Getting WhatsApp templates approved the first time

Every message you send outside a 24-hour customer service window has to use a template Meta has approved. Most first submissions come back rejected, and almost always for the same handful of reasons.

The commonest is a template that reads like an advertisement in a category marked as a utility. Pick the category that matches what the message actually does: a delivery update is a utility, a discount offer is marketing. Getting that wrong is an instant rejection.

The second is variables doing too much work. A template that is almost entirely {{1}} {{2}} {{3}} gives the reviewer nothing to assess, and it gets refused. Write real sentences and let variables carry names, dates and order numbers only.

Third is formatting: no double spaces, no trailing whitespace, no variable sitting at the very start or very end of the message. These are mechanical checks and they fail silently unless you look for them.

Submit a small batch first rather than twenty at once. If something is wrong with your phrasing you find out on three templates instead of getting the whole set knocked back.