Most template rejections come from a handful of causes, and all of them are avoidable. Here is what Meta checks and how to pass first time.
Pick the right category
This is the single biggest cause of rejection.
- Marketing for anything promotional, or whose purpose is to bring someone back: offers, launches, cart recovery, re-engagement.
- Utility for a message about a transaction or request the customer already made: order confirmations, shipping updates, receipts, appointment reminders.
- Authentication for one-time passcodes only.
Marketing costs more than Utility, so the temptation is to submit a promotion as Utility. Reviewers check whether a real transaction exists. It gets rejected, and repeated attempts affect your account standing.
The test: would this message make sense if the customer had never bought anything? If yes, it is Marketing.
Formatting rules Meta enforces
- Never start or end with a variable. A template beginning with
{{1}}is rejected, because a reviewer cannot tell what it will actually say. - Never put two variables side by side.
{{1}} {{2}}with nothing between them reads as a blank. - Number variables in order with no gaps.
{{1}},{{2}},{{3}}. - Give realistic sample values. Submitting "xxxx" or "test" gives the reviewer nothing to judge. Use a real-looking name, order number and amount.
- No variables in the footer. Footers are static.
- Avoid shouting. Excessive capitals, repeated punctuation and emoji standing in for words all read as spam.
Content Meta will not approve
Alcohol, tobacco, weapons, adult content, gambling in most jurisdictions, unapproved medical or health claims, get-rich-quick offers, and anything implying an endorsement by WhatsApp or Meta.
Also rejected: messages a reviewer cannot map to a real business purpose. If the template does not obviously belong to something your business does, expect a rejection.
Write it so it passes and so it works
Approval is the low bar. Not being reported is the one that protects your number.
Identify yourself in the first line. Most people read the notification preview and decide from it.
One purpose per template. A message doing three jobs gets ignored for all three.
Add buttons. Quick replies and call-to-action buttons improve response rates, and a quick reply opens a 24-hour window in which you can talk normally without paying for another template.
Include an opt-out in the footer for anything Marketing. It costs a few recipients and protects your quality rating.
Two templates that pass
Order update (Utility): Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has been dispatched and should arrive by {{3}}. Buttons: Track order, Contact us. Real transaction, variables surrounded by text, unambiguous purpose.
Cart recovery (Marketing): Hi {{1}}, you left {{2}} in your cart. It is still available if you would like to complete your order. Button: Complete order. Correctly declared as Marketing, which is why it passes.
If it is rejected
Read the reason Meta gives, fix the specific cause, and resubmit. Rejections are not penalties and do not harm your account by themselves.
What does cause problems is submitting the same rejected content repeatedly, particularly promotional content as Utility. If a category rejection happens twice, the answer is to change the category rather than the wording.
More examples in the templates guide and template examples.