How Do I Use Spintax In ListKit?

THIS ARTICLE IS FOR: All ListKit customers
​Stage: Live
​Owner: CS
​Last updated: Aug 2026
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Spintax, short for "spin syntax," is a way of writing one email that automatically produces many slightly different versions of itself.
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Instead of every prospect receiving the exact same words, spintax lets you define alternatives for a word or phrase, and ListKit picks one at random for each send.
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You write this:

{Hi|Hey|Hello} {{first_name}},
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Your prospects receive one of these:
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Hi Sarah,
Hey Sarah,
Hello Sarah,
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Same email, three different openings, zero extra work.
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Email providers like Google and Microsoft are good at spotting when the same message is being sent to hundreds of people. When thousands of nearly identical messages arrive from the same sender in a short window, that pattern looks like bulk mail, and bulk mail is treated very differently than a real one-to-one conversation.

Spintax introduces variation at the copy level. It does not change what you are saying, it changes how much of the exact wording repeats across your sends.
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There is a second benefit that most people overlook: spintax gives you free data. If you spin your call to action three ways, you find out which phrasing gets replies without setting up a separate A/B test.
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ListKit uses the standard spintax format:

Correct:
{Hope this finds you well|Hope your week is going well|Hope you're doing well}
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Incorrect:
{Hope this finds you well | Hope your week is going well} - spaces around the pipe

{Hope this finds you well/Hope your week is going well} - slash instead of pipe

{Hope this finds you well|Hope your week is going well - missing closing brace
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A syntax error will not always throw a warning. It can send the raw spintax to your prospect, and they will receive an email with curly braces and pipes visibly in it.
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​Always preview before you launch.
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Step 1. Open the campaign you want to edit, or create a new one.
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Step 2. Go to the email editor for the sequence step you want to spin.
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Step 3. Write your email normally, in full, the way you want it to read.
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Step 4. Go back through it and pick the spots where variation makes sense. Wrap those in spintax. Start with the greeting, the transition line, and the call to action.
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Step 5. Click Preview Email. Run the preview a few times to confirm different variations are rendering and that no raw braces are showing.
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Step 6. Save and launch.
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Spintax works in both the subject line and body copy, and can be combined directly with variables, for example {Hello|Hi|Hey} {{first_name}} renders correctly with a random greeting followed by the prospect's actual first name.
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The highest value spots, in order:
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Greeting. {Hi|Hey|Hello} {{first_name}},
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Opening line. The first sentence is the most repeated line in any sequence.
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Transition phrases. {Worth a look?|Worth exploring?|Open to it?}
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Call to action. {Open to a quick call next week?|Would a short call next week make sense?|Any interest in a quick call next week?}
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Sign off. {Best|Thanks|Cheers},
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Keep it readable. Every variation has to sound like something a real person would write. If one of your three options is awkward, a third of your prospects get the awkward version.
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Do not over spin. Spinning every sentence produces copy that reads like it was assembled by a machine, because it was. Stick to the natural variation points. Three to five spintax blocks in a single email is plenty.
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Keep variations equivalent in meaning. {Hi|Hey|Hello} is fine because all three mean the same thing. {Hi|Good morning} is not, because "good morning" will land in someone's inbox at 4pm.
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Two to four options per block. More than that and you are managing complexity for diminishing returns.
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Watch your capitalisation and punctuation. If your spintax sits mid-sentence, make sure every option flows grammatically with the words around it.
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Preview multiple times. One preview shows you one variation. Run it several times.
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This is the part most guides skip, and it is the part that causes the most confusion when deliverability does not improve.
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Spintax varies your words. It does not vary your email.
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If you are sending from thirty mailboxes and every single one is sending the same email structure, the same link, the same signature, the same subject line pattern, and the same sequence timing, then swapping "Hi" for "Hey" is not going to change how that traffic is classified. The overall shape of the message is still identical across every send.
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Spintax is one layer. It works when it sits on top of:

If your deliverability is struggling, spintax is worth adding, but do not expect it to be the fix on its own. Check the list above first.
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Before

Hi {{first_name}},

I noticed {{company_name}} is hiring for sales roles right now.

We help B2B teams build verified lead lists so their reps spend time selling instead of prospecting.

Open to a quick call next week?

Best,
Alex
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After

{Hi|Hey|Hello} {{first_name}},

I {noticed|saw|came across the fact that} {{company_name}} is hiring for sales roles {right now|at the moment}.

We help B2B teams build verified lead lists so their reps spend time selling instead of prospecting.

{Open to a quick call next week?|Worth a quick call next week?|Any interest in a short call next week?}

{Best|Thanks},
Alex
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Note that the value proposition sentence is untouched. That is deliberate. Never spin the part of the email that explains what you do.
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Does spintax work in subject lines?
Yes. Subject lines are one of the most repeated elements in a campaign, so they are a strong candidate for spinning.
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Can I nest spintax inside spintax?
Avoid it. Nested spintax is hard to read, hard to debug, and the output is difficult to predict. Use separate blocks instead.
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Can I use spintax with variables?
Yes. Spintax and variables like {{first_name}} work alongside each other and can sit right next to one another in the same line.
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How many variations should I use?
Two to four per block. Three to five blocks per email.
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Will spintax hurt my reply rate?
Only if the variations read badly. If every option sounds natural, spintax is neutral to positive on replies and positive on deliverability.
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Should I use spintax or write separate email variants?
Both. Spintax handles the small generic parts. Separate variants let you test genuinely different angles, structures, and offers. Use spintax inside your variants, not instead of them.