SNAIL provides cost-efficient detection of specific nucleic acids in single cells, and may be combined with flow cytometry to simultaneously analyze large numbers of cells for a plurality of nucleic acids, e.g. at least one, to up to 5, up to 10, up to 15, up to 20 or more transcripts can be simultaneously analyzed, at a rate of up to about 50, 100, 250, 500 or more cells/second. The methods require only two primers for amplification, and may further include a detection primer.