Termii — WhatsApp Messages Types
There is a sufficient amount of positive reasons to use WhatsApp Business – for you and your customers:
- Messaging allows you to react faster to customer requests and solve questions before they put them off the purchase, which ends up increasing your customer satisfaction and boosting your conversion rate.
- WhatsApp is the easiest, most convenient way for your customers to get in touch with you because it’s already part of their daily habits.
- Customer service has never been more convenient, efficient – and fun! Share text messages, emoji, images, and files of any kind with your customers.
The WhatsApp Business API allows both medium and large businesses to get in touch with their customers globally. Getting access to the API used to be complex, there are now many solution providers who make it easy for any business and budget.
In this post, you’ll learn the types of WhatsApp messages, the features they offer, and how you can get initiate a conversation with your users using WhatsApp
There are quite a few rules and guidelines — WhatsApp terms of use and commerce policy which you must pay attention to when using WhatsApp as your communication channel.
To understand this article better, let’s analyze what is called the Message Window for WhatsApp.
When an end-user responds to a message you the business has sent, thus opting-in temporarily to receive all message types, this process is described as the messaging window, and there are certain types of messages that you (the business) are allowed to send within and outside of the permitted messaging window.
Hence, when it comes to using WhatsApp for business communications on Termii, there are two types of these messages:
- WhatsApp Message Templates: Are formatted and non-editable messages approved by WhatsApp used in cases where you have to initiate conversations with your customers.
- WhatsApp Free-form Messages — Standard free-flowing messages which support all support or conversational types
The message type you choose will depend on if you are messaging customers within the messaging window. WhatsApp regulation mandates that you must stick to pre-approved message templates when messaging customers outside of this window. Depending on chat initiation and time frames, you will have to use these message types interchangeably.
WhatsApp message templates
Template messages are typically fee-based push messages sent over WhatsApp Business API and can be described as a conversation starter — it converts the initial message to a two-way conversation when the recipient replies.
A message template with a clear purpose, however, can start off a two-way conversation with your user. Once your user replies, a 24-hour window opens in which you’re allowed to send them free-form messages and engage with them in real-time.
WhatsApp message templates are pre-formatted messages that can be reused to message users. A good example is Transactional notifications.
All templates, however, must be approved by WhatsApp before use. To use a message template, you must first submit it to WhatsApp, who then will review and approve each message template, basically as their own way to maintain high-quality content and avoid spam.
Termii supports sending WhatsApp message templates, which only apply to high volume WhatsApp, and the users’ accounts must have been fully set up before requesting a template. Customers interested in sending notifications outside of the 24-hour window need to create their own templates for these messages, create or login to your Termii account and go to https://accounts.termii.com/#/devices to register a template(s)
Once WhatsApp has approved your template, you can use the message template to send notifications.
Template messages use placeholder values that can be replaced with dynamic content inside <% and %> when the message is sent:
Example of a message sent using this template:
Your <%product_name%> authentication code is <%code%>. It expires in <%time_in_minutes%> minutes.
To make sure that your templates are of high quality and align with the specification from WhatsApp;
- Send only relevant messages to only customers that have opted in
- Make sure your messages are concise and contain the required information.
WhatsApp notification categories
Your WhatsApp message templates must be within the following categories:
- Payment Update: Send notifications of a payment update for an existing transaction.
- Alert Update: Send useful information such as important updates or news to customers.
- Personal Finance Update: Send notifications about a personal financial activity such as payment reminders, payment receipts, transfer confirmations, or other transactions.
- Account Update: Notify the user of a change or an update to their account.
- Appointment Update: Timely notifications such as time changes, location changes, or cancellations about an existing appointment.
- Issue Resolution: Respond to questions, concerns, or feedback from customers about your business.
- Reservation Update: Send confirmations, reminders, or other updates to customers about their reservations.
- Shipping Update: Send shipping updates to customers about their existing orders.
- Ticket Update: Send information, updates, or reminders for an event for which a person already has a ticket.
- Transportation Update: Send transportation information or updates like flight status changes, arrivals, or departures to customers.
Note that templates that are not clearly positioned with these template types are likely to be rejected by WhatsApp in the template approval process. Once you submit a template, it cannot be edited or deleted through the Termii console. If you need to delete a template, please reach out to sales@termii.com.
Kindly consult our documentation to learn more about Device [WhatsApp] Template.
Free-form WhatsApp messages
Free-form messages are standard free-flowing messages which support various media types. Termii supports these messages which can only be sent as a response when a conversation is initiated by a customer.
Regular text messages or media messages (i.e. any non-messages templates) can only be delivered within the first 24 hours since the customer last contacted your business. Message templates do not have this restriction and can be used if you need to contact customers outside of this window. The various conversational elements to send over WhatsApp include texts, images, documents, contacts, location, audio, video, button, Interactive button reply, interactive list reply, and other media.
What’s next?
Meaningful relationships begin with real-time communication.
Unleash the power of WhatsApp and connect with your customers like never before! As an authorized WhatsApp Business Solutions Provider, Termii enables you to quickly and easily engage in rich conversations with your customers.
Ready to create your own WhatsApp messages? Head over to Termii | Developers to get started.
If you need further help, our support team is handy, or you can join our Developers Channel.
Cecilia Abegunde
