WhatsApp Templates: Download 9 WhatsApp Business API Templates
By Anush Clive Fernandes / In WhatsApp / January 28, 2021 / 4 Min read
Before we get into the why, what and how of WhatsApp Templates, let’s go through five important pointers.
ONE – With over 2 billion users, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform in the world.
TWO – WhatsApp is the easiest medium for businesses to talk to customers, driven by a change in consumer preference from social media to messaging.
THREE – WhatsApp’s Business API’s now allow you to build Chatbots on WhatsApp. WhatsApp typically sees a 95% open rate, 100% deliverability and 3x the conversions from regular channels.
FOUR – You can use WhatsApp for inbound and outbound messages. Outbound messages can only be sent using ‘templates’.
FIVE – WhatsApp has very strict guidelines for what you can and can’t do on the platform. This includes restrictions on the kind of templates that you can use.
Suggested Reading: WhatsApp Business Policy Change: All You Need to Know
In this blog, we’ll discuss what WhatsApp templates are, how to build WhatsApp templates, the dos and don’ts of WhatsApp Templates and how to get them easily approved.
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What are WhatsApp Templates?
As we mention in the video, there are two types of messages you can send using WhatsApp.
One is inbound messages. Inbound messages are when a customer texts a company.
The other is outbound messages. Outbound messages are when a company texts a customer.
Inbound messages operate on Text APIs. These are generally unrestricted and are cheap(er) to call on.
Outbound messages, however, use Template APIs. WhatsApp is a lot stricter with these, since giving free rein for companies to send customers messages results in spam.
But what exactly is a WhatsApp Template?
WhatsApp Message Template is a specific message format that businesses use to send out notifications or customer care messages to people that have opted in to notifications. Messages can include appointment reminders, delivery information, issue resolution and payment updates.
Example:
- Welcome Message Template
"Welcome {{1}}. We look forward to serving you on WhatsApp."
- Confirmation Template
"Your order {{1}} for a total of {{2}} is confirmed. The expected delivery is {{3}}."
How to Build a WhatsApp template?
The average template has several fields you’ll have to complete. It’s important to understand each of these fields and what they do. If you don’t, you won’t be able to follow template guidelines.
- Name: What your template is called.
- Type: The type of media your template is using: Text, Image, Audio, Document.
- Language: The language of your template.
- Content: The text copy of your template.
- Variables: These are custom fields you can call on.
When creating a message template, you need to follow certain guidelines. It is important that you follow these guidelines, otherwise, your template will not be approved.
- Naming of Templates – Template names can only be lowercase alphanumeric and underscores (_). You cannot use any other characters or spaces.
- Format of Templates – Your WhatsApp templates cannot be more than 1024 characters. They also cannot contain newlines, tabs or more than 4 consecutive spaces.
- Content of Templates – Advertising, marketing or promotional messages are not permitted.
- Format of Variables – Variables must be called upon using a double flower-bracket numeric system – {{#}} . Variables should begin counting at {{1}}.
The restrictions on WhatsApp templates help act as a check to ensure companies don’t spam their customers. WhatsApp further incentivizes companies to not rely heavily on outbound templates by making it expensive to use.
The step-by-step process to making a WhatsApp template is as follows.
- Open WhatsApp Manager in Business Manager.
- Click Create and manage.
- Click WhatsApp manager.
- Navigate to the top bar and click Message templates.
- Click Create Template.
- Complete the aforementioned fields.
- When completed, click Submit.
- The message template will now be sent for review.
- Find the status of the review in the Message Templates tab (optional).
Free Templates!
This is obviously a lot of information to comprehend. WhatsApp Templates are tricky and difficult to build and have approved.
So we’re giving out easily approved WhatsApp templates for free!
What do these Templates cover?
These templates cover six major use-cases and industries, ranging from ecommerce to financial services. You can download the templates at the link above!
