Imagine you’re a marketer launching an international campaign. Everything looks great—until you see weird symbols like “{user_name}” or broken phrases like “Hi %name%, welcome back!” in other languages. Sound familiar? It’s a common problem when you’re building multilingual landing pages. But guess what? There’s a way to fix it, and it’s called Lokalise.
TL;DR
Marketers using Lokalise fixed issues with broken variables and placeholders across different language versions of their landing pages. Centralizing translations helped avoid embarrassing mistakes and formatted text correctly in every language. Lokalise’s visual editor and context features saved the day, fast. Now, their pages feel personal and professional to every user—no matter their language.
Wait, What Are Variables and Placeholders Again?
Let’s break it down. Variables and placeholders are like blanks in your message that get filled in later. For example:
- “Hello, {name}!” – Here, {name} is a placeholder.
- “Your order #{{order_id}} is ready.” – That’s a dynamic variable too.
They’re super useful because they make your content feel unique and personalized. But they also break easily—especially when you translate stuff. Why? Because not every language uses punctuation, grammar, or sentence structures the same way.
Meet the Problem: Lost in Translation
Marketers at a global software company (let’s call them “GlobalTech”) were launching landing pages in French, German, Japanese, and Portuguese. They were using a translation tool, working with freelancers, and juggling strings in spreadsheets. The result? Chaos.
- Placeholders like {user} turned into {utilisateur}—completely breaking the code.
- Translations accidentally included the wrong syntax.
- Messages didn’t make sense when pulled into the live webpage.
Suddenly, instead of “Hi Anna, welcome!” users saw “Hi {user}, welcome!” Or worse—broken layouts. The team needed a fix. Fast.
Enter Lokalise: Their Not-So-Secret Weapon
Lokalise is a localization platform. It lets marketers and developers manage translations all in one place. But what made Lokalise special for the GlobalTech team was this:
- It understood placeholders and prevented them from getting modified.
- It let marketers preview text exactly as it would appear on the landing page.
- It showed translators what the original string looked like—with context.
This meant that {user} stayed {user}—no matter if the text was German, Japanese, or Klingon (OK, maybe not Klingon, but close!).
Step by Step: How Marketers Fixed Their Pages
Fixing broken variables wasn’t as hard as they thought. Here’s how the process looked:
1. Upload All Text Strings to Lokalise
They started by moving all text from landing pages into Lokalise. This included placeholders like:
- “Hello, {firstName}!”
- “Your cart total is {amount}.”
2. Set Up Placeholders
They marked variables using Lokalise’s tagging tool. That told translators, “Hey, do not touch this part!” It also prevented copywriters or editors from accidentally changing it.
3. Add Visual Context
Next, they used Lokalise’s mockup/previews feature. Translators could now see the sentence in action. If a line said:
“Welcome back, {name}!”
They could see it on a virtual homepage with headings and buttons. It made things click—literally.
4. Collaborate in Real-Time
Marketers, developers, and translators all worked inside Lokalise. If someone had a question—boom—one comment thread cleared it up. No more endless email threads or confusing PDFs.
5. Sync and Publish
Once everything was clean and checked, they synced Lokalise with their CMS. With a single click, the updated, fully translated (and fully functional) landing pages went live.
The Best Part? No More Placeholders Gone Rogue
After using Lokalise, GlobalTech’s landing pages:
- Handled variables perfectly in 12 languages
- Displayed proper names, numbers, and currency formats for each region
- Looked and felt local—boosting user trust and conversion rates
They even ran tests that showed a 22% increase in form submissions after fixing broken translation issues!
But Wait—It Gets Even Better
Lokalise helped big-time with:
- Gendered languages. In Spanish, “Bienvenido” vs “Bienvenida” matters. Lokalise’s smart rules helped match grammatical gender with the right version.
- Date formats. A US user sees “MM-DD-YYYY,” while Germans see “DD.MM.YYYY”—auto-fixed via dynamic variables.
- Right-to-left languages. For Arabic or Hebrew, Lokalise guided the team on layout mirroring and RTL formatting.
Lessons Learned (the Fun Way)
If you’re in marketing, here’s what the Lokalise adventure taught the team:
- Don’t use spreadsheets for serious localization projects.
- Give translators visual context. Always.
- Protect your variables. Don’t let them become casualties of translation.
- Test translations in the real design before going live.
- Collaboration tools are worth their weight in gold (or clicks).
What You Can Do Today
If you’re also dealing with messy landing page translations, try this:
- Make a list of all your dynamic variables (like {username}, {email}, or {currency}).
- Audit current translations to spot errors and formatting bugs.
- Try uploading your content into a localization platform like Lokalise.
- Use the variable protection and preview features.
- Test, test, test!
The Final Word
Localization can be messy, but it doesn’t have to be. With tools like Lokalise, marketers don’t need to choose between creative freedom and technical accuracy. Variables and placeholders—once the villains—can finally be your heroes. Just give them a safe space and a little structure.
Now, no matter which country your landing page shows up in—it will sound right, look great, and feel like it was made just for that one person clicking it. That’s the power of Lokalise.
