WhatsApp message templates

There are two types of WhatsApp message templates that you can create:

• WhatsApp approved template

• Reply to open conversation template

WhatsApp message template content blocks

The following table provides an overview of content blocks that are supported by each type of WhatsApp message template.

Content block	Approved template	Reply to open conversation template
Body text	✅	✅
Footer	✅	❌
Image	✅	✅
File	✅	✅
Reply button	✅	❌
Link button	✅	❌

WhatsApp approved template

WhatsApp approved templates are the only type of message you can use to initiate WhatsApp conversations with customers who have not interacted with you in the last 24 hours.

To proactively reach out to customers on WhatsApp, either to open or reopen an expired conversation, you'll need to use a WhatsApp approved template.

When published, approved templates are automatically sent to WhatsApp for approval. The review process ensures that your message template complies with WhatsApp's policies and guidelines.

Create a WhatsApp approved message.

WhatsApp's message template approval process

When you publish an Approved template in Studio, we send it to WhatsApp for approval.

Message templates will be in a "pending" state until WhatsApp completes its review. Once the review is completed, the message template status will be displayed in Studio.

Message template statuses

Message templates can have the following statuses:

• In-Review: The template is currently being reviewed, and should be approved or rejected within 24 hours.

• Rejected: The template was rejected during the review process or violated one or more of WhatsApp's policies.

• Active - Quality pending: The template has not yet received any quality feedback from customers, but can be sent to them.

• Active - High Quality: The template has received little to no negative feedback from customers, and can be sent without restrictions.

• Active - Medium Quality: The template has received some negative feedback from customers, but can still be sent. However, it may soon become paused or disabled.

• Active - Low Quality: The template has received significant negative feedback from customers, and is at risk of being paused or disabled soon. We recommend addressing the issues reported by customers.

• Paused: The template has been paused due to recurring negative feedback from customers, and cannot be sent until the issues are resolved.

• Disabled: The template has been permanently disabled due to recurring negative feedback from customers, and cannot be sent.

• Appeal Requested: An appeal has been requested for the rejection of the template.

Common message template rejection reasons

Messages templates can be rejected for several reasons:

• Missing parameters/Mismatched curly braces: Make sure to use double curly braces, such as {{1}}, {{2}}, {{3}}.

• Special characters in parameters: Parameters cannot contain special characters such as #, $, or %. Remove them from the template.

• Non-sequential parameters: For example, {{1}}, {{2}}, {{4}}, {{5}} are defined but {{3}} does not exist. Parameters must be in sequence.

• WhatsApp Commerce Policy violation: Your message template contains content that violates WhatsApp's Commerce Policy. All transactions must comply with the WhatsApp Commerce Policy.
• Business Policy violation: Do not request sensitive identifiers such as full-length payment card numbers, financial account numbers, National Identification numbers, or other sensitive identifiers. This also includes not requesting documents that might contain sensitive identifiers. Partial identifiers (e.g. last 4 digits of a Social Security number) are acceptable.

• Abusive/Threatening content: Your message template contains potentially abusive or threatening content. Do not threaten customers with legal action or threaten publicly shame them.

• Duplicate template: Your template has the same wording as an existing template. The duplicate template will be rejected. Edit the template and resubmit, if necessary. Note that this check does not apply to One-Time-Password (OTP_ templates.

Reply to open conversation template

Replies to open conversation messages do not require any approval by WhatsApp and can be used immediately after publishing.

If you want to use your WhatsApp message template in an existing, open WhatsApp conversation, you'll need to use a Reply to open conversation template.

Create a Reply to open conversation template.