# Message templates: best practices & examples

## Best practices

Improve the chance of your templates being approved by following the guidelines below.

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Remember that someone outside of your business will be reviewing your templates. Providing more clarity gives reviewers context around how the template will be used.
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When creating a new message template, please ensure you follow these best practices:

#### **Template name**

A unique name to identify the template use case for the business. 

* Must be in lowercase.
* Maximum of 512 characters.
* May not contain any spaces. Use an underscore to indicate a space.
* Make your message template name clear. E.g., instead of using a name like “*template\_014*” rather use “*order\_update*”.

#### **Template category & language**

The type of information contained in the template (e.g., marketing, utility) and the language of the content. Select these from a predefined set of categories and languages during registration.

**Template parameters**

* A template message must contain at least one parameter.
* Parameters cannot have new line/tab characters. 
* Parameters may not have more than four consecutive spaces. 
* All parameters will be defined within curly open/close braces and listed in chronological order starting at {{1}} (use the *+ Variable* button as a shortcut to easily add these). 

**Template content**

* Limited to 1024 characters.

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For possible reasons why your message template was rejected, [see here](https://guides.clickatell.com/whatsapp-channel/channel-capabilities/whatsapp-message-templates/message-template-rejection-reasons).
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## Template examples

<table><thead><tr><th width="189">Template name</th><th width="144">Template Tag</th><th width="197">Template message</th><th>Parameter details</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>optin_confirmation</td><td>Marketing</td><td>Dear {{1}}. You are now subscribed to receive account-related alerts for your account ending in {{2}}.</td><td><p>{{1}} – Name of the recipient, eg. John </p><p>{{2}} – Last 4 digits of the account, eg. 1234</p></td></tr><tr><td>transfer_update</td><td>Utility</td><td>Your funds transfer request of {{1}} from account ending in: {{2}} has been initiated.<br><br></td><td><p>{{1}} – Total amount, eg. $50 </p><p>{{2}} – Last 4 digits of the account, eg. 1234</p></td></tr></tbody></table>

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For more examples, see Meta's documentation [here](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/722393685250070).
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