WhatsApp rejected your template. Here's how to get it approved.
Check the category first. Promotional content submitted as Utility gets rejected more often than anything else. After that, look at your variables: one at the very start or end of the body, two placed next to each other, or missing sample values will all fail review. Fix, then resubmit rather than appealing.
Template review is mostly mechanical, which is good news. The same handful of mistakes cause most rejections, and once you know them the approval rate goes up sharply.
Work down this list before you resubmit, because a second rejection takes longer to recover from than getting it right once.
Fix these before you resubmit
Match the category to what the message actually does
Marketing, Utility and Authentication are priced differently, so there's a temptation to file a promotional message as Utility. Review catches this reliably.
If the message offers, promotes, invites or upsells, it's Marketing. Utility is for something the customer already initiated: an order, a booking, an account event.
Move variables away from the edges
A body that starts or ends with a placeholder usually fails. So does two placeholders sitting next to each other with nothing between them.
Wrap them in real words. “Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} has shipped” reads as a message; “{{1}} {{2}}” reads as a form.
Fill in realistic sample values
Reviewers use your samples to judge the message. Leaving them blank, or filling them with test or xxx, invites rejection.
Use a plausible name, a plausible order number, a plausible date.
Clean up the formatting
Double spaces, stray line breaks, emoji used as bullet points and inconsistent capitalisation all read as low quality.
Spelling and grammar count too. Review is partly a quality judgement.
Check your links and your buttons
URL shorteners get treated with suspicion. Use a domain that clearly belongs to you.
Button text should describe the action rather than repeat the offer.
Avoid restricted content entirely
Financial promises, health claims, anything gambling-adjacent and anything that could read as adult content will be refused regardless of how it's written.
If your industry sits near a restricted category, keep templates factual and transactional.
Rejection reasons, and what actually fixes them
| Why it got rejected | The fix |
|---|---|
| Promotional message filed as Utility | Resubmit under Marketing. The price difference isn't worth the ban risk |
| Variable at the start or end of the body | Add real words around it |
| Two variables side by side | Put text between them |
| Sample values missing or obviously fake | Use plausible examples a human would recognise |
| Formatting or spelling problems | Read it aloud once before submitting |
| Shortened or mismatched URL | Link to a domain that visibly belongs to you |
| Content in a restricted category | Rewrite factually, or accept that this message can't be a template |
Raise your approval rate
Keep a library of approved templates and clone them. A structure that passed once will usually pass again.
Submit a day before you need it. Approval is quick when it's quick and slow when it isn't, and you can't tell which in advance.
Write for a reader, not for the reviewer. Templates that sound like a person talking pass more often than templates stuffed with placeholders.
Rejections aren't always explained clearly, and two similar templates can get different outcomes. That's frustrating and it isn't something a platform can override.
Appeals exist but they're slow. Rewriting and resubmitting is almost always faster than arguing, unless you're confident the rejection was wrong.
Repeated rejections can affect your standing, so treat the third attempt as a signal to rethink the message rather than to try again with a synonym.
Track template status where you build the campaign
Amplifeed shows template state next to the campaign that uses it, so a pending or rejected template stops being something you discover four hours after you scheduled a send.
See how templates are managedRelated questions
How long does template approval take?
Often minutes, sometimes hours. Volume and category both affect it, and nobody can speed it up, so submit ahead of time.
Can I edit a rejected template or must I start again?
Edit and resubmit. Keep the structure that works and change only the part that caused the rejection.
Why was my template approved before and rejected now?
Templates get re-reviewed, and category guidance tightens over time. A template that passed last quarter isn't guaranteed to pass this one.
Does a rejected template affect my account?
One rejection is routine. A pattern of rejections, particularly around category or restricted content, can affect your standing.