WhatsApp Message Templates

The rule that shapes every WhatsApp automation is the 24-hour window. When a customer messages a business, a window opens during which the business can reply with any free-form text, image or interactive message. Each new customer message resets the clock. Once 24 hours pass without a customer message, the business can only reach that person with an approved template. This is how WhatsApp keeps the channel free of spam and why cold outreach on WhatsApp is not possible without prior opt-in.

Templates come in three categories. Utility templates relate to an existing transaction or relationship: order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment reminders, cash-on-delivery confirmation requests. Marketing templates promote offers, new products or re-engagement. Authentication templates carry one-time passcodes. Meta reviews each template before use, assigns or corrects the category, and prices conversations differently by category and country; marketing conversations cost more than utility ones. Templates can include variables, buttons and media, but the text must stay within the approved structure.

For an AI agent, templates are the door-opener and the free-form window is where the agent works. A typical flow for a Salla or Zid merchant: a utility template asks the customer to confirm a cash-on-delivery order; the customer replies; the window opens; the AI agent now answers questions, changes the address or upsells within the conversation. Nano AI builds and submits the templates as part of setup, writes them in the dialect and register of the client's customers, and monitors quality ratings because a template flagged as spam lowers the account's messaging limit.