How to manage WhatsApp templates

In order for a business to initiate a conversation over WhatsApp, Meta wants you to use Template messages. Meta doesn't allow sending free format messages "out of the blue". So first a Template message must be defined and reviewed by Meta before we can send an outbound message.

There are three ways to do this:

1. Create the template using 360Dialog

2. Create the template using the Meta Business Admin Portal

3. Create the template using our Create Template API

A template message comprises of a text (the template) which may look like: "{{1}} has responded to your message with: {{2}}.". Where {{1}} and {{2}} can be the parameters that can be merged at sending by any value you provide. In this case the parameter {{1}} could be "Niels" and the parameter {{2}} could be "Nice to hear from you!". So the final message would look like "Niels responded to your message with: Nice to hear from you!".

WhatsApp identifies three types of templates:

• Utility

• Marketing

• Authentication

To learn more about the differences between these templates, see the WhatsApp Template Guidelines.