Klaviyo: Learn How to Target Customers in Their Preferred Language

Stop guessing your audience’s language. This guide shows exactly how to collect, store, segment, and activate language preferences in Klaviyo—so every email and SMS lands in the right words, in the right markets, without breaking deliverability or compliance.

Table of contents

  1. Why language targeting matters (and what most brands get wrong)
  2. Collecting preferred language (forms, checkout, and zero‑party data)
  3. How to store language data in Klaviyo (properties, naming, and hygiene)
  4. Segmentation recipes: target any language in two clicks
  5. Email activation: dynamic templates that never mix languages
  6. SMS activation: consent, quiet hours, and copy patterns by market
  7. Shopify Markets & URLs: send users to the right language and currency
  8. Preference center: let customers set language, channels, and cadence
  9. QA & governance: seed packs, legal guardrails, and deliverability
  10. Measurement & testing: prove the uplift and keep improving
  11. Playbooks: multilingual flows & campaigns that just work
  12. Troubleshooting: the 14 issues we see most—and fixes
  13. Work with Sticky Digital

1) Why language targeting matters (and what most brands get wrong)

Multilingual audiences aren’t exotic anymore—they’re normal. If your brand ships to Canada, Mexico, or the EU, a meaningful slice of your revenue depends on communicating in more than one language. When the words don’t fit the reader, clicks stall, carts die, and complaints rise. When they do fit, the lift shows up everywhere: open rates, click‑throughs, checkout completion, and loyalty.

What goes wrong? Three patterns:

  1. Inferred language = unstable. IP‑based guesses and browser language drift. You need a declared preference first, fallbacks second.
  2. Fragmented flows. Duplicating entire flows per language multiplies risk. One flow with dynamic content is simpler to QA and scale.
  3. No preference center. Without a place to self‑select language (and channels), unsubscribes climb and legal risk creeps in.

Sticky Digital’s approach is retention‑first: data you can trust, flows you can maintain, and copy that sounds like a person in that language—not a dictionary. For a deeper sense of our operating style, skim Inside Sticky Digital.

2) Collecting preferred language (forms, checkout, and zero‑party data)

You can’t activate what you don’t capture. The goal is a simple, durable property—language_preference—populated as close to the moment of opt‑in as possible.

High‑integrity capture points

  • Signup forms: Add a visible language selector (EN/ES/FR) or infer from a language‑specific form and set a hidden field.
  • Checkout: If you run Shopify Markets, pass the current language/market into Klaviyo web tracking and capture it at checkout start.
  • Account & preference center: Let users change language later; it should overwrite older values.

Minimal friction patterns

  • Implicit selection by page: If a user subscribes on /es, set language_preference = es.
  • Two‑step: Ask for email first, then language on confirmation page. Higher signups, clean data.

Looking for broader testing strategy tie‑ins? See A/B Testing Your BFCM Offers to structure controlled experiments.

3) How to store language data in Klaviyo (properties, naming, and hygiene)

Keep it boring and reliable:

  • language_preference — ISO‑like two‑letter code (e.g., en, es, fr).
  • $locale_language & $locale_country — system properties set by Klaviyo (use as fallback only).

Resolution rule (use everywhere)

{% set lang = person|lookup:'language_preference'|default:person|lookup:'$locale_language'|default:'en' %}

Declare lang once at the top of your template; every block and URL should reference it.

Hygiene

  • Normalize values on ingest (lowercase, trim). Reject unexpected codes.
  • Last‑write wins: explicit selection beats inference every time.
  • Audit quarterly: % of profiles with declared language should rise over time.

4) Segmentation recipes: target any language in two clicks

Core segments you’ll use weekly:

  • Language: Spanish — Properties about someone → language_preference equals es (OR $locale_language equals es).
  • Language Unknown — NOT set language_preference AND NOT set $locale_language.
  • SMS Consent + ES — Has SMS consent AND (language_preference = es OR $locale_language = es).
  • Bilingual Fall‑through — Profiles with es language but US or CA country; helpful for copy nuance.

Want prebuilt segment frameworks and templates? Browse our Retention Templates & Assets.

5) Email activation: dynamic templates that never mix languages

One template, many languages. Duplicate your headline/body/button blocks and use conditional display. Or keep one block and inject strings from a translation dictionary.

Dictionary pattern (safe and scalable)

{% set lang = person|lookup:'language_preference'|default:person|lookup:'$locale_language'|default:'en' %}
{% set t = {
  'en': {'subject':'Welcome to [Brand]','headline':'The good stuff starts here','cta':'Shop New Arrivals','legal':'Prices and availability may vary.'},
  'es': {'subject':'Bienvenido a [Brand]','headline':'Lo bueno empieza aquí','cta':'Ver novedades','legal':'Los precios y la disponibilidad pueden variar.'}
} %}
<h1>{{ t[lang].headline }}</h1>
<p class="legal">{{ t[lang].legal }}</p>
<a href="https://yourstore.com{% if lang == 'es' %}/es{% endif %}/collections/new" class="btn">{{ t[lang].cta }}</a>

Subject lines by language

{% if lang == 'es' %}
  Novedades que te encantarán
{% else %}
  New arrivals you’ll love
{% endif %}

Guardrails

  • Define lang once at top; don’t redefine in child blocks.
  • Don’t hard‑code currency; rely on site/checkout to render prices correctly.
  • Use language‑aware URLs (see Shopify section below).

6) SMS activation: consent, quiet hours, and copy patterns by market

SMS is powerful and unforgiving. Gate sends by language and geography. Quiet hours, opt‑in rules, and sender IDs differ by region.

Copy patterns

EN (first touch): You left something in your cart — want help finishing up? {{ "{{ cart_url }}" }}

ES (primer toque): Dejaste algo en tu carrito — ¿te ayudo a terminar la compra? {{ "{{ cart_url }}" }}

For more SMS frameworks, see our Templates & Assets.

7) Shopify Markets & URLs: send users to the right language and currency

URLs need to respect language. If your ES pages live at /es, your buttons should, too:

{% set lang = person|lookup:'language_preference'|default:person|lookup:'$locale_language'|default:'en' %}
https://yourstore.com{% if lang == 'es' %}/es{% endif %}/cart
  • Keep a single CTA per message; mixing languages in the same email confuses tracking and UX.
  • If you run geo‑subdomains (e.g., es.yourstore.com), switch hosts accordingly in the template.

8) Preference center: let customers set language, channels, and cadence

A localized preference center reduces unsubscribes and lifts engagement. Minimum viable options:

  • Language (EN/ES/FR…)
  • Channels (Email, SMS)
  • Frequency (Weekly highlights vs. New drops only)

We typically design loyalty and subscription together with preference logic because those programs are where language and cadence pay off hardest. Learn more on our Services page.

9) QA & governance: seed packs, legal guardrails, and deliverability

Seed packs

  • One seed inbox & phone for each target language/market combo (e.g., es‑MX, en‑US, fr‑CA).
  • Run abandon/cart tests from each seed path; confirm language, links, currency, and quiet hours.

Deliverability

  • Mixing languages in a single send is a spam‑trap pattern. Keep variants clean.
  • Complaint rates should be tracked by language path. If any path >0.25%, pause and review expectations and copy fit.

Governance

  • Log consent source, timestamp, IP, and mechanism (checkbox, 2‑step). Store country to gate SMS appropriately.
  • Keep DSAR‑friendly records. See our About page for how we operate and safeguard data.

10) Measurement & testing: prove the uplift and keep improving

Language targeting should earn its keep. Track:

  • Revenue per recipient by language
  • Recovery rate (for flows) by language
  • CTR and CVR by language and template
  • Unsubs/complaints by language

Run structured tests: tone (warm vs. direct), subject framing (urgency vs. product), incentive timing, and policy clarity. For methodology, see our BFCM testing playbook.

11) Playbooks: multilingual flows & campaigns that just work

Welcome (email + SMS)

  • Touch 1: Value proposition, proof, and localized CTA.
  • Touch 2: Category education; route to local best‑sellers.
  • Touch 3: Objection handling (returns, shipping), localized policy links.

Browse Abandon

  • Localized product titles where possible; avoid machine‑translated specs without review.
  • Language‑aware URLs into the PDP or filtered collection.

Cart/Checkout Abandon

  • Touch 1: Soft reminder in preferred language.
  • Touch 2: Policy clarity (returns, duties, shipping estimates) in the same language.
  • Touch 3: Time‑boxed nudge if your economics allow.

Post‑Purchase & Replenishment

  • Education in the language of purchase lifts repeat rate and reduces returns.
  • Tie into loyalty and subscription in the same language path.

Browse our Case Studies to see how localized lifecycle work compounds CLV.

12) Troubleshooting: the 14 issues we see most—and fixes

  1. Mixed languages in one email. Define lang once; scope display conditions carefully.
  2. Wrong URL path. Use language‑aware URL logic; seed test every branch.
  3. Currency mismatch. Don’t print prices in email unless you’re sure; let PDP/checkout render currency.
  4. SMS quiet hours violated. Gate by local time and country. Maintain market‑specific quiet windows.
  5. Language never set. Add capture on forms and at checkout start; backfill from site language route.
  6. Preference center underused. Promote it in footer and welcome series; localize the page.
  7. Too many flows. Consolidate to one flow with branches; centralize throttles.
  8. Dictionary drift. Store strings in a shared snippet or doc; review quarterly with native speakers.
  9. Deliverability dip in one language. Audit tone/expectations; reduce frequency; fix targeting.
  10. Complaints in bilingual regions. Offer both languages in preference center; acknowledge the bilingual reality in copy.
  11. Gmail clipping. Keep template size modest; repeated duplicate blocks can bloat HTML—prefer dictionary pattern.
  12. UTM chaos. Reuse the same UTM structure across languages; language can be a parameter (e.g., utm_lang=es).
  13. Team ownership confusion. One owner per flow; language reviewers sign off before publishing.
  14. Legal questions. Document consent basis and handling. See our Privacy Policy for how we think about data stewardship.

Work with Sticky Digital

If you want a multilingual setup that’s clean, compliant, and profitable, we can help—from audit to implementation to ongoing optimization. See our Services, skim recent Case Studies, or get in touch.

Further reading

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