WhatsApp Templates

WhatsApp does not let you send free-form messages to learners. Every message has to use a template that Meta has approved in advance. This article covers writing one, getting it approved, and what to do when it is rejected.

Where templates live

Marketing → Promotional Templates, then choose Whatsapp Templates from the channel dropdown. This is where campaign and workflow templates live.
Settings → System Notifications, then Edit Template → WhatsApp on a notification row. This is where the template for a specific system notification lives.

Both open the same editor.

Create a template

Click Add Template and fill in the Body section:

Field	Required	Notes
Template Name	Yes	Lowercase letters, numbers and underscores only. No spaces, no capitals, no other characters
Template Body	Yes	The message text
WhatsApp Integration	Yes	Which connected WhatsApp account this template belongs to
Message Type	No	Text, Image, or File. Image and File add a header above the message
Upload image / file	No	Only for Image or File. Images as .jpg or .png, files as .pdf. "Max file size supported is 1MB"

[!Important] The template name rule is strict and the error is easy to miss: "Template name can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores (no spaces or special characters)". Use session_reminder_v2, not Session Reminder 2.

Placeholders

Below the body you will see clickable placeholder chips, such as learner name or course name. Click one to copy it, then paste it into your message. They use double curly braces, for example:

Hi {{learner_name}}, your class for {{course_name}} starts in 1 hour.

Keep the number of placeholders small and put them mid-sentence rather than at the very start. Meta reviews templates partly on how they read with sample values filled in, and a message that opens with a variable tends to read like spam.

Call to action buttons

In the Target Link section, add up to 3 CTA buttons. Each needs:

A CTA Title, the text on the button.
A URL, including the protocol. The help text spells it out: "Enter the URL including the protocol (e.g. https://www.example.com or https://www.example.com/{{placeholder}})".

Use Add New CTA to add another and Remove to take one away.

The right-hand panel shows a live preview of how the message will look in WhatsApp, including the header media and buttons.

Click Save and Continue to submit. You will see "Template created successfully".

Templates are always submitted in English. There is no language selector.

Approval

Saving submits the template to Meta through AiSensy. Approval usually takes minutes but can take longer. Edmingle checks for the result automatically, so you do not need to do anything but wait and refresh.

The Status column on the WhatsApp Templates list shows where it is:

Status	Meaning
Pending	Submitted and waiting on Meta's review
approved	Approved. The template can be used
rejected	Meta refused it. Hover the icon to see the reason they gave
Not Available	The template never reached the provider. Hovering says: "The template could not be synced. Please resubmit the template again to sync it."

[!Important] Rejected and Not Available templates will not deliver. Campaigns refuse to send on a rejected template, and a system notification using one is skipped silently. Always check the status before relying on a template.

If a template is rejected

Hover the icon next to rejected to read Meta's reason. Common causes are promotional wording in a template submitted as a utility message, a URL that does not resolve, placeholders at the very start or end of the body, and anything that reads like a bulk advertisement.

Fix the problem and submit a new template:

You cannot edit a WhatsApp template. The editor says so directly: "Editing is not supported for WhatsApp templates. Please create a new template instead." Create a replacement with a new name, wait for approval, then point your notification, campaign, or workflow at the new one.

Template checklist

Before you submit:

Name is lowercase with underscores only.
Body reads naturally with real values substituted for the placeholders.
Every CTA URL includes https:// and actually loads.
Any header image or PDF is under 1MB.
The right WhatsApp integration is selected, promotional for campaigns, transactional for system notifications.

What's next

With an approved template in place, continue to Sending WhatsApp Messages.