WhatsApp Template Messaging
Template messaging via WhatsApp Business API: guidelines, help and best practices.
Conversation-based pricing changed on June 1, 2023. From June 1, conversations are priced by the category of your message template (service, marketing, utility, or authentication).
A message template is required to start a business-initiated conversation. These conversations can be customer care messages or appointment reminders, payment or shipping updates, alerts, and more.
Template messages must be submitted to Meta for approval before they are available to use.
The Customer Service Window, or also known as the Customer Care Window, is a 24-hour time frame (session) set by WhatsApp Business API which permits businesses to engage with customers using Session Messages during this period.
A template message needs to be sent whenever the Customer Service Window has lapsed, which means, whenever it has been more than 24 hours since the customer initiated a conversation with the Business.
For more information about WhatsApp Template Messaging, review the Official Facebook Documentation for the WhatsApp Business API.
Here are some tips to get your templates through the review process:
Clarity: be specific and clear. The reviewers may not know a customer’s business and need more clarity.
Avoid spam promotion: You should avoid using language or tactics that are designed solely to promote a product or service, without providing any real value or benefit to the user. It's important to be mindful of several activities that could fall under this category, such as upselling, cold-calling, or using language that may sound overly promotional.
Spelling: check for spelling and grammatical errors and use appropriate formatting (e.g., double curly brackets for parameters).
Name: make your message template name clear. Instead of using a name like
template_014, use bus_ticket_details. Remember that someone from Facebook will be reviewing your templates. Providing more clarity gives reviewers context around how the template will be used.
Create context: if you need to write a message template to re-open the 24-hour window, we would suggest starting with some mention of the previous conversation thread. Make sure it's easy to navigate and understand, and that it provides a positive user experience.
Choose an appropriate category: don’t forget to use the correct message template type. Choosing the correct one will increase the chances of getting your templates approved and will provide more information to WhatsApp during the approval process. See Template Categories.
Header (optional): you can add a title or choose which type of media you'll use for this header. Image, PDF and Video is supported. Location Header will be available soon.
Deal Promotion
Get in touch
Appointment Reminder
You should use the following endpoint to send Template messages:
Example Payload
{
"to": "4923787923989",
"type": "template",
"template": {
"namespace": "c8ae5f90_307a_ca4c_b8f6_d1e2a2573574",
"language": {
"policy": "deterministic",
"code": "de"
},
"name": "INSERT YOUR TEMPLATE NAME"
}
}
Pricing - WhatsApp Business Platform - Documentation - Facebook for Developers
Facebook for Developers
Cost of sending Template Messages / Conversations