What are the template categories?
Meta uses three. Marketing covers offers, launches and follow-ups meant to sell. Utility covers updates about something the customer already did, such as an order, booking or payment. Authentication covers one-time passwords. Meta checks the category you choose and can change it, and the category decides what each message costs.
What can a template contain?
A template can have a header with text, an image, a video or a document, a body with variables such as the customer's name or a date, a short footer, and buttons for quick replies, links or calls. You must give an example value for every variable when you submit it for review.
Meta doesn't translate templates. You choose a language when you create one, and you can create the same template in several languages, such as English and Hindi.
How do you write a template that gets approved?
Say who you are, why you're writing and what the customer can do next. Match the category to the purpose, use variables only for details that change, avoid fake urgency, and give an easy way to opt out of marketing messages. Templates that read like spam get rejected or earn low quality scores.
Our free library of WhatsApp follow-up templates has ready-to-edit examples for first replies, follow-ups, reminders and reviews.
How does Rainmaqer AI handle this?
Rainmaqer AI's template manager lets you create templates and submit them to Meta. Sid replies freely inside the 24-hour window and switches to your approved templates for follow-ups after it, stopping the moment a lead says no.
Need examples? Copy our free WhatsApp follow-up templates.
Rainmaqer AI is ₹1,999/month billed yearly or ₹2,999/month billed quarterly, plus GST. See pricing.
Sources
Checked on 25 Oct 2026. Meta updates these pages often, so check them for the latest detail.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a template to reply to a customer?
Not within 24 hours of the customer's last message. In that window you can send normal messages. You need a template to start a conversation, or to write again after the window has closed.
Can I write templates in Hindi or Hinglish?
Yes. You pick a language when you create the template and write it the way your customers write. Meta doesn't translate it, so create one version per language you need.
How many templates can I have?
Meta's docs say each Messaging account in an unverified business portfolio can have 250 templates. In a verified portfolio with at least one approved display name, the limit is 6,000.
Where can I find examples?
Our free WhatsApp follow-up template library has examples for first replies, follow-ups after quotes and visits, reminders, payments and reviews, with variables marked.