Question 1

What is spintax in email marketing?

Accepted Answer

Spintax is a syntax for creating automatic text variation across recipients. In mailtani, the format is {{RANDOM|option1|option2|option3}}: each recipient randomly receives one of the options. For example, {{RANDOM|Hi|Hello|Hey}} {{first_name}} means your 1,000-person campaign uses three different openers. This prevents spam filters from pattern-matching identical sends and makes each email feel less templated.

Question 2

How do merge tags work in email personalisation?

Accepted Answer

Merge tags are placeholders that get replaced with contact-specific data before the email is sent. In mailtani, the format is {{field_name}}: so {{first_name}} becomes "Sarah," {{company}} becomes "Acme Corp," and so on. You can use any standard field (first_name, last_name, email) or any custom column from your CSV import. mailtani replaces all merge tags individually for each recipient before sending.

Question 3

What happens if a personalisation field is empty for some contacts?

Accepted Answer

You can set a fallback value for any variable using the pipe syntax: {{first_name|there}}. If the first_name field is blank for a contact, the fallback "there" is used instead: so they'd receive "Hi there," rather than "Hi ," with an embarrassing gap. Always set fallbacks for fields that might be missing in your contact data.

Question 4

How many custom fields can I use for personalisation?

Accepted Answer

Unlimited. Import a CSV with any number of columns, role, industry, company size, pain point, last funding round, whatever is relevant to your outreach. Each column becomes an available merge tag in your email templates. There are no restrictions on the number of custom fields or how many you use in a single email.

Question 5

Does personalisation work in cold email sequences as well as bulk sends?

Accepted Answer

Yes: merge tags, custom fields, and spintax work in both sequence steps and broadcast campaigns. Each step in a sequence can use different personalisation variables. For example, step 1 might reference {{company}} and {{pain_point}}, while step 3 might use {{case_study}}: a different custom field entirely.

Question 6

Does subject line personalisation actually improve open rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes: consistently. Personalised subject lines (using first name, company, or a specific reference) typically see 20–50% higher open rates compared to generic subject lines. Subject line variation via spintax also helps, sending the same subject line to thousands of people creates a pattern that spam filters recognise and cold email recipients tune out.

Question 7

Can I preview how personalisation will look before sending?

Accepted Answer

Yes: mailtani provides a per-recipient preview that shows exactly how each email will render for a specific contact, with all merge tags resolved and spintax applied. Before sending a large campaign, you can check a sample of contacts to verify personalisation is correct and no missing fields are slipping through.

Tool	Their approach	✦ mailtani
Mailchimp	Basic merge tags only: no spintax or custom field variables	Merge tags + spintax + unlimited custom fields
Instantly	Spintax available but no BYOS for deliverability	Spintax + BYOS + warmup, full stack
Lemlist	Strong personalisation but $99/mo for full features	Full personalisation included in €89 one-time plan

Personalised Email at Any Scale

Why Generic Emails Get Ignored

How Personalisation Works in mailtani

Add variables to your email

Import contacts with custom fields

Preview before sending

Every Email Feels 1:1

Merge tags

Spintax variation

Custom field variables

Fallback values

Subject line personalisation

Per-recipient preview

What Changes When You Use mailtani

mailtani vs the Alternatives

Who Email Personalisation Is For

Cold email senders

Newsletter creators

Sales teams with rich data

Common Questions

Who Uses This Feature

See How We Compare

Make Every Email Feel Personal