Template Message Guidelines

Prabhansh Jain Updated by Prabhansh Jain

WhatsApp Template Message Guidelines

Template Message criteria from WhatsApp

  • Businesses can now send non-transactional messages outside the 24-hour window with user opt-in! Product recommendations, back-in-stock alerts, timely offers. Informational alerts are allowed.
  • Be specific and clear. Facebook reviewers may not know your business and will need more context around how the template will be used - you can also include a sample.
  • Be careful with formatting. Check for spelling errors and use appropriate formatting (e.g., double curly brackets for variable parameters - {{name}}, {{amount}}, etc).
  • Sensitive content will not be approved. Do not include abusive or threatening content in your template message, or request sensitive identifiers from customers.
  • Messages should be expected, relevant, and timely. Customers have already opted in to receive this information, messages are personalized with a clear call to action(s), and should be received at a logical time.

How to get your template messages approved faster?

In addition to the above, please consider the following to accelerate the approval process.

  • Make your template name clear. Instead of using "template_014”, please use "bus_ticket_details".
  • Do not use a mixture of languages. Select one language only for your template content, not a mixture like “Hindi-English” or “Spanish-English”.
  • If you need to send a template to re-open the 24-hour window, we would suggest sending one related to your previous conversation with that customer. Examples:
    • “I'm sorry that I wasn't able to respond to your concerns yesterday but I’m happy to assist you now. If you’d like to continue this discussion, please reply with ‘yes’”
    • “I was able to do some follow-up based on our previous conversation, and I’ve found the answer to your question about our refund policy. If you’d like to continue our conversation, please say ‘yes’

What is a User opt-in?

All businesses using WhatsApp must obtain opt-in from customers prior to sending a single proactive notification through the platform. This is especially true if you want to send non-transactional template messages outside the 24-hour window.

  • You can collect opt-in wherever is best for your customers. Here’s some example:
    • In a WhatsApp thread
    • On your website
    • SMS short code
    • QR code
    • Ads that click to WhatsApp
    • During the transaction process

Opt-In Examples

Below are some Opt-in examples implemented by different brands.

WhatsApp Template Message sample (Approved)

  1. Confirmation
    1. Order
    2. Membership
    3. Booking
    4. In-person Event
    5. Customer Support
  2. Re-engaging existing customers
    1. Mobile phone provider - a reminder about plan renewals
    2. Financial Services - new credit card installment plan
    3. Retail/Ecommerce - reminder about product back-in-stock
    4. Travel - abandoned flight reminders
  3. Start conversation with new customers who has opted-in somewhere else
    1. Alerts on upcoming offers
    2. Timely offers
    3. Daily updates for opt-in customers
    4. Informational alerts with clear opt-out flows - “Please reply STOP to unsubscribe”

WhatsApp Template Message sample (Rejected)

  1. Formatting is incorrect - Find out more about formatting in the WhatsApp Business API Guidelines
    1. Templates with spelling mistakes
    2. Make sure to use variable parameters - such as {{1}}, {{name}} - with 2 curly brackets on each side
  2. Template(s) are considered promotional:
    1. Free Gift:
    2. Prize
  3. Templates contain potentially abusive or threatening content
    1. Threaten customers with a legal course of action
    2. Threaten to add customers to a WhatsApp group with their friends and family to shame
      them if they don't pay back their loans
  4. Templates violates WhatsApp’s Business Policy
    1. Request sensitive identifiers from users, such as full length payment card numbers or National Identification numbers will be rejected.
    2. Collect unrelated data from users will be rejected, such as survey to collect user’s height after an online English class
      1. A survey after an experience is fine - “Hi, we're interested in knowing how you feel about certain food groups. Do you mind participating in a survey?”

Thank you!

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