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Translations

Blair Matheson
  • Updated

The Translations use case for Data Connections is designed to help you engage a global audience by speaking their language. By connecting a single, reusable email template to a multilingual data source, you can automatically deliver localized content based on each customer's language preference. This approach streamlines campaign management, eliminates the need for duplicate templates, and boosts engagement by providing a more personal customer experience.

Problem Statement

You want to send emails in different languages, but maintaining separate templates for each language is inefficient and difficult to manage. You also lack a TMS (Translation Management System) and cannot use the dedicated translation feature in templates.

Goal

The objective is to send a birthday email where the content automatically appears in the customer’s preferred language, as stored in their user profile.

Solution

Data Connections can be utilized to import translated content from your own data source. This is achieved by creating a Data Connection that contains all translated text, indexed by language. Formulas within the email template can then dynamically retrieve the correct language version based on the customer's profile.

Implementation

Step 1: Create a Data Connection with Translation Data

Set up a Data Connection where each row corresponds to a language and the columns contain the translated text for different email elements. You can upload a CSV or JSON file through the UI.

The primary key should be language, and its values must match the language attribute stored in the customer profile (e.g., [%LANGUAGE%]).

Example Data (CSV format):

Screenshot_2025-07-25_at_13.12.46.png

Step 2: Use the Formula in Your Email Template

In your email template, insert a Data Connection formula for each piece of content you wish to translate.

Example Formulas:

Header: [%DC_123e4567:[%LANGUAGE%]::Header:Happy Birthday!%]
Greeting: [%DC_123e4567:[%LANGUAGE%]::Greeting:Hello%]
Body: [%DC_123e4567:[%LANGUAGE%]::Email Body:Wishing you a great day!%]
Footer: [%DC_123e4567:[%LANGUAGE%]::Footer:Cheers!%]
Note Replace 123e4567 with your actual Data Connection UUID.

Outcome

This process enables you to send fully localized emails without duplicating templates, leading to a more engaging customer experience.

Template with Formulas:

Screenshot_2025-08-05_at_15.50.46.png

Final Rendered Email (Spanish):

Screenshot_2025-08-05_at_15.51.09.png

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