WhatsApp does not let a business message someone out of the blue in free text. Any message you start — a reminder, an appointment notice, an order update — must use wording Meta has reviewed and approved in advance. That approved wording is a template.
A template is fixed text with named placeholders you fill in at send time:
Hi {{name}}, your {{service_type}} appointment is on {{appointment_time}}.
Reply CONFIRM to keep it. Reply HELP if you need assistance.Categories
Meta files every template under a category, and the category decides how reliably it is delivered.
- UTILITY — a factual notice that follows from something the recipient did or booked. Delivers everywhere.
- MARKETING — anything promotional. Meta has blocked marketing templates to United States (+1) numbers since April 2025, and each recipient also has a worldwide cap across all businesses.
Every template in MsgOrb is created as UTILITY. The category field on the form is fixed and read-only for that reason.
Meta assigns the final category itself, based on how the message reads. Wording that celebrates, invites or promotes gets reclassified to MARKETING even when you submit it as UTILITY — and Meta has reclassified recurring event reminders this way too. UTILITY holds best when the message refers to something specific the recipient did: a booking, an order, an account event.
When you need one
| Situation | Template needed? |
|---|---|
| You start the conversation | Yes |
| Scheduled or repeating workflow send | Yes |
| Notification from your own system via webhook | Yes |
| Reply within 24 hours of the contact messaging you | No |
| Smart Auto-Reply answering an inbound message | No |
See The 24-hour window.