WhatsApp Template Guidelines

Before You Start

Templates are used in template messages to open marketing, utility, and authentication conversations with customers. Unlike free-form messages, template messages are the only type of message that can be sent to customers who have yet to message you, or who have not sent you a message in the last 24 hours.

Limitations

Template name can only have lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores.
The message template name field is limited to 512 characters.
A template can only be edited when it is in a state of Approved, Rejected, or Paused. A template can be edited once per day, up to 10 times per month.
The message template content field is limited to 1024 characters.
A template can not be updated. We recommend using a test account when learning how to create templates.
A WhatsApp Business Account can only create 100 message templates per hour.
A correct template language must be given to reflect the template content language.
WhatsApp Business Account can have up to 6000 message templates. That means 6000 message template names, each of them can have multiple language translations. For example, a message template called hello_world translated into two languages counts as a single message template in regards to this limit.

Approval Period

Once you submit your template for approval, WhatsApp typically approves them within minutes through a machine learning-assisted process. Some templates that can’t be triaged by Meta’s algorithms are submitted for human review automatically and can take up to 48 hours to get approved.

Template Status

Note that a message template’s status can change automatically from Active to Paused or Disabled based on customer feedback. For this reason, we recommend that you monitor status changes and take appropriate actions whenever a message template that you rely upon becomes, or is in danger of becoming, paused or disabled.

Pending: Indicates that the template is still under review by WhatsApp. Review can take up to 24 hours.
Active – Quality Pending: The message template has yet to receive quality feedback from customers. Message templates with this status can be sent to customers.
Active – High Quality: The template has received little to no negative customer feedback. Message templates with this status can be sent to customers.
Active – Medium Quality: The template has received negative feedback from multiple customers but may soon become paused or disabled. Message templates with this status can be sent to customers.
Active – Low Quality: The template has received negative feedback from multiple customers. Message templates with this status can be sent to customers but are in danger of being paused or disabled soon, so we recommend that you address the issues that customers are reporting.
Approved: The template was approved by WhatsApp and can be used to notify customers. Approved templates are not allowed to edit.
Rejected: The template has been rejected by WhatsApp during the review process.
Paused: The template has been paused by WhatsApp due to recurring negative feedback from end users, typically resulting from “block” and “report spam” actions associated with the template. Message templates with this status cannot be sent to end users.
Disabled: The template has been disabled by WhatsApp due to recurring negative feedback from end users or for violating one or more of WhatsApp’s policies. Message templates with this status cannot be sent to end users.

Common Rejection Reasons

Rejection Reason	How to fix it
Variables are placed at the very beginning or end of the message	Add additional words or punctuation before/after the variable.
Variables are placed next to each other, such as `"{{1}} {{2}}"`	Make sure there is at least one word in between each variable, or simply use one variable instead of multiple. You can substitute a placeholder value with multiple words.
Variables have mismatched curly braces, or use words instead of numbers	The correct format is `"{{1}}`“, not “`{{one}}"`
Variable parameters are not sequential. Example: `{{1}}`, `{{2}}`, `{{4}}`, `{{5}}` lead to a rejected template because but `{{3}}` does not exist	Double-check that all placeholders are sequential.
Newlines, tabs, or more than 4 consecutive spaces	This is not allowed, so please avoid it.
Call-to-action have a direct link to WhatsApp, such as “https://wa.me/6588888888”. Meta no longer allows this	Spell out the number, without including the link. The wa.me is a reserved link that can’t be included in a template.
Template is a duplicate	WhatsApp rejects templates submitted with the same wording with a different name, to prevent abuse. Please note that this check does not apply to OTP templates. Slightly tweak the name and content of the new template.
Template contains content violating the WhatsApp Commerce Policy or the WhatsApps Business Policy. Includes: requesting sensitive identifiers from users, such as payment card numbers, financial account numbers, or National Identification numbers.	You must follow WhatsApp’s policies to avoid further enforcement action from Meta. If you need to request sensitive identifiers, you can ask for partial identifiers (ex: last 4 digits of Social Security number).
Templates appears to be related to gaming or gambling. Common words such as “raffle” or “win a prize” almost guarantee a template rejection by WhatsApp.	Templates appear to be related to gaming or gambling. Common words such as “raffle” or “win a prize” almost guarantee a template rejection by WhatsApp.
Templates that are overly vague, such as `Hi, {{1}}, thanks`. are commonly abused to spam users, so they will be rejected.	Surround the parameters with information that clarifies to Meta what type of information will be inserted.
Wrong language was chosen. Example: a template in English was submitted as “Portuguese” language.	Double-check that the language is correct.

Sample of Approved Message Templates

👋 Welcome {{1}}. What company do you work for?
Your {{1}} appointment is coming up on {{2}}. Have a nice day.
Your {{1}} appointment is coming up on {{2}}. Reply with {{3}} or {{4}}. Thank you.
Dear {{1}}: Unfortunately your pending booking did not go through.
No charges were made to your bank account.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Sample of Rejected Message Templates

Message	Reason
Reminder: {{1}}	Insufficient detail
{{1}} was added	Insufficient detail
{{1}}, {{2}}!	Insufficient detail
I am Jenn, the virtual assistant.	Considered spam; lacks clarity on the message’s purpose
Hi, are you available?	Considered spam; lacks clarity on the message’s purpose
We will put our platform up and running soon, I would like to get to know you better by asking 5 questions.	Considered spam; lacks clarity on the message’s purpose
Do not worry, I will not share your answers with anyone.	Considered spam; lacks clarity on the message’s purpose

Quality Rating

The quality rating is based on how messages have been received by recipients over the past seven days and is weighted by recency. It is determined by a combination of quality signals from conversations between businesses and users. Examples include user feedback signals like blocks, reports and the reasons users provide when they block a business.

To Maintain High Quality:

Only send messages to users who have opted into receiving messages from your business.
Make the messages highly personalized and useful to users. Avoid sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
Be mindful of messaging frequency; avoid sending customers too many messages a day. Be thoughtful of informational messages, optimizing for content and length.

Create a Template

Message template must be approved before it can be used to start a conversation. In addition, templates may be disabled automatically based on customer feedback. Once disabled, a template cannot be sent in a template message.

Tips for Creating Templates:

If you are not sure how to phrase your template, take an iterative approach. Submit a template, get it approved by WhatsApp, and tweak it based on results. You can always submit a new version of the template and delete the old version.
If you need to write a template to re-open the 24-hour window, we suggest starting with some mention of the previous thread. Example: ” 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”.
Consider using a friendly tone when sending messages over WhatsApp. Selective use of specific emojis are shown to increase engagement with end users.

Template Name	Must be a unique name and can only contain lowercase alphanumeric characters and underscores. Use a name that helps WhatsApp’s reviewer understand the purpose of your message, for example “order_delivery” rather than “template_1”
Template Category	Select the category that matches WhatsApp’s definition
Message Language	Select the language that matches the content
Message Body	The text of the message that you want to send. Please note WhatsApp does not allow multiple sequential line breaks
Message Header (Optional)	Add a title or choose which type of media you’ll use for this header.
Message Footer (Optional)	Add a short line of text to the bottom of your message template.

Revising Rejected Message Templates

If your message template was rejected, you may check the rejection reason. You can edit the message template accordingly based on the reject reason. To be noted that if the status of the message is Pending, you can’t edit the message content.

You may submit a new template with a different template name, and delete the rejected template. WhatsApp will not let you use the same template name for 30 days.

Removing Message Templates

You may not reuse the name of a deleted template for 30 days after deletion.
If a sent message isn’t delivered to the customer after the template deletion, it will attempt to be delivered for 30 days
If a sent message is delivered 30 days after the template deletion, the business will receive the Structure unavailable error receipt and the customer won’t receive the message.