How to Create Effective WhatsApp Message Templates

1. Header

Serving as the first impression, the introduction allows you to convey the key details, grab the recipient’s attention, and set the stage for the rest of your message. You can create headers in one of these three formats:

• Text: You can keep it within 60 characters and not over two lines
• Media: Wanna feature an image, document, video, or sticker to grab attention? Use this!
• Location: Share your location details with customers upfront using this header type.

Example: A restaurant might use a dynamic location header that displays their exact location to a customer who has just made a reservation, hence making it easy for them to find the restaurant.

2. Body

As the meat of your message, the Body contains the full details of your WhatsApp Message.

While it is usually best to keep the body short and to the point, adding a pinch of professionalism and conciseness alongside visual breaks, i.e., paragraph breaks, can make your body text more digestible and enticing for readers.

3. Footer

Your footer will round off the content in a fitting manner and prompt users to act. They may include catchy closing lines to induce a sense of urgency.

However, even a catchy footer may become ineffective if it fails to reflect and inject the essence of the whole message.

4. Buttons

Honestly, buttons have got to be the best part of a WhatsApp message template.

These nifty little buttons nudge your recipients to act and perform specific tasks when tapped. You can have a mix of up to 10 button components in total, and they can be either individual or a combination.

Although you can add more than three buttons to your template, only two will be visible in the delivered messages. On the other hand, additional buttons will be hidden under 'See All Options'. The other options will be revealed when your recipients tap on 'See All Options'.

Here are the different button types available for use on WhatsApp Business API:

1. Phone Number: Allows people to tap and trigger a call to the number included directly.
2. URL Button: Routes recipients to a specific webpage; it could be anything from a product page to a virtual shopping cart.
3. Quick Reply: Helps you collect swift responses from potential or existing customers.
4. Copy Code: Enables your recipients to copy a specific coupon or code instantly, prompting them to use it.
5. Flow Buttons: Let WhatsApp Flows guide your contacts based on their answers to pre-defined forms.

P.S.: You can even share Limited-Period offers with your customers.

If you own a clothing brand, you can use a 'Limited-Offer' button in their footer to inform your contacts about an ongoing sale and give them a sense of FOMO.

WhatsApp Business Message Templates indeed have a bag full of tricks to enhance customer experience, streamline conversations, and speed up sales cycles.

1. Marketing WhatsApp Message Templates

Marketing templates provide businesses with the largest degree of flexibility. They are employed to achieve various objectives, such as driving sales or generating awareness about your business, products, or services.

• Objective: Generate awareness, boost brand visibility, increase sales, share limited-time promotions, and even retarget unresponsive contacts.
• Categories: New product launch updates, abandoned cart recovery, targeted promotional offers, and drip marketing sequences on WhatsApp for retargeting.

Note: Templates with mixed content (both utility and marketing) or unclear contents fall will be marked as Marketing.

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2. Utility WhatsApp Message Templates

Utility templates are designed to follow up on user actions or requests, as these messages are typically triggered by something the user has done.

Whether it's confirming an opt-in, managing an order or delivery, sending account alerts, or launching feedback surveys, utility templates contain specific information about an active transaction, account, or interaction.

• Objective: Manage orders, product alerts, and opt-in updates, collect feedback, and continue conversations on WhatsApp that were either initiated on different platforms or started using WhatsApp Links or QR codes.
• Categories: Shipping or order confirmation and updates, time-sensitive account alerts, collecting feedback about past orders/services, follow-up customer service or sales queries on WhatsApp.

Note: Utility templates do not aim to upsell or cross-sell new products or services.

3. Authentication WhatsApp Message Templates

Primarily used for OTPs, authentication templates verify a user with one-time passcodes at various stages in the login process.

Regarded as the most restricted template type on WhatsApp, they comprise a code and preset text, an explicit security disclaimer, a clear expiration warning, and buttons (auto-fill, copy code, or one tap).

• Objective: Double-check a user's identity using a one-time password in multiple stages throughout the login process.
• Categories: Account verification, account recovery, password reset, integrity issues, and more.

Note: For a template to be considered authentication, it must use WhatsApp’s preset authentication message templates, configure a one-time password button, and abide by content restrictions, such as the prohibition of URLs, media, and emojis within the template content or parameters.