WhatsApp message templates
How to use WhatsApp message templates
What is a WhatsApp message template?
A WhatsApp message template is used to send an outbound, business-initiated message to a customer. If your business wants to initiate a conversation with a customer for the first time or more than 24 hours after the customer last messaged the business, it is required to use a message template.
All message templates must be approved by WhatsApp before they can be sent to customers. Templates can only be sent to customers who have opted in and given you permission to send them messages.
Template categories
All message templates fall into one of only three categories that is selected when applying for a new template:
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 by Clickatell) – Send codes that allow your customers to securely access their accounts.
For more information and examples of Template Categorization, see here.
Template types
See Meta's documentation for sample message templates.
The following template types are available:
Text template: Create rich text-based message templates. Formatting options like bold, italic, pre-formatted, and strike-through are supported.
Media template: Include media formats like images, documents, videos, and location in the header of the message. This allows you to send your customers rich notifications like a boarding card (PDF), movie ticket (QR code image), or pickup address.
Interactive text and media templates: Include predefined buttons for interactive engagement with your customers. Two button types are supported:
Call to action: Let your customers call a phone number or visit a website.
Quick reply: Let your customer return a simple text message.
Template languages
To see what languages are supported by Clickatell, see this FAQ.
