Owlat Docs

Translations

Translations let you send the same email in multiple languages. Instead of creating separate templates for each language, you add translations to a single...

Translations let you send the same email in multiple languages. Instead of creating separate templates for each language, you add translations to a single template — and Owlat automatically sends the right version based on each contact's language preference.

How translations work

  1. You build your email template in your primary language.
  2. You add translations for additional languages.
  3. When a campaign is sent, each contact receives the version matching their Language field.
  4. Contacts without a language set (or with a language you haven't translated) receive the primary version.

What gets translated

Each translation includes its own version of the text content — headings, paragraphs, button labels, and other written content. The overall structure, layout, images, and styling are shared across all languages.

This means you design once and translate the text, rather than rebuilding the entire email for each language.

Adding translations

  1. Open your template in the Email Editor.
  2. Look for the language management controls.
  3. Add a new language.
  4. Enter the translated content for each text block.
  5. Save the template.

Start with your most important secondary language. You can always add more languages later without affecting existing translations.

Setting contact language

A contact's language preference can be set in several ways:

  • Manually — edit the Language field on the contact's detail page
  • CSV import — include a Language column in your import file
  • Forms — include a language selector in your signup form
  • API — pass the language when creating or updating contacts

Language values should use standard language codes (e.g., "en", "fr", "de", "es"). This ensures consistent matching between contact preferences and template translations.

Translations in campaigns

When you create a campaign, you select a template. If that template has translations:

  • Each recipient automatically receives the version matching their language
  • The campaign report shows results across all language versions
  • You don't need to create separate campaigns per language

Best practices

  • Keep translations in sync — when you update the primary version, make sure to update all translations too
  • Use simple, clear language — shorter sentences translate more naturally and look better across different languages
  • Test each language — send test emails for every translation to verify that text fits properly within the layout
  • Prioritize by audience — translate into the languages that cover the largest portion of your audience first

If you add new text blocks to your template after creating translations, remember to translate those blocks as well. Untranslated blocks will show the primary language content.

Next steps

Next Contacts