Setting up your sequence in Systeme.io

If you're new to email marketing, this is the platform we suggest you start with. It has a free plan, and your sign-up page, list and automatic emails all live in one place.

This guide takes you from an empty Systeme.io account to a sign-up page that sends your emails one a day. Every step comes from Systeme.io's own help pages, linked at the end of each section. Systeme.io changes its screens from time to time, so if something looks different, the linked help page will be the most up to date.

Checked against Systeme.io's help pages on 1 October 2026.

Before you start: the free plan

Systeme.io has a free plan. Its pricing page lists 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels and "unlimited emails to all of your contacts", and says the free plan "never expires and does not require a credit card." Email campaigns, automation rules and workflows appear on the plan comparison, but we couldn't read how many of each the free plan allows. Check this in your account before you build.

Sources: Systeme.io pricing

In Systeme.io, a sign-up page lives inside a funnel.

Go to the Sites tab and click Sales funnels.
Click Create.
In the pop-up, give your funnel a Name, choose your Domain and your Currency.
Choose Build an audience. Systeme.io describes it as "the simplest funnel structure": an opt-in page and a thank-you page, built to grow your email list.
Open the opt-in page and click Edit page to open the editor.

[SCREENSHOT: the "Build an audience" option when creating a funnel]

Add or check the form

If the page doesn't have a form yet, drag the Form element from the left sidebar onto the page.
Click the form. Under the Elements tab, Email and First name fields are included by default. Keep both.
Make sure the form has a button whose action is set to Submit form. Systeme.io's help pages say this is needed for the form to save sign-ups and for automation to start.
Paste in the words from optin-page.md: the headline, subheadline, bullets, button text and the line under the button.

Deliver your lead magnet

Put a link or button to your lead magnet on the thank-you page, so people get it right away. Your first email also contains the link. We couldn't find a Systeme.io help page on setting up the thank-you page itself, so check this in your account: it is edited the same way as the opt-in page.

If you'd rather send the file by email: Systeme.io lets you attach a file to an email, up to 5 MB. Its help pages say attachments "are displayed as links at the end of the email rather than being sent as direct files."

Sources: How to create a funnel · How to create an opt-in page · How to add a form field and a form element to your page · How to send an automatic email when a lead subscribes · How to deliver digital products via email

Part B: Build the email series (one email a day)

Systeme.io calls a series of automatic emails a campaign.

Create the campaign

Go to the Emails tab, then Campaigns.
Click Create.
In the Create campaign pop-up, add a name, choose your sender email address and add a description.
Click Save.

Add your emails (Part C below shows what goes in each one)

Click your campaign's name, then click Create to add the first email.
Fill in the Subject, Sender name, Sender email address, Editor type and template.
- The Classic editor is for "a simple email", which is what your emails are. The Visual editor is drag-and-drop.
- Choose before you start writing: Systeme.io warns that if you change editors while working on an email, "the content you have been working on will be lost."
Paste in the email and click Save.
Repeat for every email, in day order.

Set the timing

New emails stay grayed out until you activate them, and they appear at the top of the list until then.

Next to email 1, click the three dots (...), then Activate.
In the pop-up, set the Delay for email 1. Systeme.io's own example campaign measures the first email's delay from when "the contact enters" the campaign. Set it as short as the box allows, so email 1 arrives on day 1. Check in your account whether it accepts 0.
For email 2, click the three dots, then Activate. In This email will be sent after, choose email 1, and set Delay to 1 day.
Do the same for every email: each one is sent after the one before it, with a delay of 1 day.
Leave Time/Days of the week switched off unless you want to limit sending to certain hours or days. Systeme.io notes that "for an email to be sent, all conditions (delay + specific time + specific day) must be met", so extra limits can push emails later than one a day.

[SCREENSHOT: the Activate pop-up with "This email will be sent after" and "Delay"]

Connect the sign-up page to the campaign

Go to Automations, then Rules, and click Create.
Click (+) to add a trigger and choose Funnel step form subscribed. Pick your opt-in page.
Click (+) to add an action and choose Subscribe to campaign. Pick your campaign.
Optional: add a second action, Add a tag, to label these subscribers.
Click Save rule at the top right.

You can also add rules from the funnel itself: select your opt-in page, open the Automation Rules tab and click Add rule.

Test it. Sign up on your own page with your own email address and check that email 1 arrives.

Sources: How to set up an email campaign · How to automate the sending of an email sequence · How to send an automatic email when a lead subscribes

Part C: Paste in each email

For each email, you need three things from your download (or the copy buttons on the review screen):

From your download	Where it goes in Systeme.io
Subject	The Subject field when you create the email
Preview text	The Preview section of the email. If you leave it empty, Systeme.io shows the first few words of the email instead.
Body	The email editor

Tips:

Copy the body from the .txt file, or from funnel.docx. Paste it into the Classic editor and check the paragraph breaks.
Remove any "NEEDS YOUR REVIEW" note before pasting. See "How to use your sequence".
Replace {{first_name}} (Part D) and {{LEAD_MAGNET_LINK}} as you go.

[SCREENSHOT: the Preview field in the email settings]

Sources: What is an email preview? · How to set up an email campaign · How to use the email editor

Part D: The first-name tag

Systeme.io calls merge tags substitute variables. In the Classic editor, the panel on the right lets you "add substitute variables to replace information automatically."

In each email, delete {{first_name}}.
Insert the first-name variable from the substitute variables panel in its place.

We could not confirm the exact code Systeme.io inserts for the first name. Its help pages write it as {{First name}} when giving advice, but don't show the code itself. Insert it from the panel rather than typing it, and check in your account what appears.

Two more things from Systeme.io's help pages:

Test emails don't fill in variables. "Substitute variables do not populate in test emails." To see the real result, sign up on your own page and wait for the live email.
Keep the first name out of subject lines. Systeme.io's deliverability advice is to use personalization "in the body of the email" rather than putting the first name in the subject. Your subject lines don't use it, so this only matters if you add it.

Sources: How to set up an email campaign · How to send a test email · Good practices for email deliverability

Part E: Can I import the emails from the CSV file?

No. Systeme.io imports contacts from CSV files, not email content. Its CSV import adds people to your list (and can subscribe them to a campaign), but it doesn't create emails. Copy and paste each email as shown in Part C.