WhatsApp Message Templates in Workday
WhatsApp works as a communication channel in Workday Messaging, supporting two-way conversational messaging, such as Candidate Conversational Messaging for WhatsApp. WhatsApp message templates have unique requirements because WhatsApp must review and approve them before you can send them. You can use Message Builder to create WhatsApp templates and submit them for approval. When WhatsApp approves them, Workday publishes them, making them available to send.
WhatsApp Message Template Classifications
WhatsApp classifies templates into distinct categories that influence pricing and potential geographic restrictions. Workday Message iBuilder uses these template classifications:
- Utility templates: For writing messages that contain timely, non-promotional information to employees, candidates, or students as a response to activities performed by them in Workday.
- Marketing templates: For writing messages to build relationships, drive engagement, and share broader information with employees, candidates, or students. Unavailable to recipients with US area codes.
WhatsApp reserves the ability to automatically reclassify message templates.
Template Approval Workflow and Statuses
You need an
Approved
status before you can use templates to initiate conversations. WhatsApp reviews each language template for a WhatsApp template individually and renders a decision on each. The approval process takes up to 24 hours, but language templates often receive a status in minutes. You can view the status update of language templates in Message Builder.Message Builder Language Template Statuses
Message Builder tracks the template review status of each language template by using specific terms that relate to the WhatsApp process:
Status | Description |
|---|---|
Unsubmitted
| The template isn’t yet submitted to WhatsApp for review and remains unpublished in Draft state. When you add a new language to a template and save it, its initial state is Unsubmitted . You can modify, save, publish, or delete Unsubmitted language templates. |
In Review
| The template remains in Draft state and you cannot edit it while WhatsApp reviews it for approval or rejection. |
Approved
| The template is published and you can use it to initiate conversations. |
Rejected
| WhatsApp has reviewed and rejected the template status. It remains in a Draft state until you edit the content, resubmit the template, or delete and recreate it. |
Disabled
| WhatsApp disables an active, published template due to negative feedback. It remains inactive until you edit and resubmit it, or delete and recreate it. |
Error
| An error returns the template to Draft state. You must resolve the technical issue and resubmit the template. |
Submission Requirements
When you submit a template that contains report fields, Workday prompts you to include sample variable values, such as a text string, for each report field. By providing sample data, you help WhatsApp visualize the appearance of your template to customers.
Content and Formatting Guidelines
You can increase the likelihood of language template approval by following specific content and formatting rules.
Category | Guideline | Description and Consequences of Violation |
|---|---|---|
Report field placement | Don't:
| Incorrectly formatted templates can result in rejections by WhatsApp. |
Content and policy | You must comply with WhatsApp’s Commerce Policy and Business Policy. Never request sensitive identifiers, such as full payment card numbers or national identification numbers. You can request partial identifiers. Example: The last 4 digits of a Social Security number. Avoid potentially abusive or threatening content. | Failure to comply with WhatsApp’s Commerce Policy and Business Policy results in WhatsApp rejecting the template. |
Duplication | WhatsApp rejects a duplicate template when you submit content with the same wording in the body as an existing approved template. | WhatsApp rejects the duplicate template. |
Limits | You can enter up to 450 characters, including up to 10 emojis.
The 450 character limit accounts for inserted report fields. | Workday provides validations as you enter characters.
Exceeding the 450 character limit results in WhatsApp rejecting the template. |
Template Management in Message Builder
Workday categorizes Message Builder templates in to these overall states:
- Draft
- Published
- Changes Unpublished
It determines the state according to whether the user has:
- Selected to publish languages in the template.
- Made draft changes that have yet to be published and submitted for approval.
In Message Builder, the overall
Draft
state of a Message Builder template means that no languages have been published and sent for approval to WhatsApp.The overall
Published
state of a Message Builder template means that all languages have been sent for approval to WhatsApp and there are no draft changes pending. When you submit a template to WhatsApp by publishing it in Message Builder, the relevant language template status transitions to In Review
, pending WhatsApp approval. The overall status of the template changes to Published
.The overall
Changes Unpublished
state of a Message Builder template means existing languages have already been published and modifications to 1 or more language templates have been created but have not yet been published and submitted for review. A Changes Unpublished
state indicates a mix of both languages that have been published and languages in Draft
state.
Editing WhatsApp Templates
Editing WhatsApp Templates
When performing edits, you can’t directly modify a template language currently in
Approved
or In Review
status. To change content while a template has these statuses, you must first delete the language from the draft section of Message Builder and subsequently recreate a new unsubmitted version of the language template.You can edit template languages that display a status of
Unsubmitted
, Rejected
, Error
, or Disabled
. When you edit and save content in a template with one of these statuses, its status resets to Unsubmitted
.If a template that isn’t a base language template has an
Approved
status, but the required base language is not Approved
, Workday displays an alert, prompting you to address the base language issue. We recommend that you change the base language to one that is approved. Enabling Conversational Messaging for Recruitment Candidates in WhatsApp Templates
Depending on your administrative role, you can configure two-way conversational messaging using WhatsApp templates.
Workday Messaging administrators can configure Workday messaging for these channels:
- Candidate Conversational Messaging for SMS.
- Candidate Conversational Messaging for WhatsApp.
Security administrators can configure access to Message Builder templates.
See Steps: Set Up Message Builder. They can also configure security for candidate recruiting in WhatsApp mesaging. See Create Segment-Based Security Groups for Recruiting Candidates in WhatsApp Messaging.
Recruiters need:
- Access to My Conversations.
- View permissions on theMessage Builderdomain.
- Access to segmented security for recruiting candidates in WhatsApp messaging.