Message Templates

A template is a pre-configured message that can be easily sent by the User from the messaging interface. These are pre-configured by administrators on the manage templates page under the Natterbox Settings page.

A list of use cases for templates are as follows:

• Welcome Messages

• Closing off a ticket or case

• Post conversation messages - surveys etc.

• General information on a product or topic

Template Types

The type of template changes what a User can do with the template before it’s sent. If this is on the WhatsApp channel it defines if you can send this outside the session period or not.

*Requires active chat session

Flexible Templates

The flexible template type allows Users to fully edit any part of the template before it is sent, this will not edit the template itself for future use just for that message you are sending. Users can also edit any placeholders and keep the rest of the template the same.

Flexible templates have a limit of 5 placeholders and a maximum character limit of 1024 characters.

Structured Templates

The structured template type only allows Users to edit the placeholders with the rest of the message structure remaining the same.

Structured templates have the same limits as flexible templates in that they can have a maximum of 5 placeholders and a character limit of 1024.

Template Placeholders

A template placeholder is a value that can be edited by the User before sending the template. To add a placeholder you must provide a name for the placeholder which will show in the message content as well as the default value should the User not enter a value before sending.

The name of the placeholder has a maximum character limit of 64 as well as the value field has a maximum character limit of 64.

You can have a maximum of 5 placeholders on a template.

WhatsApp Templates

Natterbox Templates align with Meta’s WhatsApp templates, when a structured template is created for the WhatsApp channel type this is sent off to WhatsApp for approval (see below for more information on the approval process).

An approved structured WhatsApp template can be sent outside the 24h session period imposed by Meta however a flexible template for WhatsApp can only be sent within the 24h session period.

More information can be found on WhatsApp templates on Metas official documentation here.

WhatsApp Template Approval Process

Natterbox Templates also support the Meta approval process for WhatsApp templates.

⚠️ Note: A WhatsApp structured template that is not in an approved status cannot be sent, this must be approved and the template status set as active for a User to be able to send the template.

WhatsApp template categories

When creating a template that is of the structured template type as well as enabled for the WhatsApp channel you must select a WhatsApp template category. This is Meta’s way of defining the purpose of a template as well as this has different rules and guidelines depending on the chosen category. Meta currently offers 3 category of templates these are Marketing, Utility, and Authentication. Natterbox currently supports the Marketing and Utility categories only.

Marketing Templates

Marketing Templates cannot be sent to US phone numbers

As of April 1st, 2025 Meta are temporarily pausing all delivery of marketing template messages to US phone numbers. This pause is in effect regardless of the number you are sending from and is imposed directly on all marketing templates sent to US numbers. A US number is defined as a number composed of a +1 dialling code and a US area code.

Example content

• Awareness

• Sales

• Retargeting

• App Promotion

• Build customer relationships

Utility Templates

Example content

• Opt-In management on WhatsApp

• Order management

• Account alerts or Updates

• Feedback surveys

• Continue a conversation on WhatsApp

Creating a Template

Templates are stored within folders as a way to organise them but also as a tool to categorise the templates for your organisation.

Template folders

To create a Template Folder navigate to the Manage Templates page under Natterbox Settings and press the button labelled new folder.

You can enter in the name for the folder as well as a short description explaining what sort of templates will be found within this folder.

Once you are happy with the folder details you can press the Add button in the bottom right corner to create your new template folder.

Templates

To create a template press the New Template button.

Template creation is split into 3 sections. Setup, Details, and Content.

Setup

This controls the type of template as well as the channels the template will be available for.

The status of the template. If this is inactive then the template will not show for your Users - this is useful for if you want to configure a template in a draft state for user at a later time.

The types available are Structured and Flexible. More information can be found above in this article.

Channel availability controls which channels this template will be available for. For example, if you only select SMS then this template cannot be used on a Chat or WhatsApp conversation.

An additional category is required when creating a structured WhatsApp Template. More information on this can be found above.

Details

The details section covers information about the template itself, such as the name, what it’s purpose is, and which folder this belongs to.

In this section you can control the following:

• Name: The name of your Template.

• Description: A description around the purpose of this template, only administrators can see this.

• Folder Location: The folder in which the template will be organised into.

• Language: The language of the template.

• Tags: Short tags to aid the User in searching for this template.

Content

The final section covers the actual content of the template - this is the message that will be sent.

You can enter in the template content within the text field, as well as you can add emojis and placeholders.

To add a placeholder press the add placeholder button and then provide a name for the placeholder.

Once you have entered the name, press Insert which will then add the placeholder to your template content.

Now that you have a placeholder added you will see a new section below where you can manage the default values for your placeholders or remove them.

Once you are happy with your template you can press the save changes button at the top to create your template.