So your team’s gone global and suddenly nobody agrees on what “feedback” means—or even what language to ask for it in. Welcome to the world of multi-language surveys. If you’re using Refiner to collect user insights, you’re in the right spot. This guide is for product managers, customer researchers, or anyone tasked with pulling off surveys across countries without losing their mind (or survey data).
I’ll walk you through exactly how to set up multi-language surveys in Refiner, what actually works, where things break, and where you can save yourself some headaches. There’s no fluff—just the steps, pitfalls, and a few pro tips I wish someone had told me.
Why multi-language surveys matter (and what to watch for)
Let’s keep this simple: If your users aren’t all fluent in one language, sending them a survey in only English is a great way to get ignored (or worse, bad data). But “multi-language” isn’t as easy as flipping a switch—bad translations or clunky setups can make things worse.
What works: - Higher response rates (when people see their language) - Better quality feedback - Makes your team look like it cares about users
What doesn’t: - Machine translations left unchecked - Assuming everyone wants the same survey wording - Complicated setups you can’t maintain
If you’re using Refiner, you get some good tools for multi-language—but you’ll still need to think things through and do some manual work. Here’s how.
Step 1: Get clear on your survey’s goals and languages
Before you start clicking around, figure out: - Which languages do you need? (Don’t just add every option. Stick to what matters.) - Are you sending the same survey in each language, or do some countries/regions need tweaks? - Do you already have translations, or will you need to write (or buy) them?
Pro tip: Start small. One or two extra languages is much easier to manage than ten.
Step 2: Create your base survey in Refiner
Set up your “master” survey in Refiner, in your main language (usually English).
- Build out all questions, logic, and branding first.
- Test it all the way through—don’t assume you’ll fix things later in other languages.
- Note any questions that might not make sense in other cultures or regions (e.g., references to local holidays or jargon).
Honest take: You can’t translate your way out of a badly designed survey. Get this right before you move on.
Step 3: Enable multi-language support in Refiner
Refiner lets you add multiple languages to a single survey, rather than cloning surveys for each language (which is a mess to maintain).
- Go to your survey’s settings.
- Look for “Languages” or “Multi-language” support (the location can move, so check the docs if you get lost).
- Add each language you want to support.
Pro tip: Refiner doesn’t translate for you. It just gives you a place to input your translations.
Step 4: Add your translations—manually, and carefully
For each supported language, you’ll need to provide translated text for: - Survey title - Questions and answer choices - Button text (e.g., “Next,” “Submit”) - Confirmation messages and error states
Here’s how to do it: - In the language settings for your survey, select a language. - For every field, paste in the translation. - Double-check formatting—sometimes line breaks or special characters get messed up in translation.
What to ignore: Don’t rely on Google Translate for anything important. At best, it’ll sound robotic. At worst, you’ll offend someone or get useless data.
Pro tip: If you don’t have in-house translators, consider a service like Lokalise or Crowdin. But always have a native speaker review the final text.
Step 5: Set up language detection and targeting
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. You want users to see the survey in their language, without making them pick from a dropdown or—worse—guess.
Refiner gives you a few options: - Auto-detect: Refiner can detect the user’s browser language and show the right version. - Manual targeting: If you know user language from your app’s user profile, you can pass it to Refiner via their API or survey triggers. - Fallback: If a user’s language isn’t available, set a default (usually English).
What works: Browser detection is usually good enough for most web surveys.
What to watch for: - Some users set their browsers to English by default, even if it’s not their real language. If it really matters, consider asking for language preference in your app profile and passing that info to Refiner.
Step 6: Test every version—don’t trust the preview
Testing is where most teams get lazy, and it bites them later. Here’s what to actually do: - Preview each language version in Refiner’s editor. - Trigger the survey as a real user would (ideally, in a test environment). - Check every question, button, and confirmation in each language. - Get a native speaker to go through it if you can.
Honest take: You’ll always find at least one weird formatting bug or awkward translation. Better to catch it now.
Step 7: Launch and monitor responses by language
When you launch, keep a close eye on: - Response rates by language - Drop-off points (are people in one region bailing at a certain question?) - Open-text responses—sometimes you’ll spot translation issues only after users reply
Refiner makes it easy to filter and segment by language, so use those dashboards.
What to ignore: Don’t expect perfect parity between languages. Some countries just respond more, or less, to surveys by nature.
Step 8: Maintain and update—keep it simple
Congrats, your survey’s live. But now you have to maintain it.
- If you change the master survey, you’ll need to update every translation. Keep a changelog.
- Don’t add new languages unless you really need them.
- Once a year, have someone review the translations—language evolves, and your product will too.
Pro tip: The more languages you add, the harder this gets. Be ruthless about what’s actually needed.
What to expect (and what not to)
What works: - Users feel seen, and you get better feedback. - One survey to manage, not a dozen clones. - Filtering by language is straightforward in Refiner.
What doesn’t: - “Set it and forget it.” Multi-language surveys need updates. - Machine translation without human review. - Assuming culture doesn’t affect how people answer.
Keep it simple, iterate, and don’t overthink it
Multi-language surveys in Refiner aren’t rocket science, but they do take some upfront work and ongoing care. Start with your most important languages, get the basics right, and don’t let “global” mean “complicated.” Every extra language is extra maintenance, so add only what you’ll actually use.
And remember: A simple, well-translated survey is always better than a sprawling, half-baked one. Ship it, learn, and improve. That’s how teams get global feedback that actually matters.