AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
OK, so here's what happened. I was working on this e-commerce project - massive catalog, over 3,000 products - and the client drops this bomb: "We need this in 8 languages by next month." You know that feeling when your stomach drops? Yeah, that was me.
The problem wasn't just the translation itself. It was the entire workflow. Most businesses think translation is just swapping text, but when you're dealing with Framer and dynamic content, it becomes this complex beast of API calls, content management, and user experience design.
Here's what I learned from building a multilingual Framer site that actually works - and why the Google Translate API might not be what you think it is. By the end of this, you'll understand:
Why most Framer translation setups fail (and it's not the API)
The workflow I used to handle 20,000+ pages across 8 languages
When to use Google Translate API vs. professional translation services
How to set up content fallbacks that actually work
The one technical decision that saved weeks of debugging
Because here's the thing - everyone talks about the technical setup, but nobody talks about the content strategy that makes multilingual sites actually convert. Let me walk you through what I learned the hard way.
Industry Reality
What the Framer community typically recommends
If you've spent any time in Framer communities or read the standard tutorials, you've probably seen the same advice repeated everywhere. The conventional wisdom goes something like this:
Use Framer's built-in localization features - Set up different variants for each language and manually translate everything
Create separate pages for each language - Duplicate your entire site structure and translate page by page
Use third-party translation widgets - Drop in a Google Translate widget and call it a day
Hire professional translators upfront - Get everything professionally translated before launching
Use subdirectories for SEO - Structure URLs like /en/, /fr/, /de/ for better search engine optimization
This advice exists because it's technically correct and follows best practices from traditional web development. Professional translators give you quality, separate pages give you control, and subdirectories help with SEO.
But here's where this falls apart in the real world: it's completely impractical for most businesses. You're talking about massive upfront costs, months of work, and a workflow that breaks every time you need to update content. I've seen companies spend $15,000+ on professional translation only to abandon their multilingual strategy six months later because maintenance became impossible.
The real issue? Everyone treats translation as a one-time setup instead of an ongoing content strategy. They focus on the technical implementation while ignoring the workflow that needs to sustain it.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
So here's the situation I walked into. This e-commerce client had been successful in their home market - France - but wanted to expand across Europe. Eight target markets, different languages, different cultural contexts. They'd built their entire site in Framer because they loved the design flexibility, but now they needed it to work internationally.
The client's first instinct was exactly what you'd expect: "Let's hire translators for everything." Professional, high-quality translations for their entire product catalog. Sounds reasonable, right?
Wrong. Here's what that would have meant: 3,000+ product descriptions, hundreds of collection pages, blog content, and all the marketing copy. We're talking about 20,000+ individual pieces of content. Professional translation would have cost them over €25,000 upfront, plus ongoing costs for every content update.
But the real killer wasn't the cost - it was the workflow. Every time they wanted to add a new product or update their homepage, they'd need to coordinate with translators across 8 languages. Launch a new campaign? Wait 2-3 weeks for translations. Want to A/B test copy? Multiply your testing time by 8.
That's when I realized the conventional approach was backwards. Instead of trying to solve translation perfectly upfront, we needed to solve the workflow problem first. How do you build a system that lets you test markets quickly, iterate fast, and scale gradually?
My first attempt was exactly what the Framer community recommends - duplicate pages for each language and professional translation. It was a disaster. After two weeks, we had beautiful French and English pages, but every small change required updating 16 different pages. The client gave up on updates entirely.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
OK, so here's what I learned: the Google Translate API isn't a translation solution - it's a content workflow solution. The key insight that changed everything was treating it as the first step in a progressive translation strategy, not the final solution.
Here's the system I built:
Step 1: Single Source of Truth
Instead of duplicating pages, I set up one master content structure in Framer. All content lived in one place - product descriptions, marketing copy, everything. This became our "source language" content that fed everything else.
Step 2: API-Powered Content Generation
I built a custom workflow using the Google Translate API that automatically generated initial translations for all content. But here's the crucial part - these weren't meant to be final translations. They were meant to be starting points that real humans could refine.
Step 3: Progressive Quality Improvement
Instead of trying to get everything perfect upfront, we launched with API translations and improved them based on performance. High-traffic pages got human review first. Low-traffic pages stayed with API translations until they proved their value.
Step 4: Content Fallback System
This was the game-changer. If a translation didn't exist or wasn't ready, the system would fall back to the original language rather than showing broken content. Users always saw something functional.
The technical implementation involved setting up API calls that could batch process content, a content management system that tracked translation status, and a fallback hierarchy that ensured the site always worked. But the real innovation was the workflow - we could launch in new markets in days, not months.
What surprised me most was how well this worked for market validation. Instead of spending months and thousands of euros to enter a new market, we could test demand in weeks with minimal investment. If a market showed promise, we'd invest in professional translations. If not, we'd learned that lesson cheaply.
Market Testing
Test demand quickly with API translations before investing in professional localization
Content Hierarchy
Focus human translation efforts on high-impact pages like homepage and key product categories first
Fallback Strategy
Always show content in original language rather than broken translations when API fails
Performance Tracking
Monitor which markets generate revenue to prioritize professional translation investments
The results were honestly better than I expected. Within three months, we had functional sites in 8 languages that were generating actual revenue. Not just traffic - actual sales from international customers who previously couldn't navigate the site.
Here's what the numbers looked like: The German market, which we tested first with API translations, generated €5,000 in sales in the first month. That single market covered the entire cost of the translation infrastructure. By month three, international sales accounted for 35% of total revenue.
But the really valuable insight was about market prioritization. The markets we thought would be big winners - like Spain and Italy - performed poorly. The surprise winner was the Netherlands, which we almost didn't include. Without the API approach letting us test cheaply, we would have made expensive mistakes.
The workflow efficiency was game-changing too. Content updates that used to take weeks now happened in hours. The client could launch a promotion simultaneously across all markets because the translation pipeline was automated.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here's what I learned from building this system - and what I'd do differently next time:
Start with workflow, not quality - Perfect translations that take months to implement are worse than good-enough translations that let you iterate quickly
Google Translate API is better for business content than creative content - Product descriptions translate reasonably well, marketing copy needs human touch
Market validation beats comprehensive coverage - Better to test 8 markets cheaply than perfect 2 markets expensively
Content fallbacks are non-negotiable - Users will forgive imperfect translations but not broken experiences
Monitor performance by market, not by language - Some markets convert better with API translations than others do with professional ones
Progressive improvement beats perfectionism - Invest human translation effort based on actual revenue data, not assumptions
SEO structure matters more than translation quality - Proper URL structure and meta tags in the right language drive more traffic than perfect copy on poorly structured pages
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies looking to implement this approach:
Focus on trial signup flow first - Perfect the key conversion path before expanding to all content
Use progressive onboarding - Let users choose their language after seeing value, not as a barrier to entry
Track usage by language - Optimize translation investment based on actual user engagement, not market size assumptions
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores implementing multilingual Framer sites:
Start with product catalog automation - API translations work well for product descriptions and specifications
Prioritize checkout flow - Invest in human translation for the purchase process first
Test payment localization - Currency and payment method preferences often matter more than language