WhatsApp message templates

On WhatsApp, a business can’t send whatever it likes whenever it likes. The rule protects users from spam and means that, to start a conversation, you have to use messages that have been checked first. Those messages are templates.

What are WhatsApp message templates?

They’re predefined texts that a business registers in its API account (its WABA) and that Meta reviews before they can be used. They can include variables, such as the customer’s name or the appointment time, plus optional parts: a header with an image or document, a footer, and quick-reply or link buttons.

Meta sorts them into three categories:

Category	What it’s for	Example
Marketing	Promotions, news, winning customers back	”This week only: 20% off car servicing”
Utility	Updates on something the customer asked for or bought	”Your appointment is on Thursday at 10:00”
Authentication	One-time codes to verify identity	”Your code is 482913”

The category matters because it sets the price Meta charges for each delivered template, which also depends on the recipient’s country. Current rates are published in Meta’s official pricing documentation.

How it works

1. Write it. You draft the template with its variables and pick a category and language.
2. Meta reviews it. It checks the content against its policies and confirms the category. It can approve, reject or recategorise.
3. Send it to contacts who have agreed to hear from your business, filling in the variables for each one.
4. The conversation opens. When the customer replies, the 24-hour service window starts and you can answer with free-form messages.

Templates can only be sent through the WhatsApp Business API. Use them with care: if lots of recipients block or report your messages, Meta lowers the number’s quality rating and may cap its sending.

Example

A driving school in Leeds uses three templates. A utility template reminds learners of their lesson the day before, with a button to confirm or ask to reschedule. Another utility template confirms the date of the practical test. The third, a marketing one, goes out in June to people who enquired but never signed up, with dates for the intensive summer course. All the replies land in the same inbox as every other conversation.

Message templates at UTIO

With UTIO’s WhatsApp agent, approved marketing templates are available on the official WABA connection; they don’t exist when your existing number is connected by QR. Hence the advice: start with QR and move to WABA when you need campaigns or delivery and read receipts.

The bill keeps Meta’s charges and UTIO’s apart. Service conversations, the ones your customer opens by writing to you, are included in your plan. Marketing templates, which Meta charges per send, are passed on at cost + 15%. Replies to every template stay on the contact’s record in the CRM.