In short: A message template is a message Meta approves before you send it. You need one to reach customers who haven’t written to you in the last 24 hours, and for every campaign. Templates can’t be edited after you save them, so check every field first.
Create a template
- Open Templates (
הודעות מוכנות) from the main menu and click the purple + button. - Name: up to 30 characters, lowercase English letters, numbers and underscores. Example:
order_shipped. Customers don’t see it. - Category: choose Utility, Marketing or Authentication (see below).
- Language: one language per template.
- Header (optional): text, image, video, document or audio.
- Body: up to 1,024 characters. Add variables like
{{1}},{{2}}for details that change per customer. - Footer (optional): a short line, no variables.
- Buttons (optional): up to 10. Quick Reply, up to 2 URL buttons and 1 phone button.
- Save. The template goes to Meta and waits in Pending, usually for minutes and up to 24 hours.
Choose the right category
- Utility: about something the customer did, like an order, payment or appointment. No promotion.
- Marketing: sales, launches, win-back. One promotional sentence makes the whole template Marketing.
- Authentication: one-time codes only.
Meta can change the category you chose, and the category sets the price. See Paying Meta and WhatsApp Messaging Costs.
Rules that avoid rejection
- Don’t start or end the body with a variable. Write “Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has shipped.”, not “{{1}}, welcome”.
- Put a word between two variables.
- Use full links on your own domain, not bit.ly.
- In Marketing templates, add an opt-out with the Stop messages button picker. It fills the button and the footer, and Mumble blocks customers who tap it from future campaigns. A button you type yourself does not do this.
Common questions
How do I change a template?
Delete it and create a new one. There is no edit button.
Rejected for the wrong category
Create it again as Marketing, or remove the promotional sentence and keep it as Utility.
Still pending after 24 hours
Wait up to 48 hours, then contact Mumble support.
An approved template disappeared from the list
The tabs show only Approved, Pending and Rejected. If customers blocked or reported a template, Meta may pause or disable it, and it won’t appear in any tab. See the statuses article below.