How to build a sales funnel for free, step by step

What a free sales funnel needs: four pages and one email

To build a sales funnel for free, pick a funnel builder with a free plan, build four pages in order (an opt-in page, a sales page, an order form and a thank-you page), then add one follow-up email. A sales funnel is a sequence of pages that guides a visitor from first contact to a purchase, and a funnel step is one page of it.

Settle the offer first: one product, who it is for and its price, because every page points at it. The opt-in page is the landing page, with a form that collects an email address in exchange for something useful. The sales page presents the offer and ends in one button to the order form, which collects the payment. The thank-you page delivers the product or the next step, and the follow-up email reaches people who joined the list but did not buy.

The steps below use systeme.io, whose Free plan includes the funnel builder with 3 sales funnels and 15 funnel steps and needs no credit card; free sales funnel software lists the other free builders.

Step 1 and 2: the opt-in page and the sales page

Create the funnel first: in the Sites tab choose Sales funnels, then Create, and enter a name, a domain and a currency. The types are Build an Audience (an opt-in page and a thank-you page, enough for a list-only funnel), Sell (an order form and a thank-you page) and Custom, a blank canvas. A fourth type, the evergreen webinar funnel, needs the Webinar or Unlimited plan.

The help center's sample funnel runs opt-in page, sales page, order form, upsell, downsell (a cheaper follow-up offer) and thank-you page, and it says the steps must stay in that order. This guide adds an upsell in Step 3 and leaves out the downsell.

Step 1, the opt-in page. Add a funnel step of the type Opt-in page, from a template or from scratch. Its form needs an email field, the button action must stay Submit form so the lead reaches your contact list, and the redirect should go to the next step.

Step 2, the sales page. Add a step of the type Sales page the same way, then open it in the drag-and-drop editor to change its text, images and offer details. The page has one job, to present the offer: say what the buyer gets, who it is for and what it costs, and end with one button. Set that button's action to Open URL and enter the address of the order form, so the sales page leads to the payment step. The Free plan's one A/B test can split visitors between two versions of the page in the same funnel, for example with two headlines.

Step 3: an order form, an order bump and an upsell

The order form. Add a step of the type Order form, where the buyer pays. It asks whether you sell a digital or a physical product and which resources the buyer gets; to sell a course, pick the course as the resource. The offer needs a price plan before it can be saved, and payments through Stripe or PayPal are switched on in the funnel settings.

The order bump. An order bump is a small checkbox offer on the order form. On the order form, choose Add order bump, pick the offer type and its resource (a course, a course bundle, a tag or a community, but not a calendar event) and give it a single price. Then drag the Order bump element onto the page in the editor so the checkbox shows. The bump is charged as a separate transaction from the main offer.

The upsell. An upsell is a second offer after the first purchase that the buyer accepts without re-entering payment details. Add a step of the type Upsell right after the order form, set its offer and resource the same way, and add Accept and Decline buttons in the editor. Once payment is validated the buyer is sent to the upsell automatically; one who accepts goes on to the thank-you page, and one who declines goes to the downsell if the funnel has one.

Close the funnel with a thank-you page: the sales kind appears after a purchase and can show an order summary.

Step 4: the follow-up email and its automation rule

An email campaign is an automated sequence of timed emails, and an automation rule is a trigger and an action. On the opt-in page open the Automation Rules tab, choose Add rule and add the action Subscribe to campaign.

The systeme.io email and automation pages say the free plan covers automation, tagging and workflows, while its plan card gives Free 1 automation rule, 1 workflow, 1 tag and 1 email campaign, so check those counts before you plan an email sequence on the free plan.

Test before you share the link. The help center recommends registering on your own opt-in page. A test purchase through Stripe is not possible, so the only way to check the order form is to buy yourself, then refund yourself from your account; a test purchase may incur additional fees.

Where a free plan stops

The four pages and the upsell are five funnel steps, and Free allows 15. It also allows 1 order bump, 1 upsell, 1 email campaign and 2,000 contacts, so a second bump, upsell or campaign needs a paid plan, and the terms cap free accounts at $10,000 in lifetime sales. Startup, $17 a month billed monthly as read on October 6, 2026, allows 10 funnels per the plan card, 50 funnel steps, 10 order bumps, 10 upsells and 10 email campaigns.

Every Free-plan limit is on systeme.io free plan, and paid builders are priced on best sales funnel software.