Creating WhatsApp Templates

Before you can send a WhatsApp campaign, you'll need to build the content, design, and images you want your users to receive in the message. WhatsApp templates are reusable message blueprints that you can select in campaigns and journeys to send your users WhatsApp messages. They can contain contain text, links, and images, and you can customize them with user profile data, event data, data feeds, and Catalog data.

This article explains how to create and edit WhatsApp templates, as well as how to get the required approval from Meta to start sending them as part of a standalone or journey campaign.

# In this article

# Required permissions

To create and manage WhatsApp templates, you'll need the Create and Manage Templates permission for your project.

# Configuring your locales for WhatsApp

In order to create WhatsApp templates, your project's locales must be associated with Meta’s supported languages. Before you can start sending via WhatsApp, you'll need to review your project's locales and map them to the Meta-supported language codes.

To do this, go to your Project Settings page, and choose Content. Under Locales, edit your locales' Language selections to match the supported languages. See Setting Up Locales to learn more.

# WhatsApp template types

There are two different types of Iterable templates you can create for WhatsApp messages: user-initiated templates and business-initiated templates. The primary difference between these two template types is who starts the WhatsApp conversation (your business or the user), and there are a few differences in how these templates are created and used.

Business-initiated templates

Business-initiated templates must be approved by Meta and can be used to start conversations with your users. You can use business-initiated templates to send blast campaigns, API-triggered campaigns, or journey campaigns.

User-initiated templates

User-initiated templates can only be used to reply to users who have reached out to your brand within the past 24 hours. Because of this, user-initiated templates can only be used in API-triggered campaigns and journey campaigns, (not blast campaigns). User-initiated templates don’t need to be approved by Meta before they can be used in campaigns.

# Creating a new WhatsApp template

To create a WhatsApp template that you can reuse for a single or multiple WhatsApp campaigns:

1. Go to Content > Templates.

2. Click New template > WhatsApp.

3. Select a WhatsApp template type.

4. Give your template a name that will make it easy to find when you (or your teammates) are setting up campaigns or journeys. This field has a 150-character limit.

5. Click Create template.

Alternatively, you can create a template while setting up a new campaign or by using Iterable's API. For more info, see Working with Templates.

# Configuring a WhatsApp message template

To update template details such as message type, sender, message, media URLs, etc., open the template and configure the options in the Details area.

To update these options, click Edit Details. As you make changes, the preview updates. When you're done editing, click Save or Cancel.

# Business-initiated templates

Below are descriptions of the various settings you'll see in the Details area of a business-initiated WhatsApp template.

# WhatsApp category

Business-initiated WhatsApp templates must be associated with one of Meta's WhatsApp template categories. Meta uses these categories to determine usage and billing rates. Iterable supports the following WhatsApp categories for business-initiated templates:

• Marketing templates: Marketing templates are used for a wide range of promotional activities, such as increasing brand awareness, driving sales, and retargeting users. WhatsApp templates that contain a mix of both marketing and utility content or whose content is unclear may be labeled marketing templates.

• Utility templates: Utility templates are used to follow up on user actions or requests, such as a recent transaction, account update, subscription, or other interaction with your brand. Utility templates contain specific details about a recent user interaction.

When you submit a business-initiated template to Meta for review, Meta evaluates the content of the template and determines whether or not it matches the template category you selected. In some cases, Meta may determine that a template's content matches the opposite category than what you selected. When this happens, Meta may still approve the template but automatically re-categorize the template, and you'll see the following message when you view the approved template in Iterable:

# Message type

The category to associate with your template, which affects who receives campaigns based on it. To learn more, read Message Channels and Message Types Overview.

If you have any WhatsApp senders bound to a marketing message type, then the message type you choose here may change the senders available for the campaign.

# Sender

The sender that the recipient sees for this message.

For WhatsApp, the options in the message sender dropdown are determined by whether the sender was bound to a particular message type.

When you select a transactional message type, all WhatsApp senders bound to marketing message types are disabled. You're only able to send marketing messages with senders associated with the marketing message type.

For help setting up a WhatsApp sender, contact your customer success manager.

# Header

An optional element that you can include at the top of your WhatsApp message. Can be text (maximum 60 characters) or an image. Supported file formats for images include JPEG or PNG, maximum 5 MB (recommended minimum resolution of 640 x 360 px).

# Message

The body of your WhatsApp message, which can contain text, merge parameters, and emojis. This element supports rich-text formatting (bold, italics, strikethrough, code).

When you're working on a message, you can see the total character count to the left of the message body.

# Footer

An optional component that appears at the end of your WhatsApp message. Footers support text only and can be a maximum length of 60 characters.

# Buttons

Optional components that allow users to quickly interact with your WhatsApp message with a single tap. WhatsApp templates can include a maximum of 10 buttons, and each button's CTA text can be customized (maximum length 25 characters).

Supported buttons include:

# Visit website

Directs users to a specified webpage in their browser. URLs must include either https:// or http:// and can include a maximum of one merge parameter. You can include a maximum of 2 Visit website buttons in a WhatsApp template.

# Call phone

Initiates a phone call to a specified phone number (for example, your business's support line). Maximum 1 per template. You can only include 1 Call phone button in a WhatsApp template.

# Quick reply

Sends a preconfigured text string (which you specify in the template) in response to your WhatsApp message, allowing users to quickly reply with a single tap. You can include a maximum of 10 Quick reply buttons in a WhatsApp template.

# Data feeds

Data feeds allow you to fetch user-specific data from external URLs (your own or third-party) and use it to personalize your messages. For example, a restaurant chain might use a data feed to fetch information about locations close to the user, and then highlight them in their messages. To tell the data feed which user you need information for, you can pass query parameters in the data feed URL.

To enable data feeds, check Data feeds. Then, select an existing data feed from the dropdown or click Add a new data feed.

For more information about data feeds, related configuration options, and how to use them, read Personalizing Templates with Data Feeds.

# Shorten and track

Shorten all links included in the WhatsApp campaign's content. Shortlinks allow you to fit more content in the message and see if your contacts are opening the links.

Shortlinks can vary in length up to six additional characters from the preview URL that you see in the template preview mode.

# Google analytics

Requires Shorten and track. Appends utm_source, utm_campaign, and utm_medium parameters to links in your messages for Google Analytics tracking.

To learn more, read:

• Integrating Iterable with Google Analytics
• Google's Collect Campaign Data with Custom URLs

# Link parameters

Requires Shorten and track. Custom URL parameters that are added to your WhatsApp campaigns. These custom parameters give you the opportunity to track custom metrics (that you define) when a customer clicks on a link in your campaign. This helps track which clicks came from which campaign, and when using other analytics providers besides Google Analytics.

https://www.example.com/?campaignId=12345

For more info, read Link Parameters.

# Submitting business-initiated templates to Meta for approval

Business-initiated WhatsApp templates must be approved by Meta before they can be used in a campaign. This is a Meta requirement designed to protect users from receiving undesirable messages or spam from businesses. Once approved, business-initiated templates must also maintain a high quality rating.

While you’re creating or editing a template, the Details screen of the template editor highlights common issues that can cause a template to be rejected, and you won’t be able to submit a template for approval until any highlighted errors are fixed. For a full list of reasons a template may be rejected, see Meta’s article Message Template Guidelines.

If your template contains merge parameters, use the Sample Data section to add a sample user’s data to the template. This is required for Meta’s review process and helps you avoid template rejections.

When you’re ready to submit a business-initiated template to Meta for approval, click the Review button in the upper right corner of the template editor.

Double check your template’s settings and design, then click Submit for Approval.

Once a template has been submitted to Meta for review, its status changes to In Review. Meta’s evaluation process can take up to 24 hours, and during this time, the template cannot be used in any campaigns or journeys. After Meta has finished evaluating the template, you’ll receive an email notification from Meta with the results.

Once a template’s status changes to Approved, you can start using it in WhatsApp campaigns. If your template is rejected, you’ll need to re-create the template and submit the new version for approval.

# User-initiated templates

Below are descriptions of the various settings you'll see in the Details area of a business-initiated WhatsApp template.

# Message type

The category to associate with your template, which affects who receives campaigns based on it. To learn more, read Message Channels and Message Types Overview.

If you have any WhatsApp senders bound to a marketing message type, then the message type you choose here may change the senders available for the campaign.

# Sender

The sender that the recipient sees for this message.

For WhatsApp, the options in the message sender dropdown are determined by whether the sender was bound to a particular message type.

When you select a transactional message type, all WhatsApp senders bound to marketing message types are disabled. You're only able to send marketing messages with senders associated with the marketing message type.

For help setting up a WhatsApp sender, contact your customer success manager.

# Image

An optional element that you can include at the top of your WhatsApp message. Supported file formats include JPEG or PNG, maximum 5 MB size (recommended minimum resolution of 640 x 360 px).

# Message

The body of your WhatsApp message, which can contain text, merge parameters, and emojis. This element supports rich-text formatting (bold, italics, strikethrough, code).

# Data feeds

Data feeds allow you to fetch user-specific data from external URLs (your own or third-party) and use it to personalize your messages. For example, a restaurant chain might use a data feed to fetch information about locations close to the user, and then highlight them in their messages. To tell the data feed which user you need information for, you can pass query parameters in the data feed URL.

To enable data feeds, check Data feeds. Then, select an existing data feed from the dropdown or click Add a new data feed.

For more information about data feeds, related configuration options, and how to use them, read Personalizing Templates with Data Feeds.

# WhatsApp template approval statuses and quality ratings

In addition to requiring approval for business-initiated template, Meta also evaluates the quality of all WhatsApp templates as they're sent in campaigns and users interact with them. Templates that have low read rates and/or have received negative feedback from users receive lower quality ratings and are at risk of being paused or disabled. When this happens, any campaigns that use these templates will fail — so it's important to monitor your templates' quality ratings. To learn more, see Sending WhatsApp Campaigns.

Iterable displays the following approval statuses and quality ratings for templates:

# Draft

The template has not yet been submitted to Meta for review.

# In Review

The template is still under review by Meta. Review can take up to 24 hours.

# Approved (no quality rating)

The template has been approved for use by Meta and has not yet received read rate information or user feedback. Its rating will be updated when this information becomes available.

# Approved (high quality)

The template has been approved for use by Meta and currently has good read rates and has received little or no negative user feedback.

# Approved (medium quality)

The template has been approved for use by Meta but currently has low read rates and/or has received negative user feedback. The template may soon be paused or disabled.

# Approved (low quality)

The template has been approved for use by Meta but currently has low read rates and/or has received negative feedback from multiple customers. This rating puts the template at high risk of being paused or disabled.

# Rejected

The template has been rejected during Meta's review process and/or violates one of its policies. You must create a new template following Meta's guidelines and submit it for approval.

# Paused

The template cannot be sent for a period of 3 or 6 hours, due to poor read rates and/or recurring negative user feedback. See Meta's Template Pausing documentation to learn more.

# Disabled

The template has been previously paused twice and now cannot be sent to users.

# In appeal

An appeal was submitted for the template in Meta Business Manager and a decision is pending.

# Pending deletion

The template was deleted in Meta Business Manager and is scheduled for removal in Iterable. If campaigns using this template were sent prior to its deletion, Iterable will attempt delivery for up to 30 days before the template becomes unavailable.

# Reinstated

The template was previously disabled by Meta but has been restored and can now be sent to users again.

# Creating locale versions of a WhatsApp template

Just like with other message mediums, you can create multiple locale versions of WhatsApp templates. For detailed instructions on how to do this, see Creating Locale Versions of a Template.

All of a business-initiated template’s locale versions must be individually approved by Meta before the template can be used in any campaigns (the status of each locale version must be Approved — if even one of a template’s locale versions is Draft, In Review, or Rejected, the template cannot be used). See Submitting Business-Initiated Templates to Meta for Approval to learn more.

# Prohibited content for WhatsApp templates

Meta prohibits content related to certain regulated verticals, as well as content that could be considered exploitative, abusive, discriminatory, offensive, or spam. Content review is conducted by Meta (not Iterable), and infractions can result in your Meta account being suspended or terminated.

For more information, see Best Practices for WhatsApp and Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.

# Want to learn more?

For more information about some of the topics in this article, check out these Iterable resources. Iterable Academy is open to everyone — you don't need to be an Iterable customer!

Iterable Academy

• Introduction to WhatsApp

Support docs

• WhatsApp Overview
• Best Practices for WhatsApp
• Templates Overview