The Viking StackKnowledge Base

Create your first funnel

Step-by-step instructions for building a funnel from scratch or from a template, adding steps, and publishing it.

5 min readbeginnerUpdated September 9, 2026

A funnel is the fastest way to get a single offer live: one page, one goal, no distractions. This walks through creating a funnel from a blank canvas or a template, adding steps, and publishing it so visitors can actually see it.

Before you start

Decide what the funnel is for. A funnel with a clear single goal (book a call, sell a product, collect leads for a webinar) is much easier to build well than a funnel trying to do several things at once. Sketch the steps on paper first if it helps:

  • Landing page → Order form → Upsell (optional) → Thank-you page
  • Landing page → Opt-in form → Thank-you page
  • Landing page → Booking calendar → Confirmation page

Starting from scratch

  1. Go to Sites > Funnels in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click + New Funnel.
  3. Give the funnel a clear internal name (visitors never see this — it's for your own organization, e.g. "Spring Sale — Landing to Checkout").
  4. Choose Start from Scratch.
  5. You'll land in the funnel's step list, currently empty. Click + Add New Step to create your first page.
  6. Name the step something specific ("Landing Page," not "Step 1").
  7. Choose a step type if prompted (standard page, order form, survey, calendar, etc.) — most funnels start with a standard landing page step.
  8. The page builder opens. Build the page's content — see Using the page builder for the full breakdown of sections, rows, columns, and elements.
  9. Repeat Add New Step for each additional page in your funnel (order form, upsell, thank-you page), building each one out in turn.

Tip: Build and publish the first step, then come back and add later steps once you've confirmed the funnel flow works end to end. It's much easier to debug one page at a time than to troubleshoot a five-step funnel all at once.

Starting from a template

Templates save the most time on funnels because the step order and step types are already correct — you're swapping content, not building structure.

  1. Go to Sites > Funnels and click + New Funnel.
  2. Choose the template category that matches your goal (lead generation, product sale, webinar registration, etc.).
  3. Preview a few templates before picking one — look at the step count and layout style, not just the first page.
  4. Select a template and give the funnel a name.
  5. The Viking Stack builds out every step for you, pre-populated with placeholder text and images.
  6. Open each step and replace the placeholder headline, body copy, images, and calls to action with your own. Don't skip steps — a funnel with three finished pages and one left on placeholder text looks broken to visitors.
  7. Update the order form step's connected product, price, and payment settings if the template includes a checkout step — see Order forms, upsells, and checkout pages for details.

Screenshot coming soon

Funnel template gallery with preview thumbnails and a Use Template button

Working with funnel steps

Every step in the step list can be:

  • Reordered — drag steps up or down to change the flow order.
  • Renamed — click the step name to edit it.
  • Cloned — duplicate a step to create a variant for A/B testing.
  • Given its own path setting — a step can redirect to a specific next step based on a condition (e.g., accept upsell vs. decline upsell), rather than always going to the next step in the list.
  • Previewed — view the step exactly as a visitor will see it, on both desktop and mobile.

Note: The step list is also where you'll connect an order form step to your products and payment settings, and where you'll set an upsell step's "accept" and "decline" destinations. Nothing here works until every step has a destination — a step that decides where a visitor goes next but has no target page will dead-end the funnel.

Publishing your funnel

A funnel isn't visible to the public until it's published, and every step needs to be published individually if you edit it after the first publish.

  1. Open each step you've built and click Publish (usually top-right of the page builder).
  2. Confirm the funnel's domain — by default it'll use a Viking Stack subdomain until you connect a custom domain.
  3. Open the live URL for each step and click through the funnel yourself as if you were a visitor: submit the order form with a test payment method if your payment processor supports test mode, confirm the upsell buttons work, and check that the thank-you page displays correctly.
  4. Check the funnel on a phone, not just a desktop browser — mobile layout issues are the most common thing people miss before launch.

What done looks like

Your funnel is ready to send traffic to when:

  • Every step is published (not just saved as a draft).
  • You've clicked through the entire funnel yourself on both desktop and mobile.
  • The order form (if any) is connected to a real product and a live payment processor, and a test transaction completed successfully.
  • Each step's redirect/next-step destination is set correctly — no dead ends.
  • Page settings (title, description, favicon) are filled in — see Page settings and SEO meta.

Frequently asked questions

How many steps should a funnel have?

As few as achieves the goal. A lead-gen funnel might be two steps (landing page + thank-you). A product funnel with an upsell might be four. More steps generally means more drop-off, so don't add a step unless it's doing real work.

Can I duplicate an entire funnel instead of building a new one?

Yes — most funnel lists offer a clone/duplicate option on the whole funnel, which is faster than rebuilding from a template when you're launching a similar offer.

Do I need a custom domain before I publish?

No. A funnel is fully functional on the default Viking Stack subdomain. Connect a custom domain whenever you're ready — it doesn't require rebuilding anything.