WhatsApp Business API basics

Templates aren’t optional

You can’t send free-form WhatsApp messages to customers outside an active conversation. Every business-initiated message has to be a template that Meta has approved.

OrderPing uses templates for every stage — COD confirmation, shipped, delivered, etc. Each one has to be approved separately.

Template categories

Meta sorts templates into three categories. OrderPing uses exactly one:

• Utility — order updates, confirmations, shipping notifications. This is what OrderPing uses.
• Authentication — one-time passwords. Not applicable here.
• Marketing — promotions. Don’t use this category — OrderPing is transactional only and marketing templates get higher scrutiny and higher per-message costs.

How long does approval take?

Usually minutes. Sometimes up to 24 hours. First-time submissions tend to take longer while Meta reviews your business more carefully.

What gets templates rejected

• Promotional language in a Utility template (“Buy now!”, “Limited offer!”).
• Vague purpose — templates that don’t describe a specific transactional event.
• Missing context — placeholders like {{1}} with no example value in the submission form.
• Broken variable structure — out-of-order placeholders (e.g. {{2}} before {{1}}), or using the same variable twice.
• Open URL buttons with obviously marketing destinations.