Creating a WhatsApp template

Familiarise yourself with the rules of creating templates in the official Meta documentation.

Please note, you will not be able to submit templates with invalid structure for moderation. Frequent causes of errors when creating a template:

  • Template purpose is not clear, concise, or well-written. For example, Hi, {{1}} {{2}} Thank you. is vague and not clear how it would be used or what the placeholder values represent
  • Template placeholders are not sequential in order. For example, {{1}} and {{2}} and {{4}} are included but the placeholder {{3}} does not exist in the template
  • Template placeholders cannot be right next to each other like {{1}} {{2}}
  • Template content is identical to the content of another existing template
  • Template's name has already been used for another template
  • Template body cannot start or end with a placeholder
  • Template body cannot have more than two consecutive \n newline characters
  • Templates with Text headers cannot have emojis, asterisks, formatting markup, or the \n newline character
  • Call to action button URL contains a direct link to WhatsApp, such as “https://wa.me/14154443344”, which Meta does not allow.

To create a message template go to MailingsMessages and select “Create WhatsApp template”.

Templates come in two types:

  • text
  • media and interactive

Text templates contain a title, body text and caption with the ability to personalise the text with variables.

Media and interactive templates can contain an image/video/document and quick reply/call/link buttons.

The template wizard consists of one step where you need to fill in all mandatory fields.

When sending marketing templates, pay attention to the number of text lines. If there are more than 5, Meta will truncate the message under the “Read more” button.

For now, this feature applies to media and interactive templates that have an image, text, and action buttons at the same time.

Text template

General settings

  • Template name - it is used only inside the system and will not be visible to your users
  • Template category - must correspond to the content, otherwise the template will not pass moderation
  • Template language - must match the text of the message, otherwise the template will not pass moderation

Message text

Fixed message content with variables in the form of {{user_guide:integrations:1}} {{user_guide:integrations:2}} ... {{user_guide:integrations:5}}. The variables can be further populated with content or personalisation tags. You can unify your template to use it in different scenarios and conversations by personalising the text with variables. But you can't put most of your content in variables or create a template that consists only of variables. If you do, it will not pass moderation.

Footer

If you wish, fill in the footer that will be displayed below the text of the message.

Media or interactive template

General settings

  • Template name - it is used only inside the system and will not be visible to your users
  • Template category - must correspond to the content, otherwise the template will not pass moderation
  • Template language - must match the text of the message, otherwise the template will not pass moderation

Header

You can use as a header:

  • Text (maximum 60 characters, no emoji, line breaks, asterisk characters or formatting, will default to bold with a paragraph after itself, you can use 1 variable, e.g. for name)
  • Image (you need to attach a link to an example image for moderation, available formats .png .jpg .jpeg)
  • Video (you need to attach a link to an example video for moderation, available format is .mp4)
  • Document (you need to attach a link to an example document for moderation, available format .pdf)

Body

Fixed message content with variables in the form of {{user_guide:integrations:1}} {{user_guide:integrations:2}} ... {{user_guide:integrations:5}}. The variables can be further populated with content or personalisation tags. You can unify your template to use it in different scenarios and conversations by personalising the text with variables. But you can't put most of your content in variables or create a template that consists only of variables. If you do, it will not pass moderation.

Footer

If you wish, fill in the footer that will be displayed below the text of the message.

Buttons

A total of two categories of buttons are available:

  • Callback and/or link
  • Quick reply

Callback and/or link

You can add a maximum of 2 buttons, one of which will be a clickable link and the other a phone number. Or you can add only one link button or only one phone number button.

For each of the buttons you need to fill in the button text - maximum 20 characters.

For a button with a URL in the link, it is allowed to use one variable to personalise this link.

Quick Reply

You can add a maximum of 3 buttons, for each of which you fill in:

  • Button text (maximum 20 characters)
  • Message text (free-form text that will be sent to the contact when he/she clicks on the corresponding button)

Link/call buttons cannot be used in conjunction with quick reply buttons.

Please note that all variables and media attachments filled in during template creation are used exclusively for template moderation. When you create a post, you will be able to upload and prescribe real DC methods, links and personalisation. But during moderation Meta algorithms should understand what kind of content you will send to users.

If you want to save a template while creating it, but you haven't filled in all the fields yet, you can save a draft, just like in the case of any other channel.

Moderation

After creating a template, it will be sent to Meta for moderation. Moderation takes several minutes to a day, on average - 5-20 minutes. You can be guided by the status of the template in the list:

  • On moderation - the status is assigned immediately after creating a template
  • Confirmed - the template has successfully passed moderation and you can start working with it.
  • Rejected - the template was rejected by Meta moderators, read about the reasons for rejection here
  • Draft - a template that you have not yet sent for moderation, but saved for further editing.

Please note that a confirmed or rejected template cannot be edited. If you want to change something, you need to create a copy, make changes and submit the new template for moderation.

Last modified: 2025.07.25 06:09 by Elizaveta Ivannikova