WhatsApp template approval: the three categories, the five reasons templates are rejected, and how to write one that passes

What a template is for

Inside a customer's 24-hour window you can send anything, free-form. Outside it — a reminder two days later, a quote sent the next morning, a campaign — you can send only a template: a message whose wording Meta approved in advance, with numbered variables for the parts that change. Every template has a category, and the category sets the price: in India a marketing template costs ₹0.8631 per delivered message, a utility or authentication template ₹0.115. Meta checks the category against the text, and reclassifies or rejects when they disagree.

The three categories

The five rejections, and the fix for each

1. Category mismatch. A utility template with a promotional line — "your order has shipped, and here is 10% off your next one" — is reclassified as marketing or rejected. Fix: remove the line. The offer is a second, marketing template to people who consented.
2. Variables Meta cannot read. A variable at the very start or end of the text, two variables side by side, or a submission with no sample values. Fix: put words around every variable and give each a realistic sample — Meta's reviewer reads the samples, not the placeholders.
3. URL shorteners. bit.ly and friends are treated as hiding the destination. Fix: your own domain, in full; a variable may carry the path.
4. Wording that reads as spam. All capitals, a wall of emojis, "URGENT", "click now", or a template that asks for a password or a payment outside WhatsApp's own rail. Fix: write it the way you would say it.
5. Policy content. Categories Meta does not allow on the Platform — some financial products, gambling, alcohol in some markets, adult content. Fix: there is none; the business is not eligible for that message.

Writing one that passes first time

• Decide what the message is *about* — the customer's transaction, or your promotion — and choose the category from that. Do not choose from the price.
• One purpose per template. A confirmation confirms; a reminder reminds; an offer offers.
• Name what the variables are — {{1}} customer name, {{2}} date — and fill the samples with real-looking values.
• A marketing template ends with a way to stop: "Reply STOP to stop hearing from us." Meta does not require it; your quality rating does.
• Keep the body under a few lines. A template that needs a paragraph is a conversation, which belongs inside the window.

After approval

Meta keeps watching. A template whose recipients block or report it is paused — first for three hours, then six, then disabled — and a template that Meta later decides is mis-categorised is moved and priced at the new category from then on. A paused template is a message people did not want; the fix is the audience, not the wording.