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Glossary · Sending practice

Spintax

A template syntax listing alternatives in braces, such as {Hi|Hello}, from which a sending tool picks one per message so each recipient gets a slightly different text.

What it means

Instantly's help describes spintax as creating multiple variations of sentences or words so each lead receives a slightly different version of the email. The common form lists options separated by pipes inside braces; tools differ in the exact wrapper, so check your sequencer's syntax.

Cold email tools offer spintax so that hundreds of near-identical messages do not look identical to filters. M3AAWG's position on cold email describes bulk cold email made to look one-to-one with personalisation or AI-generated content, combined with delivery methods meant to avoid spam filter detection, as a deceptive pattern. Filters also weigh reputation, authentication and engagement, which text variation does not change.

If you use it, keep every variant correct and natural: a broken brace or an odd synonym is sent as written.

Example

{Hi|Hello} {{first_name}}, {quick question|one question} about {{company}}.

On this site

Sources

What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.

All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes

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