Creating a WhatsApp template
Templates have to be approved by Meta before use, and approval normally takes 24-48 hours. Prepare them well before the campaign, not on the day.
You need at least one active WhatsApp Business API connection: without one the dialog opens but warns that there are no connections available.
The fields
Template Name — lowercase letters, numbers and underscores only. No spaces, no accents, no capitals.
Description — for internal use.
WhatsApp Connection — the connection the template is submitted for approval from.
Category — three options, and the choice matters because Meta applies different rules:
- Utility — transactional updates, confirmations
- Marketing — promotional
- Authentication — verification codes
Classifying a clearly promotional message as Utility is the quickest way to get the template rejected.
Language — the list includes Italian, along with English, US English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Arabic and Hindi.
Header (optional) — none, text, image, video or document.
Body Content (required) — up to 1024 characters. Dynamic variables are written {{1}}, {{2}} and so on, and are filled in at send time.
Footer (optional) — up to 60 characters.
It ends with Submit for Approval. From Templates you can also use Sync from Meta to import templates already approved elsewhere.
Did not find the answer? Write to support@talkzen.io and tell us what you were doing and what you expected. If it concerns a conversation, the time and the channel save us a round of questions.