WhatsApp Template Message: How to Apply

Getting started with WhatsApp Business API, find out how to apply for WhatsApp Template Messages that gets approved & that don't.

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If you're new to WhatsApp, then let us understand the difference between WhatsApp Template Messages vs WhatsApp session messages in layman's term. When a business wants to initiate a conversation or send updates to customers based on activity / interaction done by the customer is called a WhatsApp Template Message. On the other hand, if a customer initiates a conversation with a business over WhatsApp, this is known as WhatsApp session messages.

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WhatsApp template messages needs to be approved by WhatsApp before the business can send it out to the customer. As useful as these messages are, however, each of the template message goes through a strict WhatsApp approval process. Let us understand how to create WhatsApp Template messages & see some of the examples.

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Creating WhatsApp Template Message

If you are going to apply for WhatsApp template message, here are the things that you'll need -

1. Template Name

This is an identifier for your template message and will be used to send/trigger WhatsApp notification. The name of the Template Message has to be unique, formatted in small letters & numbers only, and spaces need to be replaced with an underscore.

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2 . Category of Template

WhatsApp Template Message can only be one of the following types. Choose the best that match with your template content. It is advisable to choose the right category that match your content type to avoid rejection.

• Account Update
• Alert Update
• Appointment Update
• Auto Reply
• Issue Resolution
• Payment Update
• Personal Finance Update
• Reservation Update
• Shipping Update
• Ticket Update
• Transportation Update

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3. Message Body

This is the content of your template message. You can use parameters, for e.g. "Hi {{1}}" instead of "Hi Jon" to personalize or send custom values in the content. There's no limit on the number of parameters you can use, however, the total length of the message can not be more than 1024 characters. You can of course format message content with Bold, Italics, Strikethrough & Monospace.

i. Bold - *<message content>*

ii. Italics - _<message content>_

iii. Strikethrough - ~<message content>~

iv. Monospace - ```<message content>```

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4. Buttons (optional)

WhatsApp Template message can be made more interactive by adding buttons. There are two kinds of buttons that are available, a) Call-to-Action & b) Quick Reply. Please note, you can only use either type of button & not both at the same time.

a) Call-to-Action Button in WhatsApp

Call-to-Action button or CTAs allow your customer to call a phone number and visit a website. You can choose to add one or two CTA depending on your business need & order that you want. However, please keep in mind that you cannot use both CTAs of same type which essentially means that if you've used one CTA of Phone number type & you wish to add one more, then it has to be of url type.

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b) Quick Reply in WhatsApp Template

Quick Reply allows your customer to return a simple text message in WhatsApp Conversation.

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5. Attachment in WhatsApp Template

WhatsApp Template Message allows businesses to add attachment based on their need. It can be document, image or video.

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6. Sample Template & how to apply

Go to WhatsApp Messenger under Settings>Channels & choose Templates to apply a new template.

Things to keep in mind

When planning and creating your message templates, it’s important to keep the following rules in mind:

1. While there’s no limit to the number of templates you can send at once, you can only send them to users who have opted-in to your WhatsApp service.
2. Sometime template approval from WhatsApp is roughly 2 to 3 days. It’s therefore essential to plan them in advance.
3. Message templates cannot be changed or updated once they’ve been approved by WhatsApp. So, take your time to craft them. Also, make sure they add value to your users.
4. Promotional and sales-oriented templates are rejected by WhatsApp, and message templates for surveys are not allowed.
5. Proofread your message templates carefully, as typos could mean that your users view the messages as spam.
6. Highly personalized templates are more likely to be approved by WhatsApp.
7. Make sure the links you use in your content point to a website that you own. Avoid using bitly links
8. Double-check that your message templates don’t contain content that violates WhatsApp’s Commerce Policy.
9. Remember that you should never request “sensitive identifiers” such as ID numbers from your users and that threatening or abusive messages are simply not allowed.