A measurement of the vector to pseudoscalar conversion decay $phi to pi^0 e^+e^-$ with the KLOE experiment is presented. A sample of $sim 9500$ signal events was selected from a data set of 1.7 fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collisions at $sqrt{s} sim m_{phi}$ collected at the DA$Phi$NE $e^+e^-$ collider. These events were used to obtain the first measurement of the transition form factor $| F_{phi pi^0}(q^2) |$ and a new measurement of the branching ratio of the decay: $rm{BR},(phi to pi^0 e^+e^-) = (,1.35 pm 0.05^{,,+0.05}_{,,-0.10},) times 10 ^{-5}$. The result improves significantly on previous measurements and is in agreement with theoretical predictions.