A good template is approved once and used for months, so it repays the care put into it. Meta reviews the category, the structure and the wording; your customers judge the tone and the usefulness. This guide covers both reviews.
Read alongside this guide: WhatsApp marketing software and Waki plans and pricing.
Key takeaways
- Category first: utility for transactions, marketing for promotions, authentication for codes.
- One purpose, your name, specific variables, a button that does the thing.
- Realistic sample values and surrounding text get templates through review.
- Test on your own phone and compare templates by replies and clicks.
Pick the right category
Utility templates carry transactional information the customer expects: an order, a booking, a payment, a document. Marketing templates carry anything promotional, including a greeting with an offer. Authentication templates carry one-time passwords in a fixed format. Choosing utility for a promotion to save on charges gets the template recategorised or rejected and stops the campaign built on it.
Structure
A template has an optional header (text, image, video or document), a body with variables, an optional footer and up to a few buttons: quick replies, a link or a call. Use the header for the one thing worth looking at, the body for the message, the footer for the opt-out line on marketing templates and the buttons for the action.
Wording
Write it the way you would say it across a counter.
- Open with your business name or make it obvious who is writing.
- One purpose per template, stated in the first line.
- Specific details through variables: the order, the date, the amount.
- Sentence case, no shouting, no stacked exclamation marks.
- Marketing templates say how to stop.
Variables and examples
Give every variable surrounding text so the message reads correctly whatever the value, and avoid a message that is mostly placeholders. When you submit, the sample values matter: use realistic examples, not “test” or “xxx”, because the reviewer reads the template as a customer would.
Common rejection reasons
Most rejections are avoidable.
- Wrong category for the content.
- Content that is mostly variables or could mean anything.
- Misleading claims, false urgency or prohibited goods and services.
- Formatting errors such as a variable at the very start or end, or malformed buttons.
- A near-duplicate of a template you already have.
Testing and iteration
Send each approved template to your own phone and read it as a customer. Keep a record of versions and which campaigns used them, and compare replies and clicks per template rather than per campaign. Retire templates that draw opt-outs and keep the ones that draw answers.
Next steps
Conclusion
Treat each template as a small product: the right category, one clear purpose, honest details and a button. Approved templates that customers answer are the most valuable asset in the account.