration issue (like the domain problem described in Section 2).
• Pending / Queued — The email is waiting to be sent. This is normal for workflow emails that have a delay/wait step before sending.

Where to Check Delivery Status

1. Per contact: Open the contact's record, go to Activity tab, and look for the delivery status icon next to each email
2. Per campaign/workflow: Go to Marketing › Emails › Statistics and review the delivery breakdown for each email campaign
3. In Conversations: Open the conversation with the contact. Successfully sent emails show a check mark. Failed emails show an error indicator

Overview

The Conversations inbox is VATable's central hub for all client communications. It combines emails, SMS messages, phone calls, web chat, and more into a single unified view.

The Conversations page has three main areas:

• Left panel: List of all conversations, sorted by most recent. Shows contact name, last message preview, and unread count
• Centre panel: The full conversation thread for the selected contact. Shows all messages in chronological order
• Right panel: Contact details, tags, opportunity info, and quick actions

Filtering Conversations

The Conversations inbox supports several filters to help you find specific communications:

Assigning Conversations

Conversations can be assigned to specific team members so that the right person handles each client communication.

1. Open the conversation you want to assign
2. In the top-right area of the conversation, look for the Assigned To field or the user icon
3. Click on it and select the team member from the dropdown (e.g., Charles Dobson, Ian Sutton, Steve Outhwaite)
4. The conversation will now appear in that team member's assigned conversations filter

Currently, Ian Sutton has the most assigned conversations (151), followed by Keith Dias (22) and Steve Outhwaite (7).

Sub-tabs in Conversations

The Conversations section has additional sub-tabs accessible from the top navigation bar:

• Conversations — The main unified inbox (this is the default view)
• Manual Actions — Shows pending manual actions from workflows that require human intervention
• Snippets — Pre-written text snippets you can quickly insert into messages
• Trigger Links — Special tracked links that can trigger automations when clicked

Golden Rules for Email in VATable's GHL