WhatsApp templates
Overview
WhatsApp allows marketing only through templates that Meta has approved beforehand. This page keeps your templates: create them, submit them to Meta through your Twilio account, track the status — submitted, in review, approved or rejected with a reason — and turn an approved template into a campaign.
Without an approved template no WhatsApp marketing goes out — neither from a campaign nor from a journey. You reach the page through WhatsApp templates in campaigns.
Core tasks
Ideas. Above the list are the ideas for WhatsApp — created on their own (every Monday, on occasions) or by hand with Suggest ideas, each with an approach and a reason with figures. Use opens a new template and drafts it from the idea right away; you review and submit. WhatsApp ideas appear on their own only once WhatsApp is switched on.
Create a template. Name, language, text with placeholders, optionally an image, video or document, and a footer. AI draft writes a suggestion in your brand voice from one sentence, with placeholders and examples. The category is always Marketing.
Placeholders. The text contains {{1}}, {{2}} … without gaps and not at the start or end. For each placeholder you give an example (Meta requires it) and the value at sending: first name, last name, salutation or company of the contact. If a recipient lacks the value, they are skipped rather than receiving a message with a gap.
Submit. Submit to Meta creates the template at Twilio and requests approval. After that the text is fixed. Meta usually answers within minutes to hours; the system checks the status itself every 30 minutes, Check status right away.
Rejected. Meta's reason is shown on the template. A rejected template can be edited and submitted again.
Create a campaign. On an approved template, Create campaign creates a campaign for an audience — before that you see reachable recipients, price per message and the sum. Reachable is whoever has a confirmed WhatsApp consent under their mobile number. The campaign starts switched off; you check and start it in the campaign builder.
Fields in detail
The column What it does answers what changes in the system — not what the field is called. The grey name behind it is the API field.
Create and edit a template
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
Name at Meta name | yes | lower-case letters, digits, underscore | The name Meta keeps the template under. Other characters are converted; per language the name is unique. |
Language language | yes | language code such as en | The language Meta reviews and delivers the template in. |
Text body | yes | text up to 1024 characters with placeholders | What the recipient reads. |
Placeholders variables | one per placeholder in the text | per placeholder an example and the value at sending | What fills {{1}}, {{2}} … at sending. Only Meta sees the example, during review. |
Media mediaUrl | no | public https:// address | Image, video or document above the text. |
Media type mediaType | with media | image, video, document | How WhatsApp shows the media. |
Footer footer | no | text up to 60 characters | Small below the text, usual for the opt-out note such as "Reply STOP to opt out". |
Brand brandId | no | one of your brands | Which brand the template belongs to. A campaign of another brand cannot use it. |
Status status | — | draft, submitted, in review, approved, rejected, paused, disabled | Where the template stands at Meta. Only approved may send. |
Rejection reason rejectionReason | — | text | Why Meta rejected it. |
Draft and campaign
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
AI draft brief | yes (for the draft) | text | What the template should be about. The suggestion lands in the form, not in the list. |
Audience audienceId | yes (for the campaign) | an audience | Who receives the message. |
Name campaignName | no | text | Name of the new campaign. Empty = the template's name. |
Settings & permissions
- Module
module.marketingand the SMS module with a Twilio account; the WhatsApp sender is
set up there too. Without a sender nothing can be submitted.
marketing.campaign.manage— maintain and submit templates, create campaigns.- Price per WhatsApp message under Settings → Marketing → Cost of SMS and WhatsApp.
- Through the API:
/v1/marketing/whatsapp-templates(create, change, delete), plus…/draft,
…/{ulid}/submit, …/{ulid}/refresh and …/{ulid}/campaign.
FAQ & troubleshooting
Submitting fails. The Twilio account is missing, or no WhatsApp sender has been activated for it at Meta yet. The owner of the Twilio account sets that up.
The template has been "submitted" for days. Check the status. If it stays, the review lies with Meta — only patience or a new, plainer version helps.
A recipient received nothing. They have no WhatsApp consent, no mobile number, or lack a value for a placeholder. With a fallback to SMS or mail in the campaign step the message reaches them there.