Today, in this post, I will be doing a Systeme.io review.
If you are looking for an all-in-one tool to scale and grow your online business, Systeme.io is the tool you need to consider.
It is quite new to the industry but is making a lot of buzz. It is an affordable alternative to ClickFunnels and Kajabi. Both are leading highly-priced tools.
If you want to know if Systeme.io is the best bet for you, stay with me till the end of the post.
Let’s get started with the review on Systeme.io.
Systeme.io pros
- Systeme.io is an all-in-one marketing tool; you will get all the features to run a successful online business. So you don’t need to spend money on external integrations.
- Systeme.io supports a webinar feature starting at $47/mo. Most tools lack this feature or offer this feature on higher plans.
- Systeme.io has a forever-Free plan. It supports up to 3 funnels, unlimited emails, a blog, unlimited students, and much more. Even its premium pricing plans are very affordable.
- Systeme.io has its own website builder. You can connect it with your custom domain and start publishing your blog posts.
- It has an in-built affiliate program to manage all affiliates in one place. You can offer even the second-tier commission for affiliates to earn more.
Systeme.io cons
- Systeme.io has very few integrations, like Stripe, PayPal, MercadoPago, SendGrid, ActiveCampaign. You need to use Zapier to connect it with other external apps.
- Its page builder is not feature-rich. It offers very few blocks; you will have limited design freedom.
- Its dashboard has very limited analytics. ClickFunnels is really good in this regard; it has detailed analytics and in-depth reports.
- Its UX/UI needs improvements. If you compare the user interface of Systeme.io with Kajabi or ClickFunnels, it falls behind in these.
- It lacks a funnels checklist and stats inside funnel pages, unlike Kajabi.
Upfront bottom line: If you want an all-in-one funnel-building software that has more features than ClickFunnels and comes at a fraction of the price, Systeme.io is the best bet for you.
Overview
Systeme.io is an all-in-one SaaS platform that comes with sales funnels, email marketing, website builder, LMS, automation, webinars, and an affiliate program.
With this, you don’t need to shell out money on buying tools individually. Also, Systeme.io is very affordable; you will get access to all its features at just $47/mo.
You can consider Systeme.io as an affordable alternative to ClickFunnels, Kartra, and Kajabi.
Systeme.io funnels
Systeme.io’s funnel-building process is very similar to tools like ClickFunnels. You can create a funnel hassle-free, either using the conversion-friendly templates or building them from scratch.
While creating the funnel, you need to first select the objective; whether you are creating the funnels for building an audience, selling a product, running a webinar, or to design a custom funnel from scratch.
Above is the funnel I created to sell my course – BloggingX Automation System.
Systeme.io provides plenty of pre-made templates for designing your funnel steps. You can customize these templates using its drag-and-drop page builder.
For opt-ins, Systeme.io supports only in-line and popup forms. You won’t get the opt-in forms like you find in dedicated lead generation tools like Thrive Leads (review).
In my funnel, I have two steps; an order form and the thank you page. In the step configuration, you need to add your products, set the pricing plans, coupons, and affiliate commissions if you are running an affiliate program for your product.
If you are offering any coupons, first you need to create them under Products/Sales>Coupons.
On the checkout page, you can also add order bumps. Just select the bump offer product and set its pricing. That’s it. You can add as many order bumps as you wish.
The best part of Systeme.io’s funnels is the automation. You can add triggers and actions to automate the funnel tasks.
There are various triggers and actions available. I have added automation to my order form. Whenever a new sale happens, I will add a tag for the contact – purchased_ [BAS]. View the screenshot above to see all the actions available to automate the tasks.
Let’s talk about Systeme.io’s funnel split testing.
Systeme.io has a built-in A/B testing feature to split test your funnel steps.
Here I am split testing my order form pages. To begin with, you need to select the variation and goal pages.
Systeme.io displays the split test results right on the test page. You will get data like page views, conversions, and conversion rates. This helps you to analyze the funnel page’s performance.
Systeme.io doesn’t have fancy features like automatic split test winner, you need to analyze the results and manually set the winner.
Note that you can analyze the stats of your funnels under funnel>Stats.
You will get detailed analytics of all the steps like page views, opt-in and sales conversions, earnings/page view, total sale amount, etc. With this data, you can analyze your top-performing funnel pages.
[Systeme.io has a deadline page feature that helps you take advantage of scarcity marketing during time-sensitive campaigns for increasing sales. You can use this feature only on the order form and sales pages. You can add a time and date for your deadline page to expire.]
Page building
Systeme.io has an easy-to-use drag-and-drop page builder.
Just select the page you want to edit and click on the edit page. It will load up the page builder.
This page builder is not as feature-rich and advanced as dedicated page building tools like Elementor (review). But you will get the job done.
The pages are arranged in sections and rows. Inside the sections, you will have the blocks. Systeme.io gives you enough blocks and widgets to design your pages super quickly.
I really liked the payment widgets that Systeme.io gives you to design your checkout pages.
With Systeme.io, you will have blocks similar to Kartra, which helps you build the pages in less than a minute.
There are blocks available, like opt-in forms, features, page footers, welcome screens, price plans, page headers, testimonials, etc.
Let’s see how Systeme.io’s popups work.
To create a new popup, go to Popups>Add popup.
You can add margins, enable the popup to show on desktop and mobile. You can show the pop-up close button, add the exit intent, customize the border style, color, size, shadow, corners, and much more.
As said previously, as of now, Systeme.io supports only inline and popup opt-ins. You won’t get lightbox, slide-ins, floating bars, or other popups.
Email marketing
With Systeme.io’s built-in email marketing tool, you can create and send newsletters and campaigns.
After crafting your email, select the contacts you’d like to send this email to. There are various email substitutes available, like, first name, family name, phone number, affiliate ID, affiliate dashboard URL, etc.
Next is the campaigns.
This is the simple eBook campaign I have created to pitch my course. Here, I am sending the campaign emails to my eBook users, to connect with them and pitch my BloggingX KickStarter course.
You can view the open rate, click rate, bounce rate, and spam report rate. Also, you can see all the contacts who have opened or clicked on your link. Follow up with them to get fruitful results.
Note that Systeme.io just has basic contact tagging features. It lacks CRM features to store customers’ details.
You can filter the contacts by applying filters for emails, first name, last name, city, country, and much more. If you are migrating to Systeme.io from other ESPs, you can easily import all of your contacts.
Systeme.io LMS (Online courses)
Systeme.io has an LMS platform to create and sell your online courses. This tool is very similar to dedicated LMS platforms like Teachable or Thinkific but is not as feature-rich as these. It provides you with all the basic features you need for course creation.
Systeme.io has a two-level structure for designing the course curriculum; modules and lectures inside them.
Above is my BloggingX Automation System course.
Systeme.io allows you to drip schedule the lectures but not modules. The best thing is that you can create and send the drip email right inside the course without switching back to the emails tab. Once you click on create a dripped email campaign, it will load up the email editor.
This is how the Systeme.io content editor looks. You can add text, images, videos, audio, FAQs, table of contents and design your course content.
Systeme.io provides unlimited storage for your videos, but each video should be less than 2 GB. Make sure you compress the video with tools like Handbrake and then upload.
You can upload your own videos, or add YouTube videos. If you want to add videos from external platforms like Vimeo or Wistia, you need to copy and embed the custom code.
Systeme.io allows you to create course bundles to sell more. Just create the bundle and add the courses to it. You can also set a delay for the courses to begin.
Note that Systeme.io lacks many features like community, certificates, quizzes, assessments, and course compliance features, unlike tools such as Thinkific or Kajabi.
Knowing the course player interface and how courses look for students is very important for you as an instructor. The course player should be very interactive and it should motivate students to do more.
When students login, this is how the dashboard looks. It is very neat and minimalistic.
Students can control the quality and the playback speed of videos. They should mark the lectures as complete to get the course progress.
In the course settings, you can customize the course theme, font, logo, and embed a custom footer code like a Facebook Pixels code. Also, you need to select the funnel and the step of which your course is a part.
Products
With Systeme.io, you can sell physical products along with courses.
Systeme.io has a built-in VAT calculation system, so you don’t need to worry about tax calculations. Just add the VAT tax and forget it. Systeme.io handles all the payment-related tasks.
You can create attributes for physical products similar to WooCommerce, helping users to choose variants of your products.
Coupons
Systeme.io has a built-in coupon feature. You can set the expiration date and limit the coupon’s usage.
Using Systeme.io’s orders feature, you can track orders of all products or only for specific products. You also have the option to filter and analyze only the fulfilled or pending orders.
Before collecting payments, you need to integrate Systeme.io with a payment gateway. As of now, it supports only these two gateways – Stripe and PayPal.
Marketing automation
Systeme.io has a blank canvas to build your automation. To begin the automation, you need to add a trigger. There are three kinds of steps available; action, decision, and delay.
I have created a BloggingX eBook delivery automation system. Whenever a user is subscribed to the squeeze form, an action is added to send an email that delivers the ebook. Then, users who have the “[Enrolled] – BAS” tag will be sent an email with their login credentials” and they will be enrolled in the course.
Refer to the above image to see all the options available to add actions, decisions, and delays in the workflows.
Systeme.io also has automation rules to automate your tasks. You need to select the trigger and action to create the rules. You can add as many triggers and actions as you need and this depends on the plan you select.
Website builder
Systeme.io has a built-in blogging feature, but it is not as powerful as WordPress’.
You can edit the blog layout using the drag-and-drop builder. Create blog posts and pages, and customize them as needed.
To set up a custom domain, go to Systeme.io Settings>Custom domain. Complete your DNS configurations, create CNAME records, etc. and complete your domain setup.
Affiliate program
Systeme.io has a built-in affiliate program to manage all your affiliates in one place.
The students who enroll in your courses or buy your products are your potential affiliates. With Systeme.io, your affiliates don’t need to manually sign up for the affiliate program.
If you already have their emails, you can just directly send them their affiliate ID. Then, they can log in to their affiliate dashboard and start promoting your products.
To simplify this process, you can set up affiliate program funnels and automate the process:
- Have a squeeze page to collect the user’s email address.
- Add an automation rule – like, when a funnel opt-in form is subscribed to, you can send them an email campaign with all the affiliate details.
Next is affiliate program settings.
Go to your Account> Affiliate program settings. Here you can set the default affiliate commission, minimum payout amount, default payout delay, second-tier affiliate commissions, etc.
For affiliate payouts, as of now, Systeme.io supports PayPal and Wire Transfer.
Affiliate proxy links
Affiliate proxy settings help you create affiliate links to promote pages outside of Systeme.io.
To create the proxy link, you need to add the URL of the external page and set your domain.
Note: To track the sales, the external page should redirect the user to the opt-in page or payment page on Systeme.io.
Systeme.io’s integrations
Systeme.io lacks in integrations. It just has native integrations with email marketing tools like SendGrid, ActiveCampaign, and payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal. That’s it. There are no other integrations available.
You can use Zapier to connect external tools with Systeme.io.
Reports and analytics
Systeme.io has a built-in reporting feature. On the main dashboard, you will see new leads and sales data. On the sidebar, you will see all the live updates related to contacts. You can add a custom time filter to analyze the data.
In the affiliate dashboard, you will see your affiliate stats like total leads sent, lifetime earnings, and much more.
You will also get email stats in Systeme.io. Go to Emails>Statistics to get all the email-related stats. It displays charts on the emails sent, opened emails, spam reports, and bounced emails.
Note that you can see sales stats in your funnels. Just hit the sales tab and get all the price, customer, and status data.
Pricing
Systeme.io has a forever-Free plan for beginners to get started. Its lowest-paid plan starts at $27/mo, limiting you to 10 funnels, 5 blogs, and 5 membership sites.
If you need a webinar feature, go with the Webinar plan for $47/mo. This plan supports 10 evergreen webinars. For most of the users, this would be ideal.
Alternatives to Systeme.io
Systeme.io vs ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels is a dedicated funnel-building tool that comes at a very high price. Its lowest plan starts at $97/mo, and it is limited to 20 funnels with up to 100 pages.
To get the Follow-Up Funnels feature, you need to shell out $277/mo. Systeme.io is a more affordable tool and at just $97/mo, it provides you with unlimited everything.
But when it comes to analytics and integrations, ClickFunnels wins. It has detailed analytics and it integrates with many email marketing tools, payment gateways, etc.
Systeme.io vs Kajabi
Kajabi is a dedicated course platform that comes with features like communities, coaching, and podcasts. You won’t get these features in Systeme.io.
Kajabi is also a highly-priced platform, like ClickFunnels. Kajabi also comes with marketing features, pipelines(funnels), and built-in blogging which make it worth the money.
Wrap up
Systeme.io has a powerful suite of tools that helps you to run a successful online business. It even supports webinars in its $47/mo plan, which is affordable.
Compared to ClickFunnels or Kajabi, Systeme.io is simple to use and highly affordable, making it the best bet for you.
Go with Systeme.io if you:
- Don’t want to spend money on external integrations.
- Need a built-in affiliate program to manage your affiliate system.
- Need a webinar feature to promote and warm up your audience.
- Don’t have any external website builder to build your blog.
I hope you found this post on my Systeme.io review helpful.