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Every outbound message on WhatsApp goes out on an approved template. There are no exceptions — Meta (the company behind WhatsApp) requires that businesses use templates for any message sent to a contact who hasn’t messaged them in the last 24 hours. TextYess gives you two ways to send:

Send Message

A traditional, fixed-body template. The structure is approved once by Meta; variables fill in customer-specific details at send time. Best when the wording is the same for everyone.

Send Dynamic Message (AI)

Uses a pre-approved dynamic template; the body is generated at runtime by AI from a prompt. Best when you want each customer to receive personalised copy without managing dozens of templates.

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Template anatomy

A WhatsApp template has up to four parts. You configure each one in the editor; Meta approves the structure (not the values).
The WhatsApp template editor showing header, body, footer, and buttons
1

Header (optional)

A short title, an image, video, or a document. Headers can include up to one variable (e.g. Order #{{1}}).
2

Body (required)

Your message text. May contain variables ({{1}}, {{2}}, …). Maximum 1024 characters.
3

Footer (optional)

A short greyed-out line under the body (e.g. “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”). No variables.
4

Buttons (optional)

Up to three quick-reply or call-to-action buttons. Quick replies turn the Send Message step into a waiting step automatically.

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Categories

Every template carries a category that determines (a) how Meta reviews it and (b) how strictly TextYess rate-limits it.
When you create a new Send Message step, the category defaults to UTILITY. Change it to MARKETING only when the message is promotional — getting this wrong inflates your marketing send count or has Meta reject the template.
See Frequency cap for the exact rules.

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Variables

Every text field in a template (header, body, button label) can contain variables. The editor exposes a variable picker; you don’t need to remember dot-paths. If a referenced variable is missing at send time, the template falls back to an empty string for that position rather than failing the send. This means a template that references {{1}} = order.gift_message will still send when the order has no gift message — that variable will simply render empty.

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Quick-reply buttons

Quick-reply buttons turn a Send Message into an interactive checkpoint. The contact taps a button and the flow branches.
When you add buttons to a Send Message:
  • Each button label becomes an output handle on the canvas.
  • An implicit timeout branch appears so you can decide what happens if the contact doesn’t reply.
  • The Wait for Reply step (see Steps) is not needed (and not allowed) after a Send Message with buttons — the wait is built in.
A button’s buttonId (lowercase, hyphen-separated label) is written to memory[stepId].reply.buttonId. Use it in expressions if you need to distinguish between buttons that look similar to a human (“Yes please” / “Yes, but later”).
Configuring quick-reply buttons on a Send Message step

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Call-to-action buttons

Two other button types are static — they don’t wait for a reply, they just give the contact something to tap. Copy-code buttons are how you ship a unique discount code per send:
When you choose Reserve from a discount campaign in the Send Message editor, TextYess picks a fresh code from your campaign every time the step runs. The code is also available in memory as <stepId>.discount if you want to reference it in later steps (e.g. logging it to your CRM).
A copy-code button being configured with a reserved discount campaign

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Media headers

Send Message and Send Dynamic Message both support a media header — an image, video, or document.
JPG or PNG. Max 5 MB. Hosted by TextYess once you upload it, or a public URL you provide.
The URL can be a variable too — for example, a per-order PDF receipt link from your store.

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Send Dynamic Message (AI)

The AI variant generates the message body at runtime instead of using a fixed template body. You write a prompt describing what the AI should say; TextYess feeds it the customer’s context (trigger memory, profile, conversation history) and generates the body. When to use it:
  • You want the wording to vary per customer (style, language, references to past purchases) without managing dozens of templates.
  • You want the AI to incorporate live data — order totals, viewed products, the customer’s name — into natural-sounding copy.
  • You want the assistant’s voice to stay consistent with the rest of the customer’s conversation.
When to use a static Send Message instead:
  • Legal / regulated copy that must be word-for-word identical.
  • Highest-volume marketing sends — fixed templates are cheaper and faster.

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Configuring the prompt

A good prompt is concrete about goal, tone, and required content. The AI receives the contact’s name, the trigger data, and (optionally) recent messages as context.

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Custom rules

Custom rules let you constrain the AI without rewriting the whole prompt. Use them for compliance (“never claim a product is in stock”), tone (“never use the word amazing”), or formatting (“always end with the contact’s first name”).

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Memory written

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Best practices

One purpose per template

Don’t try to make a single template do confirmation, cross-sell, and review-request. Split them; the analytics and frequency cap both reason about templates individually.

Default to UTILITY

If you’re not running a marketing campaign, your message is UTILITY. The default in the editor is correct — leave it.

Use the variable picker

Hand-typing order.customer.firstName is how typos and missing values sneak in. Use the picker; it shows what’s actually available for your trigger.

Include a Stop button on marketing

Toggle the Stop button option on marketing sends. Contacts who tap it are auto-tagged and removed from future marketing — keeping your unsubscribe rate low (and Meta happy).
Next: Frequency cap — the rules that keep marketing messages from over-sending.