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Your first funnel and course with Systeme.io: a beginner's walkthrough

A plain-English, step-by-step guide to building a simple opt-in funnel, an email follow-up and a small course on Systeme.io's free plan, with honest pros and cons.

This guide walks through building three connected things on Systeme.io, an all-in-one tool for funnels, email and online courses: a simple sign-up page that collects email addresses, a short series of follow-up emails, and a small course. Everything about Systeme.io's features, limits and prices below comes from Systeme.io's own pricing page and help centre, checked on 26 October 2026. Plans and menus change, so check the current versions before you rely on them.

What you'll build

1. An opt-in funnel: a sign-up page (sometimes called a squeeze page) with an email form, followed by a thank-you page.
2. Email follow-up: a short sequence of emails that new subscribers receive automatically.
3. A simple course: a few modules and lectures that you can give people access to.

Before you start: you'll need your own domain

This catches a lot of beginners out. Systeme.io's help centre says that authenticating a domain name is mandatory to send emails from Systeme.io, that you can't authenticate personal email domains such as Gmail, Yahoo or ProtonMail, and that the domain you authenticate should have an active website on it. It also says that since 16 July 2024 you can no longer use an @gmail.com address to send emails to your list. In practice, if you want to send follow-up emails you'll need a domain you own and an email address on it (for example hello@yourdomain.co.uk).

1. The free plan: what you get and its limits

According to Systeme.io's pricing page, the free plan never expires and doesn't require a credit card. Its main limits are:

The pricing page also says all plans have no transaction fees from Systeme.io, and you can take payments through Stripe or PayPal (your payment provider's own fees are a separate matter, so check those). Paid plans are priced in US dollars on the pricing page: Startup at $17 a month (5,000 contacts, 10 sales funnels, 5 courses), Webinar at $47 a month (10,000 contacts, 50 sales funnels, 20 courses, plus evergreen webinars) and Unlimited at $97 a month. If you cancel a paid plan, Systeme.io says you keep it until your next billing date and then your account goes back to the free plan.

The free plan's single email campaign and single automation rule are the limits you're most likely to notice first, and they shape how this guide is set up.

2. Create your account

Go to Systeme.io's registration page, enter your email address and click Continue, then follow the on-screen steps. If you'd like to use my link, you can create a free Systeme.io account here (affiliate link).

Once you're in, it's worth doing the domain and email set-up early (see steps 4 and 6), because DNS changes can take a while to take effect.

3. Build an opt-in funnel

A "funnel" in Systeme.io is a set of pages that a visitor moves through in order. The simplest type collects email addresses.

1. Create the funnel. Go to the Sites tab, click Sales funnels, then Create. Give it a name, choose your domain and currency, and pick the Build an Audience type. Systeme.io describes this as the simplest funnel structure: an opt-in page and a thank-you page, mainly used to grow an email list.
2. Edit the opt-in page. If you need to add one, click Add step, choose Opt-in page, pick a template (or start from scratch), save, then click Edit page to open the editor.
3. Add the form. Drag a Form input element onto the page. Systeme.io's help centre says the form must contain at least one Email field to capture leads. You can add more fields, but a short form is usually easier for visitors (my view).
4. Set up the button. Add a Button element to the form and set Action when button clicked to Submit form. For the redirect, choose To the next step so people land on your thank-you page.
5. Consider double opt-in. You can turn on double opt-in, so people confirm by clicking a link in an email. Systeme.io notes that contacts who don't click within 24 hours are automatically deleted from your list.
6. Customise the thank-you page. For a sign-up funnel, use the Thank you page from the Opt-in category (the Sales version is for after a purchase). Tell people what happens next, for example "check your inbox for the first email".

4. Set up email follow-up

First, sort out sending. In Systeme.io, hover over your profile picture, go to Settings, then Emails, and use the Domains section to authenticate your domain. Systeme.io generates three CNAME records and a DMARC (TXT) record for you to add at your domain host. Then confirm your sender address under Verified email addresses by clicking the link Systeme.io emails to it.

Create the campaign (Systeme.io's name for an automated email sequence):

1. Go to Emails, then Campaigns, and click Create. Add a name, choose your sender email address and add a short description.
2. Open the campaign and click Create to write the first email: subject, sender name, sender address, and either the classic editor or the drag-and-drop visual editor. Systeme.io warns that switching editors part-way through loses what you've written.
3. Use Save and test to send yourself a test copy.
4. Activate each email (the three dots next to it, then Activate) and set when it goes out: which email it follows and the delay after that one. You can also restrict sending to certain times or days.

Make it automatic. Go to Automations, then Rules, and click Create. Add the trigger Funnel step form subscribed and select your opt-in page, then add the action Subscribe to campaign and choose your campaign. Click Save rule. From then on, anyone who signs up through your form is added to the sequence.

Keep the first few emails light and useful: a welcome, one genuinely helpful tip, and an honest explanation of what you offer (my view). Systeme.io also notes that very heavy, image-laden emails can hurt deliverability.

5. Create a simple course

1. Go to Assets, then Courses, and click Add a new course. Fill in the name, domain, URL path and theme, then save.
2. Click Add module and give it a name.
3. Inside the module, click Add lecture. Give it a name, optionally set a delay after the previous lecture (for drip access), choose whether to allow comments, pick a page template and save.
4. When you're done, activate the course and its lectures so students can see them.

Systeme.io offers four access types: full access (everything at once), drip content (lectures unlock over time), partial access (only selected modules) and partial access with drip.

Giving people access. Systeme.io's help centre describes two ways to give free access: add a student manually, or add an automation rule on your opt-in page with the trigger Funnel step form subscribed and the action Enroll in course. Remember the free plan's limit of one automation rule (from the pricing page) when you decide how to use it; if your one rule is already sending your email sequence, adding students manually is a simple way to start.

For a first course, smaller is better: a handful of short lectures that solve one specific problem will teach you more about what people want than a big course nobody finishes (my view).

6. Connect your domain

To show your funnel and course on your own web address rather than a Systeme.io one:

1. Click your profile picture, then Settings, then Custom Domain, and click Add domain.
2. Enter your domain starting with www (for example www.yourdomain.co.uk) and save. Systeme.io then shows two CNAME records.
3. Add both CNAME records in your domain host's DNS settings. Systeme.io says it can take 24 to 48 hours for DNS records to fully propagate.
4. Set up a redirect from the bare domain (yourdomain.co.uk) to the www version at your domain host. Systeme.io notes that many registrars only redirect plain HTTP addresses, and suggests a provider that supports CNAME flattening (such as Cloudflare) if you need HTTPS redirection.
5. Set a homepage for the domain in Systeme.io so visitors who land on it see something.

Systeme.io also points out that a domain can only be used for one website, so if your domain already runs a site elsewhere, adding it will take it away from that site. If you want to keep your main website where it is, you can connect a subdomain instead (for example courses.yourdomain.co.uk).

7. Realistic expectations

A sensible first goal is to learn: get ten or twenty real people through your funnel, read their replies, and see which emails they open. That tells you far more than any tool comparison. See realistic routes to online income and red flags and scams before you spend money on courses that promise results.

Pros

• A free plan that doesn't expire and doesn't need a card, covering funnels, email, a course and a blog in one place (per the pricing page).
• Unlimited emails sent on every plan, including the free one (per the pricing page).
• No transaction fees from Systeme.io on any plan (per the pricing page).
• Step-by-step help articles for most tasks in the help centre.

Cons

• The free plan allows one email campaign and one automation rule, which is tight once you want more than one sequence or rule.
• You need your own domain, and to authenticate it, before you can send emails. That's a small cost and some technical set-up.
• Paid plans are priced in US dollars, so the cost in pounds can change with the exchange rate.
• Putting your pages, list and course on one platform is convenient, but it also means relying on one company (my view). Keep your own copy of your content.

FAQ

Is Systeme.io's free plan really free?

Systeme.io's pricing page says the free plan never expires and doesn't require a credit card. You'll still need your own domain to send emails, which you buy separately.

Can I send emails from my Gmail address?

No. Systeme.io's help centre says @gmail.com addresses can no longer be used to send emails to your list (since 16 July 2024), and Yahoo addresses are rejected by receiving servers. It recommends a professional address on your own authenticated domain.

Do I need my own domain?

You need one to send emails. When you connect a custom domain, Systeme.io asks you to add two CNAME records at your domain host; the free plan includes one custom domain.

What happens if I outgrow the free plan?

You can upgrade at any time. The next plan up, Startup, is $17 a month on the pricing page and raises the limits to 5,000 contacts, 10 sales funnels and 5 courses. If you cancel a paid plan, your account returns to the free plan at the end of the billing period.

Is it legal to email people who sign up?

Yes, if you have their consent and follow UK rules. Read the ICO's PECR guidance on email marketing. This page is information only, not legal advice.

Will this make me money?

There's no guarantee. Many people build a funnel and course and earn little. Treat your first one as a learning project. See the honest truth about making money online.