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03. Start a customer service with a WhatsApp Message Template
6 min
Created by Karine Moreira on 3/7/2024 5:18 PM
Updated by Leonora Alves on 8/6/2024 10:37 AM

Message templates in Zenvia Customer Cloud are used to initiate or reestablish a conversation in the Customer Inbox. 

These templates, created by you, undergo content validation by Meta, ensuring their effectiveness. Once approved, they can be used to initiate conversations with your contact base.

💡 Tip: Learn how to register WhatsApp message templates.

Remember, when you send a message template, you consume an InteractionZ. With this, you have unlimited message exchanges with that contact for 24 hours.

⚠️ Attention: This feature is available only for the Professional plan and users with the profiles of Agent, Operator and Admin. Additionally, the WhatsApp channel needs to be configured and active on your account.

Starting a new interaction

To begin an interaction with a contact, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Sales > Customer Inbox > You;
  2. Select the desired contact or search in the Contact Base. If it's your first interaction, access the contact manager and click on the Start service icon to open the chat with the contact;
  3. Click on the Template icon template.png;
  4. Choose a Template to start the conversation and then press Enter or click to send the message to the contact.

⚠️ Attention: Currently, it is not possible to send messages with headers and footers.

When a contact responds, you will see both the message from that contact and a replica of what you sent previously, providing a more comprehensive context.

Done! Message sent.

Reestablishing a contact

Whenever the session expires, use a message template to reestablish contact:

  1. Select the desired contact in the Customer Inbox > You;
  2. Click on the Template icon template.png in the contact's chat;
  3. Choose a template to start a conversation and then click  to send the message to the contact.

💡 Tip: To quickly locate message templates, go to the contact's chat and use the "/" bar followed by the keyword of the desired template.

Done! Message sent.

How to send multimedia templates

Multimedia templates (image, video, document, and/or button), like regular templates, should only be used to recontact clients when the 24-hour WhatsApp session has expired. If the session is still open (within the 24 hours) and a template is sent, the message will be delivered as a regular text message, not as a template.

To use a multimedia template:

  1. Choose a multimedia message template to send in the chat;
  2. Fill in the variable field with the public URL of the chosen media;
    ⚠️ Attention: If the URL is not public or not attached, an error message will be displayed.
  3. Configure the buttons (if applicable):
    1. Choose from the following options: URL, Phone, Quick Reply, MPM, Coupon (Copy Code), or Unsubscribe;
    2. URL, Phone, Quick Reply, and Unsubscribe buttons will be available if they already have the button name and destination or text filled in during the template creation;
    3. Buttons created with a variable to be filled in at the time of sending are not available in commercial service. The variable for this type of button appears in the format {button}, indicating that there is a button in the variable. For the copy code button, include the code in the variable field.
  4. Click to send the message.

Done! Multimedia message sent successfully.

WhatsApp Templates with Variables for Support

WhatsApp templates are pre-formatted messages that include variables to automatically personalize the content during support interactions. These variables are specific to messages sent during support and do not apply to other types of communication.

Format of the Variables

The variables are inserted in the template using {} brackets and, for support, can be represented as:

{1} or {body_1} Contact name
{2} or {body_2} Agent name
{3} or {body_3} Group name
{} Empty variable: any other information


Message example: Hello {1}. I am agent {2} from Company {3}. We received your message at {} and will get back to you as soon as possible.

Therefore, during the support interaction, the contact, agent, and group names are automatically filled in the corresponding variables:

  • {1} or {body_1} will be replaced by the contact's name.
  • {2} or {body_2} will be replaced by the agent's name.
  • {3} or {body_3} will be replaced by the group's name.
  • {} can be filled with any other information, such as the time the message was received.