Customize and send WhatsApp message templates

After you connect a WhatsApp Business account as a channel in the conversations inbox, you can personalize and send WhatsApp message templates to WhatsApp users who engage with your brand.

Any templates you create in your WhatsApp Business account will be synced with your HubSpot account, where you can customize them to be used in a workflow or in a closed message thread in the conversations inbox. You must get verifiable opt-in consent to send a message via a contact-based workflow. Learn more about how to collect opt-in consent for your WhatsApp conversations.

Please note: HubSpot does not currently support syncing message templates that use a location header, flow button types or, include multiple button types (e.g., a call to action and a quick reply in the same template). 

Create message templates in your WhatsApp Business account

A WhatsApp template is a pre-defined message that you must first create in your WhatsApp Business account. You can then customize and use the template in HubSpot to connect with your audience once they've opted in to receive WhatsApp messages from your business. Learn more about to create WhatsApp message templates by logging into your Facebook account and check out this article in Meta's Business Help Center.

As you design your template, you can insert variables that you can later personalize in your HubSpot account. Some template sections, such as a header, can also be customized to include external media from your HubSpot files once the template syncs with your HubSpot account. All templates must be submitted for approval by WhatsApp before they can be sent to a contact.

Insert template variables and configure external media

As you edit your template in your WhatsApp Business account, you can insert variables and specify any external media included in your template, which you can later customize in your HubSpot account:

• Template variables: while editing the body of your template, you can click Add variable below the text input box to insert a variable. This variable will appear as a numerical placeholder value (e.g., 1), until it's later replaced with dynamic content from your HubSpot account. After you publish your template and it syncs with your HubSpot account, you can customize the dynamic content of the variable using contact or company personalization tokens.

• External media: in certain sections of your template, such as the header or footer, you can select the type of media that will be included in the section, which you can later select directly from your HubSpot files after your template is approved and synced with your HubSpot account.

Message template types and approval

WhatsApp message templates must be classified as one of the following categories:

• Promotional: send offers, product announcements, or other advertisements to increase awareness and engagement of your business's products or services.
• Transactional: send account updates, order updates, alerts, or other important information based on an action that the contact took.
• One-time passwords: send codes that allow your customers to securely access their account.

If your message template does not fall into one of the above categories, it's likely to be rejected by WhatsApp's moderation team and cannot be used in HubSpot. If your template includes a section with external media, it's also highly recommended that you add sample content to help WhatsApp's approval team understand what kind of message you plan to send.

Personalize and manage message templates in HubSpot

After you create your message template in WhatsApp, you can review and personalize your synced message templates directly in HubSpot.

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Library > Templates.
• Click the WhatsApp tab.
• In the upper left, click the dropdown menus to filter your templates:
  • Status: filter by the status of the template:
    
    • Ready to use: the template has been approved by WhatsApp and any personalization options have been specified.
    • Needs personalization: certain fields in the message template must be mapped to corresponding personalization tokens.
    • Rejected: the template has been rejected by the WhatsApp moderation team. You can edit the template in your WhatsApp Business account and resubmit it for approval, or you can appeal the decision.
  • Language: filter by the language of the template.
  • Category: filter by the type of template (e.g., promotional or transactional).
  • Account: if you connected multiple WhatsApp Business accounts, you can filter templates by a specific account.

Please note: WhatsApp sample templates (e.g., sample_purchase_feedback, sample_issue_resolution, sample_shipping_confirmation, etc.) are automatically generated by WhatsApp and will not sync to HubSpot. HubSpot will only sync templates that you or another user in your account created in your WhatsApp Business account.

• To manage or make direct edits to your WhatsApp templates, you can click Manage in the top right to navigate to your WhatsApp Business account.

If you added variables to your template, add or edit the personalization for each variable:

• Hover over the template, then click Personalize.
• Customize the content you've included in your message template: 
  • To customize any template variables, you can click Personalize under the variable to map it to a personalization token. Each variable will appear in the order that you inserted them in your WhatsApp Business account. For example, the first template variable that appears as 1 in the body of your message template will be listed as Variable 1 in HubSpot.

• • If you plan to include media in your template (e.g., an image in the header), you can insert the corresponding media type from your HubSpot files, or you can also upload a new document, image, or video.
  • If your template includes a Call to action button that prompts a user to visit your website, and you opted for a dynamic website URL, you can customize the final segment of the URL after the trailing backslash by entering a plain text value.
• When you're finishing making changes to your template, click Save.

Once you've finished customized your template's variables, external media, and links, the template's status will switch to Ready to use. You can then use the template in the conversations inbox or to re-engage with a contact in a workflow after the initial 24 hour session has closed.

Send a WhatsApp message template in a workflow

After you've created and customized your template, you can send it to contacts who opt in using the workflows tool. To learn more about collecting and managing consent for WhatsApp conversations, check out this article.

To configure a contact-based workflow that sends a WhatsApp message:

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Automations > Workflows.
• In the top right, click Create workflow, then select From scratch.
• In the left panel, select Contact-based.
• In the top right, click Next.
• Click the + plus icon.
• In the right panel, under External communication, select Send WhatsApp Message.

• Click the Send from WhatsApp phone number dropdown menu and select a phone number.
• Click the Message template dropdown menu and select a template.

• Click the Template language dropdown menu and select a language.
• Click Save.