WhatsApp templates are pre-approved WhatsApp messages that can be sent as notifications to users who might not have spoken to you in the last 24 hours on your WhatsApp number.
Steps to Create a WhatsApp Template
1. To begin, you need to click on the Templates icon on the left side panel, then you will land on the screen below, where you will find the Template Library and the two buttons – Active & Deleted.
2. If you click on Active, you will be directed to the screen below, where you can view all the templates you have created and filter them out via name, status, or category.
If you click on Deleted, you will land on the page with all the deleted templates.
3. Now, click on New Template
4. You will land on the template creation page, where you will have to first select the Category (Marketing, Utility, or Authentication) and the type of Template, and then add the Template Name and Language (WhatsApp supports 70+ languages)
Please Note:
Sending a Marketing template generally costs about 6x the cost of sending a Utility template. For example, on Interakt’s Starter Plan, a Utility message costs 16 paise while a Marketing template costs 97 paise. Country-wise pricing of Utility, Marketing & Authentication templates (for different Interakt plans) is given here.
Moreover, Marketing templates are subject to WhatsApp’s limitations. Meta limits the number of marketing template messages a person receives from any business in a given period of time.
This is done for users who, as per Meta, are less likely to be receptive and engage with the messages.
This is determined by Meta based on several factors, including a dynamic view of an individual’s recent marketing message read rate & how many messages they currently have in their inbox from friends, family, and businesses.
If you choose the ‘Utility’ category for a template and give content that is Marketing in nature, Meta may recategorise the template to ‘Marketing’. Since this assessment is subjective, there will be scenarios where the content might not seem obviously Marketing to you, but Meta might still recategorise it.
In case of such recategorisation, you will have 2 options:
Appeal to Meta to reverse the recategorisation:
- Go to https://business.facebook.com/latest/settings/whatsapp_account & log into the same Meta Business, which contains the WhatsApp Number connected to this account.
- Click on your WhatsApp Account. A panel will open on the right half of the screen.
- Scroll down in the panel & click on WhatsApp Manager.
- In the page that opens, click on Manage Templates on the left.
- In the Manage Templates page, you should see a banner at the top saying: ‘x templates have been recategorised as marketing’.
- In that banner, click on ‘Review category updates in Business Support Home.’
- In the page that opens, you will see the list of templates that were recategorised by Meta.
- Select a template & click on ‘Request Review.’
Create a new template by making the content more utility-compliant
- You can take the help of Interakt’s AI Copilot for drafting a template that is Utility Compliant.
- In case your template was recategorised, you will see the ‘Utility Variant’ button against that template, in your account’s template list (as shown below).
- If you click on this button, a new page will open where the AI Copilot will provide a more utility-compliant version of your original template.
- Or, while creating a template, if you have selected the category as Utility, you will see the ‘Ensure Utility Compliance’ button below the template body textbox.
- Clicking on this button will open the Copilot Chat with a pre-written prompt for the copilot – you just need to send the prompt & the copilot will provide a more utility-friendly version for your drafted template.
WhatsApp Template Categories
- Marketing: Messages with a promotional intent, generally focused on generating awareness / driving sales / retargeting customers, like seasonal sales (like EOSS), product launches, and loyalty program invitations.
- Utility: Purpose-driven updates for existing transactions, such as grocery shopping reminders or feedback requests.
- Authentication: Highly secure, specialized templates used strictly for sending One-Time Passcodes (OTPs) to verify logins or transactions.
5. A template has 4 main sections – Header, Body, Footer, and Buttons
6. Now you can choose to either leave the header blank or add text (up to 60 chars) or an image (up to 5 MB), a video (up to 16 MB), or a Document (up to 100 MB).
7. If you are planning just to add text to your header, Interakt offers you the option to add a variable there for sending personalized templates.
8. In the template body, you can add any number of variables that will later be substituted with user information, like name, or a link, etc.
AI Copilot
Interakt’s AI Copilot is designed to save you from writer’s block. Instead of manually drafting every line, the AI generates content tailored to your specific business goals.
Here is a short, step-by-step guide to using this feature:
1. On the template creation screen, look for the “Generate with AI” button.
2. A pop-up window will appear where you “brief” the AI. As you can see, the AI-prompts relevant to your business will be visible on the screen.
3. You can either choose one of the prompts or add the following details to help the AI tailor the message:
- Goal: (e.g., Abandoned Cart Recovery, New Product Launch, Feedback Request).
- Target Audience: (e.g., “First-time buyers” or “Loyal customers”).
- Tone of Voice: Choose a style like Professional, Witty, Friendly, or Urgent.
4. Click Generate. The AI will instantly provide a draft including a Header, Body, and suggested CTA Buttons.
5. Personalize: Ensure you check the variable placeholders (e.g., {{1}} for Name) to make sure they fit your data structure.
6. Edit: You can manually tweak the text if it’s not 100% perfect.
7. Once satisfied, click Submit.
8. The template will be sent to the Meta team for review.
9. You can also add a Footer to your template; the character limit is 60. The most common purpose of a footer is to add an opt-out message to offer the receiver a way to stop receiving the messages on WhatsApp from you and protect you from being marked as spam.
10. Now, you will have to set up the CTA buttons. This is completely optional, but we highly recommend adding one to drive conversions.
Interactive Template Types & Buttons
To drive customer action, you can choose from several specialized interactive layouts:
Buttons (Quick Reply/URL) – Includes Quick Replies (one-tap text responses), Call-to-Action (links to websites), or Copy Code for discounts. With Interakt, you can add up to 10 CTA buttons or Quick Replies:
a. 1 coupon code
b. 1 phone number
c. 2 Website URLs
d. Or 10 Quick Reply Buttons
e. Send Products
f. Carousel
You can create combos out of these buttons, but they shouldn’t exceed 10.
Catalog – Allows users to browse products directly in-app. You can send a Specific Product or your Entire Catalog.
Preview of the Catalog Template
Template with Form – Uses a Flow Button to open native WhatsApp forms for capturing interests, appointments, or surveys.
Preview of Template with Form
WhatsApp Pay Checkout – Includes a “Buy Now” button and order details to facilitate payments directly within the chat.
Preview of the Template with WhatsApp Pay Checkout
Preview of Carousel Template
11. You can also enable Button Click Tracking to analyze who clicked on your CTA buttons.
Note: Ensure to enable this once again while scheduling your campaign from the Notifications section.
13. After you’ve added the variable, you’ll also need to define it by clicking on Add Sample. In this example, we’ve selected Name as the variable, but it could be anything you choose.
14. After you’ve made your template, you can preview it on the same screen to see how it will look for the recipient. You can view previews for both Android and iOS to ensure it looks right on either platform.
a. Android Preview
b. iOS Preview
15. After creating the template, click on the Submit button
16. The Meta team will review the template and approve it within 24 hours.
17. Once you have created the template, you can copy the template or delete it.
18. Once approved, you can also edit the campaign template and resubmit for approval. However, there are certain restrictions: you can edit the template only once every 24 hours and a total of 10 times in a month.
We hope this article has provided you with a clear understanding of how to create new WhatsApp Business templates on Interakt. You can access the complete knowledge base on our website!
