How I Built My First Email List Funnel for Free With Systeme.io (Beginner Walkthrough)

When I started building Online With Fred, I knew I didn’t want to rely completely on social media to reach people. If I’m going to build something long-term, I want a way to stay connected with people who choose to follow the journey, which means I need to start building an email list.

The problem was, I had never built an email funnel before.

I needed an opt-in page, a way to deliver my free Affiliate Marketing Starter Checklist, a thank-you page, automated follow-up emails, and a system to connect everything. I also didn’t want to start paying for several different tools before I had earned my first affiliate commission.

That’s what led me to Systeme.io.

Using its free plan, I built my first working email-list funnel from start to finish. I created the signup page, connected the checklist download, set up the email automation, built a 9-email follow-up sequence, and tested the entire process to ensure it worked.

And yes, there were definitely a few moments where I clicked something and thought, “Well…that wasn’t it.” 😂

In this walkthrough, I’m going to show you what I built, how the pieces fit together, what confused me as a beginner, and what I think of Systeme.io after actually using it to build my first funnel.

If you’re also learning how to build an email list with Systeme.io, hopefully seeing the process from another beginner’s perspective will make your first setup a little easier.

How to Build an Email List With Systeme.io: The Simple Funnel I Used

Before I started clicking around inside Systeme.io, I needed to understand what I was actually trying to create.

At the time, I wasn’t trying to build some complicated sales funnel with upsells, order bumps, and a dozen different pages. I just wanted a simple way for someone who found Online With Fred to get a useful free resource and, if they wanted to, stay connected with me by email.

The basic flow I wanted looked like this:

Visitor → Opt-in page → Enters email → Thank-you/download page → Added to my email list → Follow-up emails begin automatically

My free resource was the Affiliate Marketing Starter Checklist, an eight-step checklist I created for beginners who are trying to figure out where to start without becoming overwhelmed.

So my funnel really needed to do five things:

1. Give someone a clear reason to enter their email address.
2. Collect that email address.
3. Immediately give them access to the checklist.
4. Add them to my email list.
5. Automatically send a series of emails afterward.

That may sound pretty basic if you’ve built funnels before. For me, it was the first time I had connected all of those pieces myself.

And I think understanding this simple flow before building anything was important. It kept me from adding things I didn’t need and helped me focus on getting one basic system working from beginning to end.

Why I Chose Systeme.io for My First Funnel

When I started looking at what I needed to build an email list, one thing became obvious pretty quickly: there are a lot of tools out there.

Landing-page builders. Email platforms. Automation tools. Funnel software. Website plugins.

For someone learning affiliate marketing from scratch, it can get overwhelming fast, especially when every tool seems to come with another monthly subscription.

I wanted to keep things simple.

I needed one place where I could build an opt-in page, collect email addresses, deliver my free checklist, and send automated follow-up emails without piecing together several different services.

That’s why I decided to try Systeme.io.

At the time I built my funnel, I was able to create everything I needed using the free plan. That gave me a chance to actually learn the platform and get my first email-list system working before committing to another monthly business expense.

Another important reason was that I wanted to recommend tools based on my own experience.

Rather than signing up for a product just because it had an affiliate program, I wanted to use Systeme.io for Online With Fred first. If I couldn’t get value from it myself, I wouldn’t feel comfortable telling another beginner to use it.

After building my funnel with it, I now have firsthand experience with the platform, including some things I really like and a few things that took me some time to figure out.

We’ll get into both later in this article.

What I Mean When I Say “Free”

There’s one clarification I want to make because I don’t want the word free in the title to be misleading.

I was able to build this email funnel using Systeme.io’s free plan, but that doesn’t mean everything involved with Online With Fred costs me nothing.

I already had my own website and domain, for example, and those have their own costs.

So when I say I built my first email-list funnel for free with Systeme.io, I mean I did not have to pay Systeme.io to create the funnel, collect subscribers, deliver my checklist, and set up the email follow-up system I’m describing in this article.

That distinction matters to me because I’d rather tell you exactly what I spent than make something sound cheaper or easier than it really was.

Step 1: I Created My Free Lead Magnet

Before I could build the funnel, I needed a reason for someone to actually join my email list.

I didn’t want to ask people to hand over their email address just so I could “send them updates.” I wanted to give them something useful right away.

That became my Affiliate Marketing Starter Checklist.

I created it for beginners who are trying to figure out what to do first without getting buried under a hundred different strategies, tools, and opinions.

The checklist walks through eight simple starting steps, including choosing who you want to help, picking a clear topic, creating helpful content, researching affiliate products, starting an email list, and tracking what you’re actually doing.

The goal was not to create some massive 50-page guide.

I wanted something simple enough that a busy beginner could actually use it.

That mattered because I’m building Online With Fred for people who may be working full time, managing family responsibilities, and trying to learn affiliate marketing in the small pockets of time they have available.

So instead of trying to impress someone with the size of the freebie, I focused on making it practical.

Once the checklist was finished, I had the first piece of the funnel:

Something useful to offer in exchange for an email address.

Step 2: I Built the Opt-In Page in Systeme.io
Once I had the checklist finished, I needed a page where someone could actually request it.

This became the opt-in page for my funnel.

The job of this page was pretty simple: explain what the checklist is, who it’s for, and give someone a place to enter their email address to get it.

Inside Systeme.io, I created the first page of my funnel and customized it around the Online With Fred brand.

I kept the page focused on one action. I didn’t want navigation menus, extra offers, or a bunch of distractions competing with the checklist.

The page included:

• a clear headline
• a short explanation of what the checklist would help with
• an image of the checklist
• an email field
• one button to get the free checklist

One of the bigger lessons for me was realizing that simple was probably better.

My first instinct was to keep adding information because I wanted people to understand everything they were getting. But someone landing on this page doesn’t need my entire life story. They just need to know what the resource is, whether it can help them, and what to do next.

I also spent time checking the page on mobile.

That turned out to be important because a page that looks great on a computer doesn’t automatically look great on a phone. I had to make some adjustments to spacing, sizing, and the order of elements so the mobile version was easy to understand and use.

That may sound like a small detail, but much of the traffic I’m trying to generate comes from short-form social content, so there’s a good chance someone will first see this funnel on their phone.

By the end of this step, I had a live page where a visitor could enter their email address and move into the funnel.

But collecting the email was only half the job.

Next, I needed to make sure they actually received what I promised.

Step 3: I Built the Thank-You and Download Page

Once someone entered their email address, I needed to make sure the next step was immediate and obvious.

I didn’t want someone signing up for the checklist and then wondering:

“Okay…where is it?”

So the second page of my Systeme.io funnel became a simple thank-you and download page.

After someone submits their email address on the opt-in page, Systeme.io automatically sends them to this page. There, I thank them for signing up and give them a clear button they can use to download the Affiliate Marketing Starter Checklist right away.

I decided to make the checklist available immediately instead of forcing someone to go searching through their inbox before they could access it.

At the same time, I also wanted the checklist delivered through email.

That gave me two ways to make sure someone received what they requested:

Opt in → Immediate download page → Checklist also delivered by email

I liked this approach because the visitor gets instant access, while the email gives them another copy they can come back to later.

Building this page also helped me understand something that seems obvious now, but wasn’t when I started:

A funnel isn’t just about collecting an email address.

There needs to be a smooth experience after someone enters it.

If I tell someone they’re getting a free resource, I want them to be able to find that resource without digging around or wondering whether something went wrong.

Once the thank-you page and download were working, the front end of my funnel was basically complete.

Someone could find the checklist, enter their email address, and immediately receive what I promised.

Now I needed to work on what happened after that first interaction.

Step 4: I Created the Follow-Up Email Campaign
Getting someone onto my email list was a good start, but I didn’t want the relationship to end the moment they downloaded the checklist.

I wanted a simple follow-up sequence that could help a new subscriber understand what Online With Fred is about, encourage them to actually use the checklist, and keep the conversation going without immediately trying to sell them something.

Inside Systeme.io, I created an email campaign that would automatically begin after someone joined through the funnel.

My campaign ended up with nine emails spread out over roughly two weeks.

The emails were designed to do things like:

• remind someone not to get overwhelmed trying to complete everything at once
• share what I’m personally working on as I learn affiliate marketing
• talk about mistakes and distractions I’m trying to avoid
• explain why I don’t want to recommend every product I come across
• encourage beginners to focus on useful content and consistent progress
• transition subscribers from the initial checklist into future Online With Fred updates

One thing I was intentional about was not turning the sequence into nine sales emails.

I’m still learning affiliate marketing myself, and I want people who join my list to know exactly what they’re getting from me. I’d rather share what I’m actually doing, what I’m learning, and what seems useful than pretend I have some secret formula figured out.

That also made writing the emails easier.

Instead of asking, “What can I sell in this email?” I could ask:

“What would have been helpful for me to hear when I was getting started?”

I also set delays between the emails so subscribers weren’t getting blasted with messages all at once.

By the time I finished this part, I had the content of the follow-up system ready.

But there was still one important piece missing.

Systeme.io needed to know when someone should be added to that campaign automatically.

That’s where the automation came in.

Step 5: I Connected the Funnel to the Email Automation

At this point, I had the pieces built.

I had an opt-in page collecting email addresses. I had a thank-you page delivering the checklist. And I had a nine-email follow-up campaign ready to go.

Now I needed Systeme.io to connect those pieces automatically.

This was one of those parts that sounded more complicated to me than it actually ended up being.

The basic instruction I needed to give Systeme.io was:

When someone signs up through this funnel, add that person to my follow-up email campaign.

Inside Systeme.io, I created an automation rule for the funnel. The trigger was based on someone submitting the opt-in form, and the action subscribed that new contact to my email campaign.

In simple terms, it worked like this:

Visitor enters email → Systeme.io creates the contact → Automation is triggered → Contact is subscribed to the campaign → Follow-up emails begin

Once I understood that relationship between the trigger and the action, the automation started making a lot more sense.

The trigger tells Systeme.io what happened.

The action tells Systeme.io what to do next.

For my funnel, I didn’t need anything especially complicated. I just needed the right person added to the right email campaign at the right time.

That simplicity was actually one of the things I liked about building everything inside the same platform. I wasn’t trying to connect a landing-page service to a separate email provider using another automation tool.

The funnel, contacts, email campaign, and automation were all inside Systeme.io.

But I wasn’t ready to assume everything worked just because I had connected the pieces.

The next step was probably the most important one of the entire setup:

I tested the funnel from beginning to end as if I were a real visitor.

Step 6: I Tested the Entire Funnel Like a Visitor

Once everything was connected, I didn’t consider the funnel finished just because all the pieces looked right inside Systeme.io.

I wanted to know what would actually happen when a real person found the page and signed up.

So I tested the entire process myself from beginning to end.

I opened the funnel like a visitor, entered a test email address, submitted the form, and followed every step that came afterward.

I checked that:

• the opt-in form accepted the email address
• the thank-you page loaded correctly
• the checklist download worked
• the new contact appeared inside Systeme.io
• the contact was added to the correct email campaign
• the first email actually arrived
• the links and attachment worked as expected

I also tested the experience on my phone.

That was important because much of the traffic I’m working to generate comes from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Someone may discover Online With Fred on their phone and never see the desktop version of the funnel.

Testing it this way helped me catch something I think would be easy for a beginner to overlook:

A funnel isn’t working just because you finished building it. It’s working when you can go through it exactly like a visitor and everything happens the way you intended.

There were several different systems involved behind the scenes, even though the visitor only sees a couple of pages.

The form had to capture the email address. The page had to redirect correctly. The download needed to work. Systeme.io needed to create the contact. The automation needed to subscribe that contact to the campaign. And the email actually needed to reach the inbox.

I didn’t want to start sending people to the funnel until I had personally gone through that entire path.

Once the test worked from beginning to end, I finally had something I had never built before:

A functioning email-list funnel that could collect a subscriber, deliver my free resource, and begin following up automatically.

And that felt like a pretty big milestone for someone still learning this stuff from scratch.

What Tripped Me Up as a Beginner

This was probably the most useful part of the whole process for me.

Not because everything went wrong, but because a few things that seemed simple on the surface took more figuring out than I expected.

The first was understanding how all the pieces inside Systeme.io connected.

At the beginning, terms like funnel, campaign, automation rule, trigger, and contact felt like separate features I had to learn. It took actually building the system before I understood how they worked together.

Once I saw the full chain, it became much clearer:

The funnel collects the subscriber. The automation tells Systeme.io what to do. The campaign handles the follow-up emails.

Another area that took some trial and error was the email setup itself.

I had to make sure my sending domain and email settings were configured correctly, then test actual delivery instead of assuming that creating an email inside the platform meant it would automatically show up exactly the way I expected.

The mobile layout also required more attention than I originally thought.

I built pages that looked good on desktop and then discovered that spacing, element order, and sizing could feel completely different on a phone. Since I’m using short-form social media to attract visitors, I couldn’t treat the mobile version as an afterthought.

There were also plenty of smaller moments where I simply had to hunt for the right setting.

Sometimes I knew exactly what I wanted Systeme.io to do, but I didn’t yet know where the control for it lived.

That’s the part of being a beginner that tutorials sometimes skip.

Someone who has used a platform for years can say, “Just create an automation rule,” and move on.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting there thinking:

“Great. Where exactly is the automation rule?” 😂

None of these issues ended up being deal breakers for me.

They were mostly learning-curve problems.

And once I understood how the pieces connected, the platform became much easier to work with.

If you’re building your first funnel, I think the biggest thing to remember is that getting confused by a setting doesn’t necessarily mean you chose the wrong tool.

Sometimes you’re just learning a system you’ve never built before.

What I Like About Systeme.io So Far

After actually using Systeme.io to build my first email-list funnel, there are a few things I’ve come to appreciate about it.

The biggest one is probably having everything in one place.

For this funnel, I needed landing pages, email contacts, automated emails, and automation rules. I was able to build and manage all of those pieces inside Systeme.io instead of trying to connect several different platforms together.

As a beginner, that mattered to me.

I already had enough new things to learn without also figuring out how to make four different pieces of software talk to each other.

I also liked that I could build a working version of the system without immediately adding another monthly subscription to my business expenses.

I’m still in the stage where I’m learning, creating content, building an audience, and working toward my first affiliate commission. Being able to test a tool by actually using it before deciding whether I need a paid plan makes a lot more sense to me than paying for features I may not need yet.

Another thing I like is that Systeme.io gave me room to keep the funnel relatively simple.

I didn’t need some giant marketing machine.

I needed:

A page → an email address → a free resource → an automated follow-up sequence.

Does that mean I think Systeme.io is perfect?

No.

There are definitely a few things I’d want another beginner to know before signing up, which I’ll cover next.

What I Don’t Love or Would Watch Out For

Even though Systeme.io worked for what I needed, there are a few things I think another beginner should know going in.

The biggest one for me was that some settings weren’t always where I expected them to be.

There were times when I knew what I wanted to accomplish, but finding the right menu, automation setting, or page control took more clicking around than I expected. Once I found it, it usually made sense, but the learning curve was real.

I also wouldn’t assume that a page looking good on desktop means you’re finished.

I had to spend extra time adjusting the mobile versions of my pages. Spacing, sizing, and the way different elements stacked sometimes needed their own attention.

That’s especially important if you plan to send people to your funnel from social media, because many of those visitors will probably be using a phone.

Another thing I’d watch out for is trying to learn every feature in Systeme.io at once.

There’s a lot more inside the platform than I needed for this first funnel. It would have been very easy for me to start exploring features just because they were there and turn a fairly simple project into something much more complicated.

For my first funnel, I really only needed to understand:

Funnels → Contacts → Campaigns → Automation

Everything else could wait.

I also think it’s important to remember that the free plan doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily stay on a free plan forever.

If my email list and business grow, I may eventually need features or capacity that require a paid plan. I’m fine with that if the business reaches a point where the additional cost makes sense.

For now, though, I’d rather grow into that expense than pay for more than I need before I’ve proven anything.

So far, none of these things would stop me from using Systeme.io.

But I also don’t want to pretend the experience was completely effortless just because I’m now an affiliate for the platform.

If you’re a complete beginner, expect to spend some time learning where things are and testing what you build.

That was definitely part of the process for me.

Is Systeme.io Good for a Complete Beginner?

Based on my experience building my first email-list funnel with it, yes, I think Systeme.io can be a good option for a complete beginner, especially if you want to start simple and avoid paying for several different tools right away.

But I’d add an important qualifier to that:

It’s beginner-friendly, not beginner-proof.

You’re still going to have to learn what a funnel is, how an email campaign works, what an automation rule does, and how all those pieces connect.

Systeme.io doesn’t remove that learning curve.

What it did for me was let me learn those things inside one platform instead of learning a landing-page builder, a separate email service, and another tool to connect everything together.

That was a big advantage.

I think Systeme.io makes the most sense for a beginner who:

• wants to start building an email list without a large upfront software expense
• would rather keep funnels and email marketing together
• is willing to spend some time learning the platform
• wants to start with a simple system and add complexity later

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a platform where you can sign up and understand every feature immediately without watching tutorials, searching for settings, or doing some trial and error, that wasn’t my experience.

I had to learn my way around it.

But I was able to go from never having built an email funnel before to having a working system that collects subscribers, delivers my free resource, and automatically follows up with them.

That’s the part that matters most to me.

What I can tell you is that it did what I needed it to do for my first funnel, and I’m continuing to use it for Online With Fred.

So if another beginner asked me today whether I thought Systeme.io was worth considering for their first email funnel, my answer would be:

Yes. Start with the free option, build something simple, and see whether it works for you before paying for more than you need.

That’s the same approach I took.

Want to Try Building Your Own Funnel?

If you’re trying to build your first email list and the system I described here sounds like what you need, you can try Systeme.io for yourself.

At the time I’m writing this, I’m using it to run the same funnel I walked through in this article, including my opt-in pages, email contacts, automated follow-up campaign, and the delivery of my free resources.

I’d recommend starting the same way I did:

Use the free option first.

Build something simple. Create one useful free resource, one opt-in page, one thank-you page, and a basic follow-up sequence.

You don’t need to build everything Systeme.io can do just because the features are available.

Your first goal can simply be:

Get one working funnel from beginning to end.

If you’d like to give Systeme.io a try, you can create your account here:

Start Building With Systeme.io for Free

Affiliate disclosure: The link above is my Systeme.io affiliate link. If you eventually make a purchase through it, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. I’m recommending Systeme.io because I actually use it to run the systems I’ve described in this article.

I don’t know yet whether Systeme.io will be the platform I use forever.

What I do know is that it allowed me to go from “I’ve never built an email funnel before” to having a working email-list system without needing to pay for several different tools just to get started.

For where I am right now, that’s been a pretty good fit.

Final Thoughts: Keep Your First Funnel Simple

Building this funnel taught me something I probably needed to learn early:

Your first email funnel does not need to be complicated. It just needs to work.

I could have spent weeks comparing platforms, designing more pages, writing dozens of emails, or trying to build some elaborate marketing system before sending a single person through it.

Instead, I focused on getting the basics connected:

A useful free resource → an opt-in page → a thank-you page → an email list → automated follow-up

Is my funnel perfect?

Definitely not.

I expect I’ll change the pages, emails, and probably plenty of other things as I get more traffic and learn what people actually respond to.

But it’s live.

It works.

And now I have something I can improve based on real results instead of endlessly trying to build the “perfect” funnel before anyone sees it.

If you’re another beginner trying to build your first email list, that would be my biggest takeaway from this experience:

Start simple, get it working, test everything yourself, and improve it as you learn.

If you’re not ready to build a funnel yet, you can start with my free Affiliate Marketing Starter System and work through the basics one step at a time.

That’s exactly what I plan to keep doing with Online With Fred.