WhatsApp template messages

Get to know the WhatsApp template components.

Updated over a week ago

WhatsApp message templates are specific message formats businesses use to send notifications or customer care messages to people who have opted-in to receive notifications.

For example, statements can include appointment reminders, shipping information, issue resolution, or payment updates.

Supported Template Categories

You can use template messages for:

Create a Template Using the WhatsApp Manager

When creating a message template, you must have the following:

1. Template name — Can only contain lowercase alphanumeric characters and underscores ( _ ). No other characters or white space are allowed.

2. Components of the message template — Fill in the template with the text or media components, including parameter placeholders, as required. Make sure it contains no newlines, tabs, or more than four consecutive spaces and meets the length restrictions in the Business Manager or WhatsApp Business Management API.

3. Template translation to multiple languages.

Template Message Types

1. Text: Send a message in text to customers; messages can contain 1024 characters per free-form message. Text limitations vary on the relevant sections in the template.

2. Media: media messages include the following message types:

Header: Headers are optional and can include the following types of media:

  • Image

  • Document

  • Video

  • Text (up to 60 characters, can consist of 1 placeholder)

Body: Body content is required and is a text field only. Bodies can contain 1024 characters and be registered as plain text or text with placeholders.

Footer: Footers are optional and are a text field only. Footers can contain up to 60 characters.

Buttons: optional, and templates can only contain one or the other button type. Button text can be up to 25 characters. The following button types are available:

  • Quick replies - You can have up to three quick reply buttons per message: predefined answers and flexible payload.

  • Call-to-action - You can have up to two buttons per message, one for each action. Supported actions are calling a number and visiting a website.

Template Languages

WhatsApp does not do any translations for your business. Therefore, when sending a message template from the WhatsApp Business API, you must specify the language you would like the message template to display.

⚡ Attention

If you plan to support more than one language, you need to provide translations for all supported languages for all elements.

You can find the Supported Languages in this article.

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