Submit WhatsApp Message Templates for Approval

A WhatsApp message template is a message that is approved in advance to be sent to customers outside of the “Customer Service Window” (messages can only be sent out to end users within this window; within 24 hours of latest inbound message). These templates have strict guidelines and policies and each one is reviewed by WhatsApp for adherence.

Your content must comply with the WhatsApp Message Template Guidelines.


1.  Check that you have at least one “WhatsApp Outbound Messages” SKU in your Org. This is a message pack of 1,000 messages that is consumed with the use of WhatsApp message templates. For more information or to acquire the SKU, please contact your Salesforce Account Team.


2.  Send an email to whatsappenablement@salesforce.com with the subject "WhatsApp Template Update" to get started. The WhatsApp Enablement Team will create a tracker document that will allow you to accurately submit your template content and collaborate on future templates and template revisions.

• Please provide the Org ID of the Salesforce org that has an active WhatsApp Outbound Messages SKU.
• As this will be an ongoing process, this tracker document will be hosted in an online spreadsheet collaboration service of your choice, although by default we use Quip. Quip allows you to sign up for a free account. If you have another preference, please let the team know and we can use it if you are able to share edit access outside of your organization.

3.  Enter your templates into the template tracker. Each translation of each template will have its own row, so if you have a particular template that should be available for use in multiple languages, please create two consecutive rows for that template and indicate the proper language in each row. The following fields must be filled out for each template:

• Status: This field will help you convey how you’d like us to act upon each template and will help us convey the various possible outcomes. The statuses are:
  • New - New template being built, not ready to submit for approval yet.
  • Ready to Submit - Please use this status when you have finished a template and it’s ready for review.
  • Resubmit - When you’ve edited the content of your template, please mark this status to let us know to resubmit for review.
  • Delete - Please use this status when you’d like us to delete a template.
  • Waiting for WhatsApp Approval - We’ll use this status to let you know we’ve submitted your template and are awaiting WhatsApp’s decision.
  • Needs Review - We’ll use this status to request that some aspect of your template be revisited.
  • Rejected by WhatsApp - If WhatsApp rejects your template, we’ll set this status and provide whatever detail is provided by WhatsApp.
  • Updated - Live - This status indicates the template has been approved and is ready for use.
  • Updated - Deleted - This status indicates the template has been deleted as requested.

• Template Name: WhatsApp requires that each template has a unique name so that it can be quickly identified and used. There are some strict naming conventions:
  • The name cannot have spaces. Please use underscores “_” instead for clarity.
  • The name must be in all lowercase.
  • No special characters or punctuation.

• Template Category: Each template must be accurately categorized so that WhatsApp knows the context in which they should consider them for approval. The details of each template type can be found here.

• Template Language: The dropdown list includes all available languages. Each template can include translations for multiple languages. Please note that WhatsApp does not translate your messages for you; you must provide the message content for any languages you select.

• Template Content: This is the actual message you want to send to your customers. Fill in the template, including parameter placeholders, as required. Make sure it contains no newlines, tabs, or more than four consecutive spaces.
  • WhatsApp requires specific formatting for parameter placeholders (merge fields or variables). You will need to label them with ascending, consecutive number IDs like “{{1}}”, “{{2}}”, etc. WhatsApp does not need the specific Salesforce field IDs for merge fields, just these generic IDs.

4.  When you’ve reviewed your templates for accuracy and are ready for the WhatsApp Enablement Team to submit them for approval, please respond to the original email thread for the request to let a team member know to process your updates. After all updates are complete, your Enablement Request will be closed. Please open a new request for any future updates, changes, or additions by following step 2 above; please include a link to your tracker document in the email so the same tracker can be used again.

To learn more, see Send Template-Based Automated Messages in WhatsApp.