GoHighLevel Intent Detection Guide

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GoHighLevel Workflow Intent Detection How-To

In this guide, you will learn how to configure workflow intent detection in GoHighLevel to intelligently route conversations based on what contacts actually type. Whether you are coming from ClickUp or any other platform, this step-by-step tutorial will help you set up accurate intent rules and improve your automation results.

The instructions below are based on the official GoHighLevel documentation for workflow intent detection and translated into a practical, easy-to-follow how-to article.

What Is Intent Detection in GoHighLevel?

Intent detection in GoHighLevel is a workflow action that classifies the meaning of a contact’s message. Instead of only reacting to keywords, the system evaluates the overall intent of what someone says and assigns a label (an “intent” type) you can use later in your automation.

This is especially useful when you want to:

  • Tag leads based on what they ask for in chat or SMS
  • Route support questions away from sales pipelines
  • Start different workflows depending on the contact’s goal
  • Trigger AI responses that match what the customer needs

The workflow action reads a recent message, classifies it according to your settings, and then outputs an intent value you can use in conditions and branches.

Where to Use GoHighLevel Intent Detection

You can add the intent detection action to any workflow in GoHighLevel that handles conversations. Common use cases include:

  • New inbound SMS and email automation
  • Website chat widget conversations
  • Social media DM workflows
  • Follow-up sequences that adapt to replies

Any time a contact sends a free-text message, you can insert this action to understand the intent before the workflow moves forward.

How to Add Intent Detection in a GoHighLevel Workflow

Follow these steps to place and configure the intent detection action inside your workflow.

Step 1: Open Your GoHighLevel Workflow

  1. Log in to your GoHighLevel account.
  2. Navigate to Automation > Workflows.
  3. Open an existing workflow or click to create a new one.

Make sure the workflow is already triggered by a conversation-related event, such as an inbound message, so there is text to analyze.

Step 2: Insert the Intent Detection Action

  1. Inside the workflow editor, click the + icon where you want to analyze a message.
  2. In the action list, search for Intent Detection.
  3. Click the action to add it to the workflow path.

The new action will appear in the flow and open its configuration panel on the right-hand side.

Step 3: Choose Which Message to Analyze

In the action settings, define which message the GoHighLevel system should evaluate. Depending on the doc, typical options include:

  • Last incoming message from the contact
  • Full conversation history (recent context)
  • A specific message field if used inside a special workflow

Select the option that matches how your workflow is triggered. For example, if the trigger is “Customer Replied,” choosing the last incoming message is usually the most precise.

Step 4: Configure Intent Categories

The core of this GoHighLevel feature is configuring how intents will be classified. In the right panel:

  1. Review the default intent options available (for example, sales, support, booking, unsubscribe, and others if listed in your account).
  2. Enable only the intents that make sense for this workflow.
  3. If the documentation for your account includes any custom intent labels, add or edit them as required.

The system will then attempt to match each analyzed message to one of the enabled intents. If nothing matches, it may assign a neutral or unknown intent depending on the current product behavior described in the source page.

Step 5: Save and Place the Action Correctly

Once you configure the options:

  1. Click Save on the action panel.
  2. Ensure the action is placed after the step that receives the message.
  3. Optionally, rename the action label inside your workflow (for example, “Classify Reply Intent”) to keep the flow readable.

At this point, your workflow will classify the message intent whenever it reaches this action.

Using GoHighLevel Intent Detection in Conditions

Detecting the intent is only the first step. The real power comes from using the detected label inside conditions and branches to personalize what happens next.

Step 6: Branch the Workflow Based on Intent

  1. Click the + icon under the intent detection action.
  2. Select a Condition or If/Else step.
  3. In the condition settings, choose the field that stores the detected intent for this action.
  4. Set up rules such as:
    • If Intent equals “Sales” → send to sales pipeline workflow
    • If Intent equals “Support” → notify support team
    • If Intent equals “Booking” → send calendar link

You can create multiple branches or separate conditions to precisely route each type of message.

Step 7: Apply Tags, Notes, or Status Changes

Beyond simple routing, you can use GoHighLevel actions to:

  • Apply tags to contacts based on intent
  • Update opportunity stages when someone shows high buying intent
  • Add notes inside the contact record describing the message meaning
  • Trigger webhooks or integrations to external tools

Combine these actions with your conditions to build a very detailed, intent-driven automation system.

Best Practices for GoHighLevel Intent Detection

To get accurate and reliable results from intent detection, keep these recommendations in mind:

  • Limit intents per workflow: Only enable the intent types you truly need so the system doesn’t spread confidence across too many choices.
  • Place the action close to the trigger: The sooner GoHighLevel analyzes the message after it arrives, the less ambiguity from later steps or changes.
  • Test with real conversations: Run messages from your actual chat transcripts through the workflow and confirm the detected intent values.
  • Use fallback paths: Always create a default route for unknown or low-confidence intents, such as sending a generic reply or assigning to a human agent.
  • Monitor over time: Regularly review how many conversations hit each intent and adjust your configuration if the balance looks off.

Troubleshooting GoHighLevel Intent Detection

If the detected intents don’t match your expectations:

  • Verify the message source chosen in the action settings is correct.
  • Make sure the workflow is actually receiving the latest incoming message before running detection.
  • Check that you are reading the right field inside your conditions and not an older value.
  • Reduce the number of active intents to only the most important ones so classifications are clearer.

For the most up-to-date behavior and field descriptions, always compare your setup with the original documentation at this official GoHighLevel help article.

Next Steps and Additional GoHighLevel Resources

Once you are comfortable using intent detection, you can expand your automation by combining it with other workflow actions, AI tools, and CRM updates inside GoHighLevel. This allows you to create fully dynamic customer journeys that react intelligently to every message.

If you want strategic help designing advanced workflows, you can explore consulting services at Consultevo, where experts focus on automation architecture, CRM optimization, and scalable funnel design.

By following the steps in this tutorial and aligning them with the official GoHighLevel documentation, you can reliably configure workflow intent detection, route contacts based on their true needs, and build smarter, high-converting automations.

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