A message template is a special format used by businesses to send a WhatsApp message to customers. It looks and acts like a normal WhatsApp message, with the main difference being that WhatsApp must pre-approve it before you can send it to customers. Message templates are required outside of an open conversation window and can only be sent to customers who have opted in and permitted you to send them messages. 

Read more regarding the Opt-In rules in the WhatsApp Business Policy.

Templates also simplify messaging by letting you reuse often-used, generic messages with variable details instead of creating them from scratch every time. When customers get a notification from your verified business for the first time and haven't saved you as a contact yet, WhatsApp shows these approved message templates without warnings, reducing the risk of it being marked as spam. 

At Clickatell, message templates fall into one of two categories: Marketing or Utility. Marketing templates are used to send promotional offers, product announcements, and other messages that increase brand awareness and engagement. Utility templates are used to send account and order updates, alerts, and messages that aim to share essential information with customers. 

Learn more about how to create a WhatsApp message template for approval.

Note that certain limitations apply to your message templates until your business is verified.

This is a mechanism implemented by Meta to encourage responses from end-users when businesses send them marketing messages. They aim to maximize message engagement, improve the user experience, and help WhatsApp users find business messaging more valuable and feel less like they receive too many business messages.

Meta may limit the number of marketing template messages a person receives from any business in a given period of time. The limit only applies to marketing template messages that would normally open a new marketing conversation. If a marketing conversation is already open between you and a WhatsApp user, you may send one additional marketing template message.

To receive any further marketing template messages, the end-user must first respond to any message. A response is regarded as a free-form chat or a quick-reply button selected by an end-user back to the business. Note that selecting a call-to-action button is not regarded as a response.

Coming soon: If a marketing template message is not delivered to a given user due to the limit, an error code of 131049 will be generated with the description “This message was not delivered to maintain a healthy ecosystem."

Also see Meta's documentation:

• Per-User Marketing Template Message Limits

In February 2023, WhatsApp simplified its template categories so all message templates fall into one of only three categories: Marketing, Utility, or Authentication.

Note: Clickatell does not currently support the Authentication template category.

The three categories are used for use cases as listed below:

• Marketing: Send promotional offers, product announcements, and more to increase awareness and engagement.

• Utility: Send account updates, order updates, alerts, and more to share important information.

• Authentication (not currently supported): Send codes that allow customers to access their accounts securely.

As of 1 June 2023, the category of the message template also defines the conversation category. Depending on the template category, business-initiated conversations are categorized as either marketing, utility, or authentication conversations (all of which require customer opt-in). All user-initiated conversations that help customers resolve inquiries are categorized as service conversations.

Conversation charges will be based on the template category. See here for more information.

For more information and examples of Template Categorization, see here.