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Subscription & Recurring Revenue Logic in GoHighLevel

Want to lock down your subscription logic and minimize revenue leakage?

TLDR: Recurring revenue is stronger than one-time sales—but only if your billing system, automations, and failover logic are solid. This post covers how to handle payment status changes, dunning, upgrades, pauses, and retention flows in GoHighLevel.

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Why recurring logic is core, not optional

  • Subscription income is sustainable vs front-loaded sales
  • You need systems to manage churn, failed payments, upgrades, and reactivations
  • Poor logic means revenue leaks, angry customers, adoption drop-offs

Key billing & subscription states you must manage

  • Active — payments are current
  • Grace / Trial — trial or grace period before cancellation
  • Past due / failed — payment issues need recovery logic
  • Paused / suspended — temporary holds for accounts
  • Cancelled / lapsed — full termination and/or reactivation flows
  • Upgrades / downgrades — changing tiers mid-subscription

Core automations & flows to build

  1. Onboarding & welcome — after signup, deliver access, orientation
  2. Renewal reminders — before next billing date, warn about upcoming charge
  3. Failed payment recovery (dunning) — retry logic, notifications, downgrade paths
  4. Pause / suspension — temporary holds and messaging for expired accounts
  5. Upgrade / downgrade paths — allow customers to shift tiers smoothly
  6. Cancellation flows — offer retention paths, exit surveys, win-back sequences
  7. Reactivation / win-back campaigns — target former users to return

Example flow (generic)

  • Customer signs up for Premium – $79/month
  • Automatic onboarding email + access tag
  • 2 days before renewal → friendly reminder email
  • If payment fails → “payment failed” notice + retry
  • After 3 retries → pause account, notify user
  • If paused > 30 days → move to lapsed state
  • Offer a “come back” discount via reactivation sequence

Common pitfalls

  • Not handling failed payments → revenue leaks
  • No downgrade logic → customers stuck without flexibility
  • No retention offers → high churn
  • No reactivation campaigns → lost opportunity
  • Hard-coded logic that’s not tagged-based


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