Multi-Channel Campaigns in HighLevel

Most leads do not buy on first contact. Multi-channel campaigns let you follow up across the channels a contact actually uses, rather than sending repeated messages on the one channel they are ignoring.

Reading time: approximately 10 minutes.

What Are Multi-Channel Campaigns in HighLevel?

A multi-channel campaign is a follow-up sequence that uses more than one communication channel to reach a contact over time.

In HighLevel, every multi-channel campaign is a workflow. One workflow can send an SMS on day one, an email on day two, drop a voicemail on day three, and follow up via Facebook Messenger on day five – all coordinated automatically without any manual action from your team after the initial setup.

The Workflow Builder handles everything the old Campaigns tab did – and adds If/Else branching, execution logs, math functions, time window controls, and over 30 action types that the old system never supported.

Every Channel Available in Workflows

HighLevel workflows support the following outbound communication actions. All of these can be combined in any order within a single sequence.

The Three Workflow Settings That Control Everything

Multi-channel workflows have three settings that matter more than any individual channel action. Get these right before you build anything else.

Stop on Response

When enabled, the workflow ends for a contact the moment they reply to any message sent from the workflow. It does not matter which channel they reply on.

The remaining steps are cancelled for that contact.

This is what prevents a contact who texted you back yesterday from receiving three more automated follow-ups today. Enable it on every campaign that is designed to prompt a reply.

Time Window

Time Window restricts when communication actions can execute. If a Send SMS action is scheduled to fire at 2 AM because of how the Wait actions line up, the action is paused and resumes at the next available time inside the window.

Set this to business hours – typically something like 8 AM to 8 PM – for any campaign that includes SMS, calls, or voicemail drops. Reaching people at 2 AM is not good for response rates or for your sender reputation.

Timezone

The Timezone setting controls which timezone is used for time-dependent steps. Account Timezone uses the timezone set for the sub-account.

Contact Timezone uses each contact’s individual timezone.

Use Contact Timezone for any national or international campaign. If the contact does not have a timezone set in their profile, the system falls back to Account Timezone automatically.

What You Can Build

• Lead response sequences that fire an immediate SMS within seconds of a form submission, follow up with an email an hour later, drop a voicemail the next morning, and send a final SMS on day three – all stopping automatically the moment the lead replies
• Social-first follow-up sequences that start with a Facebook Messenger or Instagram DM for contacts who came in through social ads, then switch to SMS and email for subsequent touches if the social message goes unanswered
• Post-appointment sequences that send a same-day thank-you email, an SMS follow-up two days later asking if they have questions, and a review request seven days after the appointment through the contact’s preferred channel
• Channel escalation sequences that start with the least intrusive channel (email), move to SMS if there is no open after two days, then drop a voicemail if there is still no response after four days, treating each non-response as a signal to try a different approach
• Re-engagement campaigns that reach cold contacts across multiple channels before applying a final unresponsive tag, ensuring you have genuinely tried to reach them rather than giving up after one unanswered email
• Internal notification sequences that alert team members at key moments – for example, notifying a sales rep via SMS the moment a contact clicks a pricing link in a campaign email, so they can follow up while the lead is actively engaged
• WhatsApp + SMS hybrid sequences that use WhatsApp for contacts who have it active and branch to SMS for contacts whose WhatsApp window is closed or inactive, ensuring every contact gets reached through a working channel

Key Definitions

Use Cases by Industry

Solar and Home Improvement Companies

A solar installer runs Facebook ads and captures leads via a form. The moment the form submits, an SMS fires: “Hi [First Name], this is [Company] following up on your solar quote request.

Is now a good time?” One hour later, an email goes out with a detailed quote overview. The next morning, a voicemail drop arrives from the sales manager explaining the offer.

If the lead replies at any point, Stop on Response kills the sequence and creates a pipeline opportunity. If there is no response after five days, a final SMS fires and then a tag marks the contact as unresponsive.

Outcome: Every lead receives a consistent multi-channel follow-up sequence automatically, regardless of how busy the sales team is or when the form was submitted.

Gyms and Fitness Studios

A gym captures trial class opt-ins via a landing page. The workflow fires immediately: SMS confirmation of the class booking, email with directions and what to bring, Instagram DM the morning of the class wishing them luck.

After the class, an email goes out asking how it went. Two days later, an SMS offers a membership discount that expires in 48 hours.

Contacts who click the membership link are moved into a sales pipeline stage automatically. Contacts who ignore every message after seven days receive a re-engagement SMS before the sequence ends.

Outcome: Every trial class attendee receives a full onboarding and conversion sequence across three channels without any manual follow-up from the gym’s team.

Law Firms and Professional Services

A law firm captures consultation requests through a website form. The workflow sends an immediate email confirming receipt of the request, followed by an SMS from the attorney’s number an hour later: “Hi [First Name], I received your consultation request and will review your details today.

I’ll follow up shortly.” The next day, a voicemail drop from the attorney provides a brief personal introduction.

Professional services firms find that the voicemail drop makes a significant difference in show rates for initial consultations because it creates a personal first impression before the contact has ever spoken to anyone.

Outcome: Consultation requests receive an immediate, professional, multi-touch response that feels personal rather than automated, increasing show rates and first-impression quality.

E-commerce and Online Brands

An online brand runs a post-purchase sequence combining email, SMS, and WhatsApp. The order confirmation fires via email immediately.

An SMS goes out when the order ships with a tracking link. A WhatsApp message arrives seven days after delivery asking if everything arrived correctly and linking to a review page.

The WhatsApp Customer Service Window Check verifies the window is open before the WhatsApp message fires. If the window is closed, the workflow branches to an SMS instead so the review request always gets through on a working channel.

Outcome: Every customer receives a post-purchase sequence on the channels most likely to get a response, with automatic fallback logic ensuring no review request fails silently.

Marketing Agencies Managing Client Campaigns

A digital marketing agency builds multi-channel lead nurture workflows inside each client’s sub-account. Each workflow is tailored to the client’s industry and lead source.

The agency uses Internal Notification actions at key points in the workflow to alert the client’s sales team via SMS when a lead reaches a hot stage – for example, when a lead clicks a pricing page link in the email step.

The agency manages all channel connections and workflow logic from the agency view without needing to log into each client account separately for routine checks.

Outcome: Clients receive professionally built multi-channel campaigns without needing to understand how to build them, and the agency can deliver this as a recurring managed service.

Who Is This For?

How to Build a Multi-Channel Campaign

This walkthrough covers connecting channels, configuring workflow settings, building the sequence, adding branches, and monitoring performance.

Step 1: Connect Your Channels

Go to Settings, then Integrations. Connect your Facebook Business account to enable Messenger and Instagram DM actions.

Connect your WhatsApp Business account if you plan to include WhatsApp steps. Confirm LC Phone is active under Settings, then Phone Numbers.

Confirm your email sending domain is configured under Settings, then Email Services.

Channels that are not connected will not fire even if the action is added to the workflow.

Step 2: Create the Workflow and Configure Settings

Go to Automation, then Workflows. Click Create Workflow.

Add your trigger first. Then click the Settings tab inside the workflow builder before adding any actions.

Enable Stop on Response. Set Time Window to your business hours.

Set Timezone to Contact Timezone if you serve contacts in multiple time zones. Configure these before building the sequence – they are harder to adjust correctly after actions are already in place.

Step 3: Add Your Trigger

Click Add Trigger. Select the event that starts the campaign – for example, Form Submitted, Tag Added, or Pipeline Stage Changed.

Add filters to scope it precisely to the right contact segment.

A well-scoped trigger is the most important step. A poorly scoped trigger enrolls the wrong contacts and wastes every action that follows.

Step 4: Build the Channel Sequence

Click the plus icon below the trigger. Add your first action – typically Send SMS for an immediate response.

Keep the first message short and conversational. Click Save Action.

Add a Wait action – set the delay appropriate for your sequence, such as one hour or one day. Add the next channel action below the Wait.

Repeat: action, wait, action, wait, for each step.

A common pattern for lead follow-up:

1. Immediate SMS
2. Wait 1 hour → Send Email
3. Wait 1 day → Voicemail Drop
4. Wait 1 day → Send SMS
5. Wait 2 days → Facebook Messenger or final SMS

Step 5: Add If/Else Branches

After key actions, add an If/Else branch. Check whether the contact opened the email, clicked a link, or replied to the SMS.

Route engaged contacts into a warmer follow-up path. Route non-engaged contacts into a persistence path with a different channel or message angle.

Branches make the sequence responsive. Without them, every contact gets identical messages regardless of what they did.

Step 6: Define the End of the Sequence

Add a final action for contacts who complete the entire campaign without responding. Options include applying an unresponsive tag, removing them from the pipeline, or creating a task for manual team review.

Always define the end state explicitly.

Step 7: Test and Publish

Use Test Workflow with a test contact. Step through every action.

Confirm Stop on Response fires when a reply is sent. Publish the workflow when testing passes.

Step 8: Monitor the Execution Log

After real contacts start moving through, open the workflow and review the execution log. The log shows exactly which step each contact is on, what fired, what was skipped, and whether any action encountered an error.

Use it as your primary diagnostic tool for any issues that come up after launch.

Step 9: Refine Based on Performance

After the first 30 to 60 contacts complete the sequence, review which channels generated replies and which steps had the highest drop-off. Remove steps that generate no engagement across a significant number of contacts.

Adjust timing on steps where contacts are replying too late in the sequence – if most replies come after the voicemail, the voicemail may be better placed earlier.

How It Connects to the Rest of HighLevel

• Workflow Builder – the entire multi-channel campaign system lives inside the Workflow Builder. Every channel action, Wait step, If/Else branch, and execution log is part of the same workflow infrastructure used for all other HighLevel automations.
• SMS Marketing Automation – SMS is typically the first channel in any multi-channel lead response sequence and the highest-engagement channel for most follow-up scenarios. The same LC Phone infrastructure and A2P compliance requirements apply to SMS actions in multi-channel workflows.
• Email Campaign Automation – email actions in multi-channel workflows use the same templates and Email Builder infrastructure as standalone broadcast campaigns. Email engagement data such as opens and clicks can be used as If/Else branch conditions inside the workflow.
• Tag-Based Automation – tags are the most common trigger for multi-channel workflows. A tag applied when a contact opts in, fills out a form, or reaches a pipeline stage immediately fires the campaign sequence without any manual action.
• Conversation AI – Conversation AI can handle inbound replies on SMS and social channels automatically in Auto-Pilot mode, extending multi-channel workflows into full two-way automated conversations rather than one-way follow-up sequences.
• Pipeline and Opportunities – workflow actions can move contacts into pipeline stages, create opportunities, or update opportunity values based on which channel a contact responded on, connecting campaign engagement directly to the CRM sales process.

Common Questions

To Wrap It Up

Most leads do not respond to a single message on a single channel. Multi-channel campaigns exist to solve that problem by reaching people where they actually are, not just where your tool defaults to sending.

HighLevel’s Workflow Builder handles all of this in one place. The channel mix, the timing, the branching logic, the stop conditions – everything is configured once and runs automatically for every lead that enters the trigger.

The three settings that matter most are Stop on Response, Time Window, and Contact Timezone. Get those right before building anything else and the rest follows naturally.

1. Enable Stop on Response on every campaign designed to prompt a reply – it is the single most important setting in any multi-channel workflow
2. Set Time Window to business hours before adding any SMS, call, or voicemail actions so contacts are never reached at inappropriate times
3. Use Contact Timezone for any campaign reaching contacts across multiple time zones
4. Add If/Else branches after at least the email and first SMS steps to route engaged contacts into a different path than unengaged ones
5. Review the execution log after the first 30 contacts complete the sequence and remove any step that generated zero engagement across all of them

A well-built multi-channel workflow runs in the background indefinitely, handling follow-up for every new lead without any manual coordination after the initial setup.