WhatsApp Templates

A WhatsApp template is a message your provider has reviewed and approved in advance. Templates exist because WhatsApp won't let businesses message people freely — outside a 24-hour reply window, an approved template is the only thing that reaches a contact.

NOTE

This feature requires FluentCRM Pro. See what's included →

That makes templates the backbone of almost every WhatsApp campaign you'll run.

NOTE

The 24-hour rule: when a contact messages or calls you, a 24-hour window opens — Meta calls it the customer service window — and you can reply with any free-form text. Each new message or call from that contact resets the timer. Once the window closes, free-form messages stop going through and only approved templates reach them.

Most of your contacts have never messaged you first, so plan on templates for anything you initiate. Templates don't override opt-in either — Meta requires contacts to have agreed to hear from you before you message them at all.

Where to Find Templates

Go to FluentCRM → Messaging → Templates.

This screen is shared with SMS. Use the All / SMS / WhatsApp filter to show just one channel. Above the table, FluentCRM shows your current provider and when it last synced.

Each row shows:

• Template Name: The name your provider knows it by.
• Provider: Which platform approved it.
• Category: MARKETING, UTILITY, or AUTHENTICATION.
• Language: The language the template was submitted in.
• Status: APPROVED, PENDING, or REJECTED. Only approved templates can be sent.
• Variables: How many placeholders the template expects.

The eye icon previews a template; the bin icon deletes it.

NOTE

SMS templates appear on this same screen with - in the Category, Language, and Status columns. Those columns describe provider approval, and an SMS template doesn't need any — you write it and it's ready.

Syncing Templates

Click Sync Templates to pull the current list and approval statuses from your provider.

Sync whenever you've created a template in Meta's dashboard instead of here, or when you're waiting on a review to clear. A template that was PENDING when you last looked won't flip to APPROVED on its own.

Creating a Template

Click Create Template to build one and submit it for review.

Template Details

• Channel: Select WhatsApp. (The same editor creates SMS templates, which skip the review process entirely.)
• Name your template: Lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores only — for example winter_offer. This is the name Meta's reviewers see.
• Category: What the message is for. Marketing covers promotions, offers, and updates; Utility covers order updates and account alerts; Authentication covers OTP and verification codes. Categorise honestly — Meta rejects templates whose content doesn't match the category they were submitted under.
• Language: The language you've written the template in.

Content

• Header (optional): A short bold line at the top, up to 60 characters.
• Body (required): The message itself, up to 1024 characters. The toolbar adds bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace formatting.
• Footer (optional): Small grey text at the bottom, up to 60 characters. A good home for "Reply STOP to unsubscribe".

Variables

Insert placeholders with the {x} toolbar button. They're numbered — {{1}}, {{2}}, and so on — and you map each one to real contact data when you build the campaign.

Write your body so the variables read naturally in a sentence. Meta reviews templates by eye, and one that's mostly placeholders tends to get rejected.

Buttons

Add up to three buttons. Click + Add Button, then pick a type:

• Quick reply: Sends a preset reply back to you when tapped.
• Visit website: Opens a URL you provide.
• Call phone: Dials a number you provide.

While a template has no buttons yet, a second shortcut appears — + Add Unsubscribe Button. It drops in a "Stop messages" quick reply so contacts can opt out in one tap.

A contact who taps Stop messages is unsubscribed automatically — the button sends the word back to you as a reply, and FluentCRM reads it the same way it reads a typed STOP. See how contacts opt themselves out.

TIP

Add an unsubscribe button to marketing templates. It gives people a clean way out, which protects your number's quality rating — and WhatsApp throttles senders that collect blocks and reports.

Submitting

The Template preview on the right shows how the message will look on a phone as you type. When it reads right, click Submit for Review.

The template arrives as PENDING. Meta usually answers within minutes, though it can take up to 24 hours. Click Sync Templates to check.

If it comes back REJECTED, the usual culprits are a category that doesn't match the content, promotional language in a template submitted as UTILITY, or a body that's mostly variables. Fix it and submit again under a new name.

Using a Template

Templates show up wherever WhatsApp messages are sent:

• In a campaign: Select Approved Template as the message type, pick the template, and map its variables. See WhatsApp Campaign.
• In the inbox: Use Send Template to reach someone whose 24-hour window has closed. See the Unified Inbox guide.
• In automations: WhatsApp actions use approved templates the same way.

Only APPROVED templates appear in these pickers.

What's Next?

• Send a WhatsApp campaign with your template
• Reply to contacts in the Unified Inbox