Articles on: Languages

How to send notifications with product and variant titles in the customer’s language

When your Shopify store supports multiple languages, you can configure STOQ to pull translated product and variant titles directly from Shopify and use them in every notification. Instead of showing the original-language product name to all customers, STOQ inserts the localized title that matches each customer's preferred language. This applies to back-in-stock email alerts, SMS alerts, and preorder notification emails.

How translated product titles work

STOQ uses Shopify's built-in translation system to fetch product and variant titles at the moment a notification is sent. Here is the flow:

A customer signs up for a back-in-stock alert or places a preorder. STOQ records the customer's language based on the storefront locale they used.
When the product comes back in stock (or a preorder notification fires), STOQ checks whether the Use translations setting is enabled.
If enabled and the customer's language differs from the store's default language, STOQ queries Shopify's API for the translated product title, variant title, and product handle in that customer's language.
STOQ inserts the translated titles into the notification template wherever Liquid variables like {{product.title}}, {{product.variant_title}}, and {{product.title_incl_variant}} appear.
If no translation exists for a product in the customer's language, STOQ falls back to the original-language title automatically.

Tip: Translated titles are cached for one hour. If you update a product translation in Shopify, the change appears in STOQ notifications within one hour.

Prerequisites

Before enabling translated product titles, confirm the following:

STOQ is installed and active on your Shopify store.
You are on a paid STOQ plan. Multi-language features require a paid plan.
Multi-language support is enabled. Go to Settings > Languages and confirm the Multi-language support toggle is on.
Your Shopify store has multiple languages published. Go to Shopify Admin > Settings > Languages and check that the languages you need are listed under Published languages.
Your products have translations in Shopify. Product and variant titles must be translated in Shopify (via Shopify Admin > Settings > Languages > your language > Products) for STOQ to use them.

Step 1 - Open the Languages settings page

Navigate to the page where the product translations setting lives.

Open STOQ from your Shopify admin.
Go to Back in stock alerts from left menu bar.
Click on the "Delivery settings" tab
Click on "Notify customers in their preferred language"
Click "Manage Languages"

You will see the Multi-language support toggle. The Use translations checkbox appears below this toggle when multi-language support is enabled.

Step 2 - Enable multi-language support (if not already on)

The Use translations checkbox is only visible when multi-language support is active.

In the Multi-language section, find the Multi-language support toggle.
If it is off, click the toggle to turn it on.
Click Save in the save bar that appears at the top of the page.

Note: Enabling multi-language support also lets you translate button text, popup forms, and notification templates into other languages. The Use translations checkbox is an additional sub-setting specifically for product and variant titles.

Step 3 - Enable Use translations

Turn on the setting that tells STOQ to fetch translated product titles from Shopify.

Below the Multi-language support toggle, find the Use translations checkbox.
Check the box. The label reads: "Use translations" with the description "Use translated product and variant titles based on the customer's language in all notifications."
STOQ will request access to your store's translations. A Shopify permission dialog appears asking you to grant the read_translations scope.
Click Approve to grant access.
Once approved, a "Translations access granted" toast notification appears.
Click Save in the save bar at the top of the page to save the setting.

If you decline the permission, STOQ shows an error banner: "Translations access required — This feature requires access to your store's translations. Please grant the permission to continue." Click Try again in the banner to re-trigger the permission request.

Step 4 - Add product translations in Shopify

STOQ pulls translated titles from Shopify, so your products must have translations saved in Shopify's translation system.

Go to Shopify Admin > Settings > Languages.
Find the language you want to translate products into and click it (or click Add translation).
Under Products, select a product and enter the translated Title and Variant title for that language.
Click Save.
Repeat for all products and languages you want to support.

Tip: You can also use Shopify translation apps (like Shopify Translate & Adapt) to manage translations in bulk across many products and languages at once.

What gets translated in notifications

When Use translations is enabled, the following Liquid variables resolve to translated values in every notification:

Variable	What it shows	Used in
`{{product.title}}`	Translated product name	Email templates, SMS templates
`{{product.variant_title}}`	Translated variant name	Email templates
`{{product.title_incl_variant}}`	Translated product name including variant	Email templates, SMS templates

These variables are used in:

Back-in-stock email alerts — subject line, pre-header, header, and description fields.
Back-in-stock SMS alerts — the SMS body text.
Back-in-stock reminder emails and SMS — all template fields.
Preorder notification emails and SMS — confirmation, shipping update, and payment collection templates.

Note: The product purchase link ({{product.purchase_link}}) also uses the translated product handle when available, so the URL points to the localized version of the product page.

How STOQ determines the customer's language

STOQ detects the customer's language based on the storefront locale they used when they signed up for the alert or placed the preorder. This language is stored with the customer record and used when sending all future notifications to that customer.

If the customer browsed your store in French and signed up for a back-in-stock alert, STOQ sends the alert with French product titles.
If the customer's language matches the store's default language, STOQ uses the original titles directly (no translation lookup is needed).
If the customer's language has no product translation in Shopify, STOQ falls back to the original-language title.

Known limitations

Requires the read_translations Shopify scope. STOQ must be granted permission to read your store's translations. If the permission is declined, the feature cannot be enabled.
Only product titles and variant titles are translated. Other product fields (description, tags, etc.) are not pulled into notifications.
Translations must exist in Shopify. STOQ does not auto-translate product titles. You must add translations in Shopify or use a Shopify translation app.
Translated titles are cached for one hour. If you update a product translation in Shopify, STOQ may use the old title for up to one hour.
Falls back silently to original titles. If a translation is missing or the Shopify API returns an error, STOQ uses the original-language title without any warning.
Requires multi-language support to be enabled. The Use translations checkbox is hidden unless the Multi-language support toggle is on.
Does not apply to Klaviyo-sent notifications. If you use Klaviyo to send back-in-stock emails, Klaviyo manages its own templates. STOQ passes the translated titles as event data, but the Klaviyo template must be configured to use them.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Use translations checkbox is not visible	Multi-language support is disabled	Enable Multi-language support under Settings > Languages and click Save
Permission dialog does not appear when checking the box	Browser pop-ups may be blocked	Allow pop-ups for your Shopify admin domain and try again
"Translations access required" error banner appears	You declined the Shopify permission request	Click Try again in the error banner and click Approve on the Shopify dialog
Product titles still show in the default language	Translations are not saved in Shopify for that product and language	Go to Shopify Admin > Settings > Languages and add the missing product translation
Translated title is outdated	STOQ caches translations for one hour	Wait up to one hour for the cache to refresh, or send a new test alert after the cache expires
Variant title is not translated even though product title is	Variant title translation is missing in Shopify	Add the variant title translation in Shopify under the same language and product
SMS alert shows the original product name	The customer's language matches the default language, so no translation is needed	This is expected behavior — translations only apply when the customer's language differs from the default
Preorder notification shows original titles	Use translations may not be saved	Confirm the checkbox is checked and click Save in the save bar

FAQs

Q: Do I need to translate products in Shopify before enabling this setting?

A: Yes. STOQ pulls translated titles directly from Shopify's translation system. If a product does not have a translation saved for a particular language, STOQ falls back to the original-language title. Add translations in Shopify Admin > Settings > Languages or use a Shopify translation app.

Q: Does this setting affect the notification template text too?

A: No. The Use translations setting only controls product and variant titles inside Liquid variables like {{product.title}}. The rest of the notification template text (subject line wording, description, button text, etc.) is managed separately in the notification template translator under Settings > Languages > Notification templates > Edit translations.

Q: What happens if I disable Use translations after it was enabled?

A: STOQ stops fetching translated titles from Shopify. All notifications will use the original-language product and variant titles regardless of the customer's language. Your existing translated notification templates (subject, header, description, etc.) are not affected — only the product title variables change.

Q: Why does STOQ need the read_translations permission?

A: STOQ queries Shopify's GraphQL API to fetch translated product and variant titles for each customer's language. This requires the read_translations scope. Without this permission, STOQ cannot access Shopify's translation data and the feature cannot work.

A: Does this work with Klaviyo back-in-stock emails?

Q: STOQ passes translated product titles as event data when triggering Klaviyo flows. However, your Klaviyo email template must be configured to use the correct event variables to display the translated titles. Check your Klaviyo flow template to ensure it references the product title variable from the STOQ event.

Q: How long are translated titles cached?

A: Translated product titles are cached for one hour. If you update a translation in Shopify, the new title will appear in STOQ notifications after the cache expires — up to one hour later.

Q: Can I use translated titles in custom HTML email templates?

A: Yes. The Liquid variables {{product.title}}, {{product.variant_title}}, and {{product.title_incl_variant}} resolve to translated values in custom HTML templates as well. Just make sure the Use translations checkbox is enabled and the product has translations in Shopify.

Q: Does this feature translate the product image or description too?

A: No. The Use translations setting only translates product titles and variant titles. Product images and descriptions are not affected. STOQ uses the same product image regardless of the customer's language.

Updated on: 25/04/2026

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