In this section, you’ll become familiar with the two types of messages available on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Depending on how you’d like to interact with customers, businesses can communicate in two key ways:

• WhatsApp Templates – Pre-approved templates from Facebook that cannot be modified once approved.
• Free-form Messages – Text or media messages that can be customised freely within specific guidelines.

WhatsApp Templates

WhatsApp templates are pre-approved messages used by businesses to initiate customer conversations (Business Initiated—BI). These templates help reduce spam by ensuring adherence to WhatsApp’s guidelines. Businesses must submit these templates for approval, and only certain parts can be personalised once approved.

When sending template messages, you only need to provide the template name and any necessary parameters for personalisation.

Template Message Specifications

Templates can include the following:

• Header (optional): Can contain text (up to 60 characters), an image, document, video, or location.
• Body (mandatory): Plain text with placeholders, up to 1024 characters.
• Footer (optional): Text only, up to 60 characters.
• Buttons (optional): You can include quick reply or Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons. Only one button type can be used per template.

There are two types of buttons:

• Quick Replies: Up to 3 buttons with predefined text (up to 20 characters).
• CTA Buttons: Call a phone number or direct users to a static or dynamic website.

Free-form Messages

Free-form messages are regular messages that don’t require pre-approval from Facebook. These messages can only be sent within a 24-hour window after the customer’s last message (often called the "24-hour window"). Once the customer sends a new message, the window resets for another 24 hours.

Types of Free-form Messages

• Text Messages: Can contain up to 4096 characters, with support for formatting (Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Code).
• Media Messages: Supported media includes images, documents, audio, video, and location.
• Interactive Buttons: These work similarly to quick replies in templates, allowing users to choose predefined responses.
• Interactive Lists: Businesses can send messages with up to 10 options for customers, such as appointment times.

Differentiating WhatsApp Messages from SMS

While WhatsApp and SMS might seem similar at first glance, they offer distinctly different experiences in terms of functionality and engagement. Here’s how they differ:

1. Message Types

• WhatsApp Templates: Require pre-approval and can include interactive elements like buttons, media, and location data.
• SMS Templates: Typically just text, with limited character counts (160 characters per message). No support for interactive elements or rich media.

2. Interactivity

• WhatsApp: Offers rich interactivity through quick replies, buttons, and lists. You can send multimedia messages and track read receipts.
• SMS: Limited to text and basic multimedia (via MMS), mostly used as a one-way communication tool.

3. Global Reach and Cost

• WhatsApp: Allows businesses to reach customers globally at relatively lower costs, especially considering the multimedia features it supports.
• SMS: Can reach almost any mobile phone, but costs can be higher, particularly for international numbers, and character limits apply.

4. User Experience

• WhatsApp: Provides a richer, more interactive experience with multimedia capabilities and buttons, enabling seamless interaction.
• SMS: Simple and to the point, but lacks the engagement tools available with WhatsApp.

By understanding the unique strengths of both WhatsApp and SMS, businesses can choose the right communication tool based on their goals, audience, and message complexity.