Creating a WhatsApp Template

WhatsApp templates are mandatory to send a proactive WhatsApp message to your contacts. With WhatsApp explicit approval on that template message, you are not allowed to send a message to a contact

With WotNot, you can create and submit your WhatsApp templates directly to WhatsApp for approval. You can easily view all templates that are Approved or Rejected.

Guidelines:

Before we start with creating the templates with WotNot, let us first understand the guidelines about the WhatsApp template message set by Meta team that you need to follow;

Clarity	Be specific and clear. The reviewers at Meta team may not know about the business and hence needs more clarity
Avoid Promotion	Upselling, cold call message, sending poll to collect the data & including certain phrases that sound promotional are all considered promotional
Spelling	Check for the spelling and grammatical errors and proper formatting
Template Name	Make template name clear. Instead of using names like template or template0123 etc.. use names like welcome_new_user
Clear Context	Remember someone at the Meta team will be reviewing the templates and hence giving more clarity will give the reviewers more context about how the template will be used
Appropriate Category	Choosing the appropriate category will increase the chances of getting the template approved from Meta team. Various categories are Transactional, One Time Password & Marketing
Header	Adding the title or media file which will serve as the header of the message. You can use Title, Image, Video or PDF as the header

How do I build a WhatsApp Template?

In-order to build the template with WotNot, you need to follow the following steps;

• Go to 'Channel Configuration -> WhatsApp -> Template Message'

• Click on 'Add Template' to create a new template

• Provide template name

Since we cannot use 'Space' in the template name, for better understanding and identification '_' can be used. The message template name field is limited to 512 characters. WhatsApp Business Account can have up to 250 templates & each of them can have multiple language translations. For example: welcome_new_user translated in two languages counts as single message templates in regards to this limit.

• Select 'Template Category' from the list of available categories

• Select 'Language' from the available list

• Select type of 'Header' from available categories There are 4 types of categories available under Header. They are;

  • Text

  • Image

  • Document

  • Video

• Add 'Footer'

• Select type of action on message:

  You can select what type of response you are seeking from the message, that is, do you want the visitor to call you for more information or visit your website or have no response at all There are three types of actions that you can select for the message;

  • No Buttons: You can opt to have no response back to the message that has been sent out to the visitors by selecting 'No Buttons'

  • Call to Action: Call to action buttons allows you to provide option to the visitor to visit the website or call the customer care number. You will not be able to add more than two buttons

  • Quick Reply: Allows you to provide options to the visitor to quickly reply back to the message that has been sent. Maximum up to three buttons can be added with the message

• Select 'WhatsApp Business Number'

Best Practices:

Following are few suggestions to maintain high quality of messages;

• Message needs to be compliant with WhatsApp Business Policy

• Send Message to only those who have opted into receiving messages from your business

• Messages need to be highly personalised and useful to visitors. Avoid open ended messages

• Keeping track of frequency of messages sent across to the visitors during the day. Avoid sending too many messages in a single day

• Informational messages needs to be optimised for content and length