Catch WhatsApp Template Mistakes Before You Submit

The Create WhatsApp Template builder now checks your personalisation variables while you type. A broken or badly placed variable is flagged straight away and the template cannot be saved until it is fixed, so you no longer submit a template and wait days to find out WhatsApp rejected it for a reason you then have to work out for yourself.

What exactly does it check?

It checks where your variables sit and whether they are written correctly, in both the header and the body. These are the two mistakes WhatsApp rejects templates for most often.

• Variables at the very start or end: WhatsApp rejects a message body that begins or ends with a variable. The builder flags this and blocks the save until there is text around it.
• Badly formed variables: only numbered placeholders such as {{1}} and {{2}} are valid. Broken tokens like {{1$}}, and unbalanced or extra braces such as {{1 or {{1}}}, are caught immediately with guidance on the correct format.
• The review request preset: the default reputation template used to end in a trailing variable, which breaks the first rule above. It has been corrected, so new review request templates pass validation without any manual editing.

Do I need to turn this on?

No. The validation is built into the Create WhatsApp Template builder and applies to every template you write. Build your template as you normally would and anything invalid is flagged inline before you can save it.

Why does this matter for my business?

A template rejected by WhatsApp after you have already saved and submitted it is wasted effort. The rejection gives you little to work with, so you guess at what WhatsApp objected to and try again. Catching the mistake while you write turns a slow, unclear rejection into an immediate fix, and your templates go live sooner.

You will find the builder under Settings > WhatsApp > Templates.