WhatsApp Template Message Guidelines: Everything You Need to Know Before You Hit Submit

What Are Template Messages?

WhatsApp template messages — officially called Message Templates — are pre-approved message formats that businesses use to initiate conversations with their customers on WhatsApp. Unlike session messages (replies within an open conversation), templates must be reviewed and approved by Meta before they can be sent. This approval process is how WhatsApp maintains message quality and protects users from unsolicited or misleading communications.

Every template you create in Brixus365 falls into one of three official Meta categories:

• Marketing — Promotional content, offers, announcements, and newsletters. These are typically higher-engagement messages and count toward your marketing messaging tier limits.
• Utility — Transactional notifications directly tied to a customer action or relationship, such as order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, and payment receipts.
• Authentication — One-time passwords (OTPs) and verification codes. Meta provides a standardised structure for these and they are reviewed separately.

Understanding which category your template belongs to is not just an administrative exercise — incorrect categorisation is one of the most common reasons templates are rejected. When in doubt, refer to Meta’s official template guidelines.

Template Naming Rules

The name you give a template is permanent — once approved, you cannot rename it. Choose names that are meaningful, self-documenting, and follow Meta’s strict formatting constraints:

• Only lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores (_) are permitted.
• The name must be unique within your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA). Attempting to create a duplicate name will result in an error.
• Names cannot start with a number. 2fa_code is invalid; auth_2fa_code is valid.
• The technical maximum is 512 characters, but in practice, keep names concise — under 50 characters is ideal for readability in dashboards and logs.

A well-named template is easier to manage as your library grows. If you plan to support multiple languages, adopt a naming convention from the start — for example, appending a language code suffix such as _en, _es, or _de. Renaming is not possible, so invest time in your convention early.

Content Formatting Rules

WhatsApp template messages are composed of distinct components. Understanding the limits and formatting rules for each component is essential before you write a single word of template content.

Supported Text Formatting

WhatsApp supports a limited subset of markdown-style formatting within the body of a template message. These apply on supported devices when the message is rendered:

• Bold: Wrap text with asterisks — *bold text*
• Italic: Wrap text with underscores — _italic text_
• Strikethrough: Wrap text with tildes — ~strikethrough~
• Monospace: Wrap text with triple backticks — ```monospace```

Content Restrictions

• No all-caps messages. Using ALL CAPS throughout your template body is a common rejection trigger. Use capitalisation sparingly and purposefully.
• Body text is required. Header and footer components are optional, but every template must have a body.
• No misleading content. Template content must accurately represent the nature of the message and your business.

Parameter & Variable Rules

Variables allow you to personalise template messages by substituting dynamic content at send time — things like a customer’s name, an order number, or a delivery date. In WhatsApp templates, variables use a double curly-brace syntax: {{1}}, {{2}}, {{3}}, and so on.

There are several important rules governing how and where variables may be placed:

Sample Values Are Required

When submitting a template for approval, Meta requires you to provide sample values for every variable in your template. These samples help Meta’s reviewers understand the intended context of the template and evaluate it for policy compliance. Provide realistic, representative examples — not placeholders like “test” or “sample.”

In Brixus365, you can enter sample values directly in the template editor during the submission step. These samples are shown to Meta but are not sent to recipients — actual variable values are provided at send time when you run a campaign or trigger an automated message.

Translation Guidelines

WhatsApp supports templates in a wide range of languages, from Arabic to Zulu. Each language version of a template must be submitted separately and reviewed independently. A single “order confirmation” message for an audience spanning English, Spanish, and Portuguese customers would require three distinct template submissions.

When working with multilingual templates, keep these practices in mind:

• Use language-specific template names. For example, order_confirmation_en, order_confirmation_es, and order_confirmation_pt_br make your template library self-documenting.
• Content must match the declared language. If you select Spanish as the language but write the body in English, the template will be rejected.
• Select the correct locale variant. Meta distinguishes between regional variants — for instance, pt_BR (Brazilian Portuguese) and pt_PT (European Portuguese) are separate language options.
• Do not rely on machine translation for submissions. Automated translation tools such as Google Translate frequently introduce grammatical errors, awkward phrasing, and culturally inappropriate expressions that can lead to rejection or a poor user experience.

Approval & Rejection Guidance

After you submit a template, Meta’s review system evaluates it against their content policies and WhatsApp’s Business and Commerce policies. Most templates are reviewed automatically and receive a decision within minutes to a few hours. Occasionally — particularly for templates with more nuanced content or during high-volume periods — review can take up to 24 hours.

Common Rejection Reasons

Understanding why templates get rejected helps you avoid the most common pitfalls:

1. Policy violations. Content that promotes prohibited goods (alcohol, adult content, gambling without proper licensing), contains hate speech, or otherwise violates WhatsApp’s Business Policy will be rejected immediately.
2. Misleading or prohibited content. Templates that could deceive the recipient about who is sending the message, what action they are taking, or the nature of any offer are rejected.
3. URL shorteners. As noted earlier, bit.ly, tinyurl, and similar shorteners will cause automatic rejection. Use full URLs.
4. Poor formatting or grammar. Excessive capitalisation, severe grammatical errors, or content that appears spammy in structure raises flags during automated review.
5. Incorrect category selection. Labelling promotional content as Utility, or vice versa, is a policy violation and will result in rejection or post-approval pausing.

What to Do After a Rejection

A rejected template is not the end of the road. Meta provides a rejection reason (though sometimes high-level) and you are permitted to edit the template content and resubmit. Review the stated reason carefully, address all issues, and resubmit. Do not simply resubmit the same content unchanged — doing so repeatedly can impact your account quality rating.

Pre-Submission Checklist

Before you click submit in Brixus365, run through this checklist. A few minutes of review now can save hours of back-and-forth with Meta’s review process. Each item corresponds to a common approval failure point.

Frequently Asked Questions