WhatsApp message templates

WhatsApp requires every business-initiated marketing message to use a pre-approved template before you can send it to customers. You can draft, test, and submit compliant marketing message templates directly from Fetchply without opening WhatsApp Manager.

Once Meta reviews and approves your template, it becomes available immediately in Campaigns for broadcast.

How template authoring works

1. Open your agent, navigate to Customers → Campaigns, and select the Message Templates tab.
2. Select Create template to open the composer.
3. Enter a Template Title (such as Spring Flash Sale or Weekend Special).
4. Choose the Language locale that matches the language of your message content.
5. Choose a Header: No header, Text, or Picture.
   • Text: A short headline up to 60 characters with an optional placeholder.
   • Picture: Upload one example JPEG or PNG (up to 5 MB). Meta reviews picture headers against this example, so a picture header cannot be submitted until the upload finishes and shows Example image ready. You can still send a different picture to each recipient later.
6. Write the Body Text of your message (between 12 and 1,024 characters). Use variables like {{first_name}} or {{discount}} to personalize messages for each recipient.
7. Add an optional Footer (up to 60 characters) with subtle supplementary notes.
8. Configure Buttons:
   • Website URL: A direct static link to your online store or landing page (up to 2 URL buttons).
   • Phone Number: An international phone number customers can tap to call your business.
   • Quick Reply: Pre-set buttons customers can tap to reply instantly.
   • Mandatory Opt-Out: Fetchply requires every marketing message to end with an opt-out quick reply button (such as Stop promotions or Unsubscribe). Fetchply automatically includes and validates this button for you. Its label must clearly say stop or unsubscribe — as a whole word, for example Stop, Unsubscribe, Opt out, No more offers, or the same in your message's language (such as Darme de baja, Se désabonner, Abmelden, or إلغاء الاشتراك). Words like Cancel or End are not accepted, because a customer tapping Cancel booking should never be unsubscribed by accident.
9. Provide Sample Values: For every variable placeholder in your message, enter a realistic generic example (such as Alex or 20%). Meta's review team uses these sample values to understand how your message will look when sent to customers.
10. Select Save draft at any point to keep an unfinished template, or Submit for approval to send it to Meta. The panel lists any remaining problem along the bottom and marks the affected section in the list on the left, so you can see what is blocking the submission.

The composer stays open until you choose to leave it, so a stray click on the page behind it will not lose your work. Close it with Cancel, the X in the top corner, or the Esc key. If you have unsaved changes, Fetchply asks before discarding them.

Review process and statuses

After you submit a template, Meta evaluates its content and policy compliance:

• Draft: Saved locally in Fetchply. Not yet submitted to WhatsApp. You can edit drafts freely.
• Submitting: Sent to WhatsApp and waiting for confirmation.
• In review: Under review by Meta. Review decisions typically take between 1 and 5 minutes, but can occasionally take up to 24 hours.
• Approved: Approved by Meta and ready to select in any campaign.
• Rejected: Meta rejected the template. Hover over the status badge or view the template details to see the specific reason Meta provided.
• Paused: Meta temporarily paused the template due to low recipient quality or negative customer feedback.
• Disabled: The template was deleted, disabled, or archived for inactivity in WhatsApp Manager. It cannot be sent.

Approval is not permanent. Meta can later pause, disable, or archive a template, or move it to a different category (for example from Utility to Marketing, which changes its price). Fetchply picks these changes up automatically, usually within minutes and at the latest within a day, and stops using a template WhatsApp no longer allows. A notice that a category change is coming does not change anything until Meta actually applies it.

Template quality scores

Meta assigns a quality score to every approved marketing template based on recipient reactions, reads, blocks, and spam reports:

• Green (High quality): Recipients engage positively with the message.
• Yellow (Medium quality): Some recipients are ignoring or reporting the message.
• Red (Low quality): High rates of customer complaints or blocks. Templates with persistent red quality may be paused by Meta.

To maintain high quality scores, only message customers who explicitly opted in to promotional updates, keep promotional frequency reasonable, and ensure your message content clearly identifies your business.

Troubleshooting and common questions

Why was my template rejected by Meta?

Meta enforces strict policy rules on template wording and formatting. The most common reasons for rejection are:

• Missing context around placeholders: Messages that start or end with a variable (e.g. {{1}}) or have two placeholders side by side without words between them are rejected. Always wrap placeholders in complete sentences.
• Excessive punctuation or ALL CAPS: Avoid writing in all capital letters or using multiple exclamation marks (e.g. BUY NOW!!!).
• Shortener links: Meta rejects shortened URLs (like bit.ly or tinyurl) and wa.me links in button URLs. Use full, direct HTTPS URLs from your own domain.
• Real personal information in samples: Do not use real email addresses, actual phone numbers, or credit card numbers in your sample values. Use generic samples like John or 10%.

Can I edit a template that has already been submitted or approved?

Campaign templates cannot be edited in Fetchply once they have gone to WhatsApp. To change an approved or rejected campaign template, create a new template with your updated wording. If you try to edit one anyway, Fetchply tells you the template has already gone to WhatsApp for review.

For the order messages Fetchply writes for your store (such as cash-on-delivery confirmations), Replace wording works like this:

• Rejected or Paused: the new wording replaces the old one on the same message and goes back to WhatsApp for review.
• Approved: Fetchply keeps the approved message as it is, so the one your customers receive is never replaced by wording WhatsApp has not approved yet. To change it, delete the message in WhatsApp Manager and create it again — messages of this kind pause until the new wording is approved.
• In review: wait for WhatsApp's decision first.

Why does Fetchply say a title is already in use?

Titles must be unique per language once a template has gone to WhatsApp. If you already sent Spring Flash Sale in English, give the replacement a different title (for example Spring Flash Sale 2) so the approved version is left untouched. Drafts and failed submissions are not affected, and you can reuse their titles freely.

My template says Failed. What should I do?

Open the status badge to see what went wrong, fix the wording, image, or connection problem it mentions, then select Submit again. Resubmitting a failed template always starts a fresh attempt, however many times you have already tried. If it mentions your WhatsApp connection, reconnect WhatsApp in Integrations first.

My template has been Submitting for a long time.

Fetchply keeps checking with WhatsApp in the background and picks interrupted submissions back up on its own, so this normally resolves within a few minutes. It never submits the same template twice: if WhatsApp already received it, Fetchply simply starts following its review. If WhatsApp never received the submission, the template moves to Failed about ten minutes after it was sent, so you can submit it again.

It says WhatsApp is limiting how many templates this account can create.

WhatsApp limits how many templates one account can create per hour. Your template stays queued and Fetchply tries again automatically in about 15 minutes — you do not need to do anything.

It says my WhatsApp account has reached its template limit.

Each WhatsApp account can hold a limited number of templates (250 until your business is verified). Delete templates you no longer use in WhatsApp Manager, then submit again.

It says WhatsApp is now connected to a different business account.

The template was sent for review on the WhatsApp account that was connected at the time. Fetchply will not check or delete it through a different account. Reconnect the original account to keep following it, or submit the template again so it goes to the account connected now.

It says every name for this title is already taken.

WhatsApp needs a unique name per language, and Fetchply builds the name from your title. After a few attempts with numbered versions, Fetchply stops and asks you to change the title. This also happens when a template with that name was recently deleted: WhatsApp blocks reusing the name of a deleted approved template for 30 days.

My example image will not upload.

Only JPEG and PNG files up to 5 MB are accepted, and very large images are resized for you. If the upload fails, the composer shows the reason at the top of the panel and the header section stays marked as needing attention. Pick a different file and wait for Example image ready before submitting. Uploads are also limited to 20 per hour per agent; if you hit that, wait a little and try again.

How many templates can I submit at once?

You can have up to 5 templates awaiting review at the same time. Once Meta makes a decision on your pending templates, you can submit more.

What happens if I delete a template?

When deleting a template in Fetchply, you can check the box to also delete it from WhatsApp Manager. Deleting a template does not affect past campaigns that were already sent.

Templates used by automations and test sends

The Create WhatsApp Template window in an automation checks the same rules before anything goes to WhatsApp: variables cannot start or end the message or sit next to each other, the message cannot be mostly variables, link buttons must be fixed https:// links to a public website, and the language must be one WhatsApp supports. Add variable inserts the next variable where your cursor is. Choosing the Marketing category needs permission to manage WhatsApp campaigns; otherwise choose Utility.

In the automation's template list, only approved templates can be picked. Templates still in review, paused, rejected, or using a picture header, a dynamic button, or named variables are listed as unavailable with the reason.

Under Send an approved template in the WhatsApp integration, only approved utility templates with nothing to fill in can be sent. Marketing templates, one-time code templates, and templates that need values are shown but cannot be selected. If the same template exists in several languages, each language is listed and sent separately.

My new message in another language did not get a suggested wording.

Suggestions are written in the language you choose. When no suggestion can be made, Fetchply only offers its standard wording for English messages — WhatsApp does not translate, so English text would reach customers as-is. Write the wording yourself in that language, or try again in a moment.