How to Use Systeme.io to Deliver a Lead Magnet by Email

The short answer: under 2,000 contacts, Systeme.io's free plan covers this whole job at $0: authenticate your sending domain and confirm the sender address, build a Build an Audience funnel with an opt-in form, write a short email campaign that delivers the file, start it with an automation rule on the form submission, and test it on your own address before you share the page.

Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.

The job: you have a guide, a checklist or a template people will trade an email address for, and you want it delivered and followed up without anyone pressing send. Systeme.io holds the page, the list and the emails in one account. For what the platform covers and costs, see the Systeme.io glossary entry.

Before you start:

1. Fit the job to the free plan. It allows 1 email campaign, 1 automation rule and 3 funnels, per the pricing page. This job needs exactly one of each, so it costs nothing; a second sequence is what moves you to Startup at $17 a month.
2. Use what you already have. The lead magnet file, a domain with a live website on it, and the three or four emails you already send by hand to new contacts. If you import an existing list, the import guide accepts only people who consented to your emails.
3. Decide what counts. Sign-ups per page visit, and opens and clicks on email one. Write down the numbers from the first two weeks; they are your baseline for every change after.

What you need

• A Systeme.io account. The free plan needs no card, per the pricing FAQ (checked on 26 October 2026).
• A custom domain with a working website. Gmail and other personal addresses cannot be authenticated.
• Access to the domain's DNS records.
• A lawful basis for the list. In the EU, Article 13 of the ePrivacy Directive makes prior consent the rule for marketing email to individuals, and the person asked for the file, so say on the form that emails will follow.

Step 1: Authenticate the sending domain

Hover over your profile picture, open Settings, then Emails, and start domain authentication in the Domains section. Enter the domain without www and save. Systeme.io generates three CNAME records and a DMARC record; add all four at your DNS host, as the authentication guide shows. The guide states that authentication is mandatory to send email from Systeme.io, and that a domain can be authenticated in only one account or sub-account. After adding the records, contact support, as the guide asks.

Step 2: Confirm the sender address

In the same Emails settings, scroll to Verified email addresses, add the address on that domain and click the confirmation link in its inbox, per the sender guide. The status changes to Verified.

Step 3: Create the funnel

Go to Sites, Sales funnels, click Create, name the funnel, pick the domain and choose Build an Audience. That type comes with an opt-in page and a thank-you page, per the funnel guide.

Step 4: Build the opt-in form

Open the opt-in page with Edit page. Drag a Form input onto the page and set its input type to email; a form must contain at least one email field. Add a Button, set its action to Submit form and choose "To the next step" so the visitor lands on the thank-you page, per the contact list guide. If you switch on double opt-in, contacts who do not click the confirmation link within 24 hours are deleted automatically.

Step 5: Draft the sequence with an AI assistant, and keep the switch for yourself

Systeme.io's MCP server lets Claude or ChatGPT build email campaigns in your account. Create an MCP key under Settings, MCP & API keys, then add a custom connector in Claude with the server URL from the Claude connection guide. Set the write tools to Needs approval, so Claude asks before it changes anything.

Then ask for the campaign: "Create a campaign called Checklist follow-up with three emails: the download link, a worked example, and an invitation to reply with a question." The campaign management guide is explicit that scheduling and activating campaign steps is not supported through MCP. That gap is your review point: a person reads every email, corrects the facts and only then activates it in the dashboard.

Step 6: Set the sending delays

Under Emails, Campaigns, open the campaign. For each email, click the three dots and Activate, choose which email it follows and the delay, and optionally restrict sending to certain hours or days, per the campaign guide. The delay always counts from the email before it. Put the download link, or the file as an attachment, in email one.

Step 7: Start the sequence on sign-up

Go to Automations, Rules, Create. Add the trigger Funnel step form subscribed and select your opt-in page, then add the action Subscribe to campaign and select the campaign, and save the rule, per the sequence guide. That is the free plan's one rule, used where it matters.

Step 8: Test on yourself

Use Save and test on each email to check how it renders. Then sign up through the live page with your own address, confirm you land on the thank-you page, and watch email one arrive with the link.

Step 9: Read the first two weeks

Check sign-ups against page visits, and opens and clicks on each email. With the MCP connection, Claude can fetch the same statistics for up to 31 days with a daily breakdown, per the MCP guide; per-recipient and per-link figures are not available that way.

What Systeme.io's own guides warn about

• No authentication, no email. Emails do not send until the domain is authenticated.
• Switching editors mid-email. Moving between the classic and visual editors loses the content, per the campaign guide.
• Emails added to a running campaign. A new email placed early in the sequence reaches only contacts who have not passed that step yet.
• Heavy emails. The same guide warns that heavy HTML, images and fonts hurt deliverability.
• A short-lived export. The contact export file is deleted after 3 days, per the import guide.

A free plan with room for exactly one campaign and one rule is generous for this job, and it makes the second job the reason to pay $17, so choose which sequence earns that single slot before you build anything else.

FAQ

Can I use double opt-in on the free plan?

The contact list guide offers double opt-in on the form without naming a plan. Unconfirmed contacts are removed after 24 hours.

How many times can one contact trigger the rule?

Twenty. After the twentieth activation, the automation rules guide says the trigger is deactivated for that contact.

Can Claude send my emails for me?

It can send newsletters after asking for confirmation, but campaign steps still have to be scheduled and activated in the dashboard, per the campaign management guide.