Definition
A marketing template is a WhatsApp message template used for promotions, offers, announcements, re-engagement or any content that is not strictly transactional or an OTP. It is the most flexible category and is charged per delivered message.
Meta treats marketing as the default category: any template whose goal is awareness, consideration or sales, and any template that mixes promotional with transactional content, is marketing. Formats include media headers, coupon codes, limited-time offers, carousels of media cards and product messages.
Marketing templates are subject to per-user limits. WhatsApp may cap how many marketing templates a person receives from all businesses over a period, based on that person's recent read rate and inbox activity. Meta's documentation notes these limits are not active for the EEA, UK, Japan or South Korea, and that WhatsApp currently does not deliver marketing templates to US phone numbers.
Marketing templates need prior opt-in, and their quality rating drops when users block or report the business. In the GCC, local regulators also have rules on promotional messaging, such as consent and permitted sending hours, so confirm these during onboarding.
Delivery depends on engagement: relevant, well-timed, personalised offers read better and protect the account's quality. Sending the same blast to an entire database is the most common cause of paused templates.
Example
"Hi {{1}}, Eid offers are live: 20% off selected items until {{2}}. Reply STOP to opt out." with a Shop now URL button.