Writing Effective Utility Messages
Best practices for utility message content
1. Clearly define the purpose of your message
Be clear and concise about the purpose of your message.
Ensure your message is tied to a specific transaction or customer request.
2. Use a conversational tone
Use a friendly and approachable tone in your message and personalize messages by using the customer’s first name.
Avoid using jargon or overly technical language.
3. Keep it short and sweet
Keep your message brief and to the point.
Avoid sending long, repetitive messages.
4. Use features and rich media wisely
Use images, videos, attachments, call-to-action buttons, and other unique features to enhance your messages.
Avoid overusing rich media, as it can be distracting.
5. Respect customer preferences
Allow customers to opt out of receiving utility messages.
Respect their preferences and do not send messages if they have opted out.
6. Use templates and stay consistent
Use pre-approved templates to ensure consistency and compliance with WhatsApp's guidelines.
Customize your templates to fit your brand's voice and style, and maintain a consistent voice and style to foster trust and loyalty.
7. Test and refine
Test your utility messages with a small group of customers before sending them to a larger audience.
Refine your messages based on customer feedback and performance metrics.
8. Send timely alerts and reminders
Send fraud alerts to resolve potential fraud situations faster.
Share order updates to reduce costs and enhance customer satisfaction by staying proactive and minimizing inbound inquiries.
Send payment alerts to reduce late payments and increase topline revenue.
Provide appointment reminders to decrease missed appointments.
Collect feedback on previous orders to track customer satisfaction and uncover business insights.
Utility messages on WhatsApp examples
Opt-in management on WhatsApp
- "Thanks for confirming opt-in! You’ll now receive notifications via WhatsApp."
- "Thank you for confirming your opt-out preference. You will no longer receive messages from us on WhatsApp."
Order management
- "Thank you! Your order {{1}} is confirmed. We will let you know once your package is on its way."
- "Hooray! Your package from order {{1}} is on its way. Your tracking number is {{2}} and the expected delivery date is {{3}}."
- "Unfortunately, one item from your order {{1}} is backordered. We will follow up with an estimated ship date. If you wish to cancel and receive a refund, please click here: {{2}}"
- "We have received your item from order {{1}}. Your refund for {{2}} has been processed. Thank you for your business."
Account alerts or updates
- "Your password was changed to {{1}}. Click here {{2}} if it wasn’t you."
- "Daily update for account ending in {{1}}: Your balance is {{2}}."
- "Reminder: Your monthly payment for your subscription to {{1}} will be billed on {{2}} to the card you have saved on file."
- "To finish setting up your profile, you need to upload a photo. Please click here to upload: {{1}}."
- "The product you ordered {{1}} on {{2}} has been recalled. Please click here {{3}} to learn more."
- "There is a tornado alert in your area. We recommend you remain indoors until {{1}} o'clock today."
Feedback surveys
- "Your feedback ensures we continually improve. Please click here {{1}} to share your thoughts on your recent visit at our {{2}} location. Thank you in advance!"
- "You chatted with us online recently about order {{1}}. How was your experience? Help us improve our services by filling out a short survey: {{2}}."
Continue a conversation on WhatsApp
- "Hi! I see you requested support via our online chat. I am the virtual assistant on WhatsApp. How can I help?"
- "Hi {{1}}, we are following up on your call with customer service on {{2}}. Your case has progressed to the next step on WhatsApp. Please log into your account to continue: {{3}}."
Utility messages template approval process
When you create a template, we validate the category you indicated per the contents of the template and our guidelines. We will then make the template and set its status to one of the statuses below, based on the outcome of the validation process.
When you create a template and we approve it, you can request a review up to 60 days from the creation date.
For utility templates, we may update them to marketing templates. You can request a review up to 60 days from the date we updated the category.
Approval statuses include:
APPROVED - This means we agree with the category chosen in your template creation request and that the template successfully passed template review, and it can now be used to send messages.
PENDING - This means we agree with the category chosen in your template creation request; however, the template is undergoing template review.
REJECTED - This indicates that we disagreed with the category you designated in your template creation request.
If your message template is rejected, you have the following options:
- Create a new message template via WhatsApp Manager or the API.
- Edit the template's category and resubmit for approval.
- Request another review.
Reasons your utility messages template could be flagged
Submissions are commonly rejected for the following reasons, so make sure you avoid these mistakes.
Parameter formatting
- Variable parameters are missing or have mismatched curly braces. The correct format is {{1}}.
- Variable parameters contain special characters such as a #, $, or %.
- Variable parameters are not sequential. For example, {{1}}, {{2}}, {{4}}, {{5}} are defined but {{3}} does not exist.
- The template contains too many variable parameters relative to the message length. You need to decrease the number of variable parameters or increase the message length.
- The message template cannot end with a parameter.
Content and policy violations
- The message template contains content that violates WhatsApp’s Commerce Policy: When you offer goods or services for sale, we consider all messages and media related to your goods or services, including any descriptions, prices, fees, taxes, and/or any required legal disclosures, to constitute transactions. Transactions must comply with the WhatsApp Commerce Policy.
- The message template contains content that violates the WhatsApp Business Policy: Do not request sensitive identifiers from users. For example, do not ask people to share full-length individual payment card numbers, financial account numbers, National Identification numbers, or other sensitive identifiers. This includes not requesting documents from users that might contain sensitive identifiers. Requesting partial identifiers (eg: last 4 digits of their Social Security number) is OK.
- The content contains potentially abusive or threatening content, such as threatening a customer with legal action or threatening to publicly shame them.
Character limits and text format
- The body component will have different character limits depending on the format and tag of the template. The number of emojis allowed in the body component may also be limited.
Duplication
- The message template is a duplicate of an existing template. If a template is submitted with the same wording in the body and footer of an existing template, the duplicate template will be rejected.
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