Channels
WhatsApp: message templates and outbound messages
How the agent starts WhatsApp conversations with your customers, how message templates are approved, and the rules applied before anything is sent.
On this page
WhatsApp is where many customers in the region prefer to hear from a business, which makes it well suited to reminders, updates and follow-ups. To start a conversation on WhatsApp, a business must use a message template: a pre-written message that Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, has reviewed and approved. Telonic writes, submits and manages your templates with you, and the agent uses them to reach customers at the right moment, within the consent and contact rules you set. When the customer replies, the agent carries on the conversation with the full history in front of it.
When a template is needed
Meta's rules for the WhatsApp Business Platform (the service Meta provides for businesses to message customers at scale) separate conversations the customer starts from messages the business starts.
When a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside that window, the agent replies freely, in its own words, as it would on any channel. Outside the window, and whenever you contact a customer first, the message must be an approved template.
| Situation | What the agent sends | Template needed? |
|---|---|---|
| A customer messages you, and the agent replies within 24 hours | A normal reply, written for that conversation | No |
| The customer has not messaged in the last 24 hours, and the agent needs to follow up | An approved template, then a normal conversation once the customer replies | Yes |
| You contact a customer first, for a reminder, update or offer | An approved template | Yes |
| The customer replies to a template | A normal reply, because the reply opens a new 24-hour window | No |
The 24-hour window is Meta's rule and applies to every business on the WhatsApp Business Platform. The agent tracks each customer's window and chooses between a normal reply and a template automatically.
The three kinds of template
Meta sorts every template into one of three categories. The category decides what the template may contain, how Meta reviews it, and how Meta charges for it.
| Category | What it is for | Example in property | Example in travel | Example in insurance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utility | A message about something the customer already has or has asked for. It must not promote anything. | "Your next instalment for unit {{1}} is due on {{2}}." | "Your flight {{1}} now departs at {{2}}. Reply to see your options." | "We have received your claim {{1}}. We still need: {{2}}." |
| Marketing | Anything promotional, or any message that mixes promotion with information | "Viewings for {{1}} open this weekend." | "Add airport transfer to your stay at {{1}}." | "Your renewal is coming up. Reply to review your cover." |
| Authentication | A one-time passcode to confirm a customer's identity | Not usually needed | Not usually needed | Not usually needed |
The {{1}} and {{2}} markers are variables. The agent fills them from your systems when it sends the message, so each customer sees their own unit, flight or claim reference.
Meta checks that each template matches the category it was submitted under, and can move a utility template into the marketing category if its wording reads as promotional. Telonic writes templates to fit their category from the start, and tracks any change Meta makes.
How a template goes from draft to approved
- Draft. We write each template with your team, using your tone and the wording your compliance or legal team approves. Every template has a separate version for each language you use, usually Arabic and English.
- Design. Templates can include your logo or an image, buttons such as "Pay now" or "Speak to someone", and variables that are filled from your systems.
- Submit. Telonic submits the templates to Meta under your WhatsApp Business account (the account that holds your business's WhatsApp numbers and templates). Meta's business verification also affects how many customers you can contact first. See Business account and verification.
- Review. Meta reviews each template and marks it approved, rejected or pending. Review time is set by Meta and varies. Meta can also pause or disable an approved template if customers respond poorly to it.
- Use. Approved templates become available to the agent, linked to the situations you have chosen, such as an instalment falling due or a claim needing documents.
- Maintain. When your wording, your products or Meta's rules change, we revise and resubmit the affected templates.
What happens when the customer replies
A template opens the thread. The customer's reply opens a new 24-hour window, and from that point the agent continues as it would in any conversation: it understands the reply, looks up what it needs, and acts within your limits.
The template, the reply and everything that follows are written to the same customer record, alongside the customer's calls and emails. A customer who replies to an instalment reminder by asking about their handover date gets an answer about their unit, from your systems, in the same thread.
Outbound messages at scale
Templates are the basis of every outbound WhatsApp message the agent sends:
- Reminders and updates triggered by events in your systems, such as a payment milestone, a booking change or a claim moving to a new stage.
- Scheduled follow-ups, such as confirming an appointment the day before.
- Campaigns sent to a list of customers you choose, with each message personalised from your systems.
- Sequences across channels. If a customer does not respond on WhatsApp, the next step can be a call or an email, because every channel shares one record.
For each message, the agent records whether it was delivered and, where the customer's settings allow, read, so follow-up can respond to what actually happened.
The checks the agent makes before sending
Before any outbound message leaves, the agent checks:
| Check | What it means |
|---|---|
| Consent | The customer has agreed to receive messages from you, and that agreement is on record |
| Opt-out | The customer has not asked to stop receiving messages. Opt-outs are recorded against the customer and applied before any further message, on the channels and message types you define |
| Sending hours | The message falls within the hours you have set for outbound contact |
| Template status | The template is approved and in the right category for the message |
| Meta's limits | Meta limits how many customers a business can contact first in a rolling 24-hour period. The limit rises as the business sends more messages while keeping a good quality rating, and the agent paces sends to stay within it |
Meta monitors how customers respond to your messages. If many customers block or report a number, Meta can lower its quality rating (Meta's measure of how customers respond to your messages) and restrict its sending. Sending only to customers who have agreed to hear from you, with messages they will find useful, protects your number. See Opt-in, opt-out and consent.
What Meta charges for
Meta charges for template messages when they are delivered. The rate depends on the template's category and the country of the recipient's phone number. Replies within a customer service window, and utility templates sent while a window is open, are not charged by Meta.
Utility templates and service conversations are included in your messaging package. Meta's charges for marketing templates are passed through at cost. See How pricing works.
Where WhatsApp messages travel
Once a message reaches your Telonic deployment, all processing happens in the region you have chosen. Before that, Meta receives, processes and briefly stores WhatsApp messages on its own infrastructure, under its own terms, as it does for every business using WhatsApp. Telonic connects through Meta's Cloud API (Meta's hosted interface for sending and receiving WhatsApp messages), or through your existing business solution provider if you already have one. See Hosting and data residency.
In practice
A Dubai property developer uses the agent for instalment reminders on a completed tower.
- The developer's payment system shows that Aisha's next instalment for unit C-0807 falls due in seven days.
- The agent checks that Aisha agreed to WhatsApp updates when she bought, has not opted out, and that it is within the developer's sending hours of 9am to 8pm.
- It sends the approved utility template in Arabic, her preferred language: her unit, the amount and the due date, with buttons for "Pay now" and "Speak to someone".
- Aisha replies to ask whether she can pay the instalment in two parts. The agent checks the developer's payment policy, which does not allow split instalments for this plan, explains that, and offers to pass her request to the collections team.
- She accepts. The collections team receives the conversation and a brief, and Aisha receives confirmation that someone will call her the next working day.
- The template, her reply and the handover are all in her customer record, next to her earlier calls about the handover date.
What your team controls
- The wording of every template, in every language, and the events that trigger each one.
- Which customers receive campaigns, and when.
- The hours in which outbound messages may be sent.
- The follow-up steps when a customer does not reply.
- Approval of new or changed templates before they are submitted to Meta.
Related
- WhatsApp: overviewChannels
- WhatsApp: Business account and verificationChannels
- WhatsApp: opt-in, opt-out and consentChannels
- Contact rules for outbound messages and callsLegal and compliance
- Commitments and promise trackingCustomer record
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