Write and approve email variations (spintax)

Variations (also called spintax) let each recipient get a slightly different version of your email, so a large send looks less like bulk mail. You add alternative wordings for a sentence or a subject, and Meisa picks one at random for each person. Every alternative needs your OK before a broadcast that uses it can go out.

Add variations

You can add variations in the template editor in two ways.

Write them yourself

1. Open the template from Templates (or click Edit template in a broadcast).
2. Select the words you want to vary and click Add variations.
3. Your wording stays as Your original. Type an alternative in the “Add your own option” box and press Enter, or click Suggest more to get suggestions.
4. Click Done.

Let Meisa write them

1. In the editor, open Inbox check.
2. In the variations section, click Write variations for this email.

You can also type variations directly with curly braces and a pipe between options, for example:

{Hi|Hello|Hey} {{first_name|there}}, {here is what's new|a quick update from us}.

The first option is always your original and never needs approval.

Approve your variations

1. Open Inbox check in the editor. It shows how many variations need your OK and how many different versions of the email exist.

2. Click Review variations. The Read what they’ll get screen opens.

3. On the left, each sentence with variations shows its options and a count like “2 of 3 approved”. For each option you can approve it, Edit it, Write a new one or Remove it. Add your own version adds another option.

4. On the right, read whole emails as one person would get them (“Email 3 of 8”). Use Previous email, Next email or Show a random mix, and click Approve this email to approve every option in it.
5. When everything is approved, click All approved, save.

Keyboard shortcuts: J and K move between options, A approves, E edits, R writes a new one, X removes, Shift+A approves the whole sentence.

Good to know

• Approval is tied to the exact wording. If you edit an approved option, it needs your OK again.
• Broadcasts check before sending. If any variation in the broadcast’s email (including both versions of a two-template test) is not approved, you see “N variations still need your OK before this goes out.” Click Read them to open the review.
• Personalisation still works inside variations, for example {Hi|Hey} {{first_name|there}}.
• Keep the meaning the same. Variations should say the same thing in different words, so every reader gets the same offer, date and facts.

Troubleshooting

• The broadcast will not send even though you approved everything: you may have edited the template after approving. Open Inbox check and click Read them again.
• “No variations in this email yet.” Select words in the email and click Add variations, or use Write variations for this email.

Related articles

• Build an email template
• Send your first broadcast
• My emails are going to spam: what to check