WhatsApp anti-blocking (Part 4): Template quality monitoring

In the WhatsApp anti-ban content shared last week, we introduced practical tips for reducing the number of reports or complaints about your account - adding an unsubscribe button to the message template and creating a high-quality unsubscribe experience.

Message templates are used to initiate conversations with customers. However, unlike other types of messages, message templates allow you to send messages to customers who have not yet initiated a conversation with you, or to send messages again to customers who have not sent you a message in an existing conversation within the last 24 hours.

According to WhatsApp's official policy, message templates created by merchants must be approved before they can be sent to customers.
Additionally, based on customer feedback, the system can automatically disable templates and only send them to customers after the message template quality score improves or no longer violates WhatsApp Business policies.

Therefore, in addition to adding an unsubscribe button to the message template, creating high-quality message templates and monitoring the quality of the templates are also aspects that must be considered to avoid having your WhatsApp account blocked.

Below we will introduce you in detail the precautions when creating and using message templates to help you understand how to monitor the quality of templates.

1. Template creation

You can create message templates manually using WhatsApp Manager and submit them for review. Alternatively, you can create message templates programmatically using WhatsApp Business - Message Templates.
After entering WhatsApp Manager - Overview , select the account whose templates you want to manage, click "Create Template", fill in the form, then click Add Example to add the example values to the template, and finally click Submit to submit the message template for review.

2. Review process

The message template review takes up to 24 hours. Once the review is completed, a notification will be displayed in the WhatsApp management tool, and the system will also send an email to your business platform administrator. In addition, if you have subscribed to the message template status change service, the system will also send a webhooks notification.
If the message template is approved, its status will be set to Active – Quality pending , and you can start sending it to your customers. If the message template is not approved, you can edit the template and resubmit it for review, or you can appeal the decision.

2.1 Samples

WhatsApp strongly recommends including examples before submitting your template for review. Using examples, you can provide examples of media assets and text values for all media or text variables that your template requires. This makes it easier for the system to visually understand how the template will appear to customers.

Additionally, if your submission is not reviewed and the decision is made to appeal, you will be asked to include examples in your appeal, so it is a good idea to include examples in your initial submission.

To include examples in your submission, create a template, add any variables you need, and then click the Add Examples button. The preview pane will display any media asset examples or text value examples you provided.

2.2 Common reasons for failure to pass the audit

Common reasons why submissions fail review are as follows, so make sure you avoid these mistakes when creating your message templates.

· The variable parameter is missing or the used curly braces do not match. The correct format is {{1}}.
Variable parameters contain special characters such as #, $, or %.
Variable parameters are not continuous. For example, {{1}}, {{2}}, {{4}}, {{5}} are defined, but there is no {{3}}.

The message template contains content that violates WhatsApp's business policy:
When you sell goods or services, WhatsApp will consider all messages or media related to such goods or services (including any descriptions, prices, fees, taxes and/or any legally required disclosures) as part of the transaction, and all transactions must comply with the WhatsApp Business Policy.

The message template contains content that violates WhatsApp Business policy:
Do not request sensitive identifying information from users. For example, do not ask someone to share their full payment card number, financial account number, ID number, or other sensitive identifying information.
Also, do not request files from users that may contain sensitive identifying information.
· Partial identifying information may be requested (for example, the last 4 digits of a Social Security number).

The content is abusive or threatening, such as threatening customers with legal action or threatening to publicly humiliate customers.
·The message template is a duplicate of an existing template ·If the wording in the body and footer of the submitted template is the same as the relevant content of the existing template, the duplicate template will not pass the review.
You can check your account content quality notifications to see if there is content in your existing templates that has the same name and language as the duplicate template that failed review. You can also choose to edit the template and resubmit it. Please note that this check does not apply to one-time password templates.

Attention! If the quality of the message template becomes low, it will be suspended. When modifying or creating a new template, you should try to avoid highly similar content. If you have received a template warning and continue to create a template with similar content, it will be regarded as not making rectifications and violating official policies, which will result in the account being banned.

3. Message template status

A template has the following states.
Under review: This means the template is still under review. The review may take up to 24 hours.
Failed Review: The template failed the review process. Please refer to Appeal.
· Enabled – Quality pending: Quality feedback has not yet been received from customers on the message template.
· Enabled – High Quality: The template has received little or no negative feedback from customers.
· Enabled – Medium Quality: The template has received negative feedback from multiple customers and may soon become Paused or Disabled.
· Enabled – Low Quality: The template has received multiple negative customer feedback. You can send message templates in this state to customers, but this template is in danger of being suspended or disabled soon, so it is recommended that you resolve customer reports as soon as possible.
Suspended: The template has been suspended due to negative customer feedback.
Disabled: The template has been disabled due to negative customer feedback or violation of one or more policies. You cannot send message templates with this status to customers, but you can edit disabled message templates and request an appeal.
Request for appeal : Indicates that an appeal has been requested.

4. Monitoring Status Changes

The status of a template can change automatically based on a review decision, appeal outcome, or quality rating change. Since only message templates with an enabled status can be sent to customers, WhatsApp recommends that you subscribe to the message_template_status_update webhook field to be notified of any template status changes.

5. Quality Rating

Each message template is rated for quality based on usage and customer feedback.
When a message template's status is Enabled, its rating will be displayed in WhatsApp Admin Tools and will be shown after a hyphen in the message template's status:
Enabled – Quality pending (highlighted in green)
Enable – High Quality (highlighted in green)
Enabled – Medium quality (highlighted in yellow)
Enabled – Low Quality (highlighted in red)

Approved message templates are initially rated as Quality Pending. If negative feedback continues to be received for a specific message template, the status of this template will eventually change.
As long as the status of a message template is Enabled, you can send it to customers regardless of the quality score.
However, after the status of a message template is changed to any other status, you cannot send this template to customers unless the status is changed back to Active.

6. Template Pause

If a message template is in the lowest quality rating (status is Enabled – Low Quality), the template is automatically paused for a period of time to protect the quality ratings of phone numbers using the template.
The suspension durations are: 3-hour suspension; 6-hour suspension and disabled.

The suspension will not initially affect the company phone number used to send message templates, nor will it result in a reduction in the phone number's messaging limit. Other high-quality message templates can continue to be sent using this phone number.
However, if the company continues to send message templates with low-quality status, this phone number may eventually be affected.

6.1 Cancellation of suspension

After the above pause duration is reached, the template will unpause itself. If any automated messaging campaigns that depend on the paused template are not paused, they should start working again. However, it is recommended to pause all campaigns that depend on the paused template before unpausing it, as the API will always reject your request.
The quality rating of a template is also reset to a specific value based on recent feedback received from customers about the template.

7. Complaints

If your submission is not approved, you can file an appeal. Please note that you must include an example when you appeal. If an approved template becomes disabled, you can also edit the template and resubmit it for review. WhatsApp will review the appeal and make a decision within 24 hours.

The above are the things you need to pay special attention to when using message templates. When using WhatsApp for marketing, please closely monitor the status of your message templates and be familiar with relevant policies to avoid your message templates being disabled or your account being banned, which will affect your business development.
Next we will introduce you to the relevant content of number status monitoring, please stay tuned!