WhatsApp Templates

WhatsApp message templates overview

WhatsApp regulates when and how you can send messages with your end users. When an end user sends your business a WhatsApp message, it kicks off a 24-hour WhatsApp "session" or "window" during which you can send free-form (non-templated) messages to the user. A WhatsApp session lasts for 24 hours after the last inbound message you receive from a user.

Outside of a WhatsApp session, you may only send a message following a pre-approved template to the user. Any message that doesn't match a pre-approved template is considered a free-form message.

A WhatsApp message template is a message format that you can use over and over again to message users once they have opted-in and given your app permission to send them messages. To use a message template, you must first submit it to WhatsApp. Meta reviews and approves each message template to maintain high-quality content and avoid spam. Once WhatsApp has approved your template, you can use the message template to send notifications.

WhatsApp enforces a separate 24-hour windows per conversation category. This means that there can be multiple concurrent conversation sessions at any time. There are 4 conversation categories: marketing, utility, authentication and service. A service conversation is a user-initiated conversation - when you respond to your end user, the service conversation begins. The remaining 3 conversation categories are business-initiated conversations. If you send three templates of three different categories, this will start three separate 24-hour sessions, each with their own charge from Meta. The conversation category is determined by the category of the template used to start the conversation. The template category is determined at Meta's sole discretion when it's submitted for approval.

Approval Period

Once you submit your template for approval, WhatsApp typically approves them within minutes through a machine learning-assisted process. Some templates that can't be triaged by Meta's algorithms are submitted for human review automatically and can take up to 48 hours to get approved. If your template are remaining in "pending" state for more than 48 hours, please open a support ticket with the support team.

Step 1: Create WhatsApp Template.

Inside the LeadOwl dashboard, navigate to Settings > Conversations and click the "WhatsApp" button under "Communication Channels" menu and click on the "Add WhatsApp Templates" button.

Step 2: Fill the form.

Fill the template message form, the message should be instructive and clear, eg: Welcome to the Owl platform, to start the chat, click on the "Opt-in" button bellow.



That's it, now your WhatsApp template message should be setup and ready to start conversations.

Updated on: 16/09/2024