Setting Up Utility Templates

In this article

Utility templates are the most important templates you will set up in EasyBiz. They are pre-approved messages tied to something that has already happened in your business — a booking confirmed, a pickup completed, an invoice ready. Because they respond to real customer actions, WhatsApp trusts them completely and delivers them without restriction. For a laundry or repair business, a well-set-up library of Utility templates means your customers always know exactly what is happening with their order — without your staff sending a single message manually.

Contents

What is a Utility Template

A Utility Template is a WhatsApp message that EasyBiz sends to your customer in response to something that just happened in your business — a booking confirmed, a pickup completed, an invoice generated. Instead of your team typing the same update over and over, EasyBiz fills in the customer's details and sends the message automatically the moment the event happens.

Why use Utility templates instead of typing manual updates?
- No 24-hour window. Utility templates can reach the customer at any time, even weeks after their last message, because they are tied to a real event in your system.
- Sends itself. Once set up, every confirmation, receipt, and status update goes out automatically — your team does not need to remember.
- Approved once, reused forever. Meta reviews the template once. After that, every send is instant.
- Customers expect it. They are used to receiving order updates on WhatsApp from food delivery, e-commerce, and ride-hailing apps.

📝 Note: You write this message once and Meta approves it. After that, EasyBiz fills in the customer name, order number, dates, and amounts automatically every time it sends.

When to Use Utility Templates

Use Utility templates whenever you are sending a message in response to something the customer or your team has just done:

A new booking has just been made → send Order confirmation
Your driver could not reach the customer for pickup → send Pick up failed
The customer's items are clean and ready → send Ready for collection or Delivery complete
An invoice has been generated → send Order invoice
The customer has paid → send Order receipt
An order needs to be cancelled → send Order cancelled

💡 Tip: Takes about 10–15 minutes to set up your first template. You only do it once — after that it sends automatically every time.

📝 Note: Utility templates can be sent at any time, even if the customer has not messaged you in weeks. They are not subject to the 24-hour window because they are tied to a specific event in your system.

⚠️ Important: Write Utility templates in a factual, notification-style tone. The moment your message contains anything promotional. Even one line, Meta will reclassify it as Marketing after review.

How to Access Utility Templates

Click the ⚙️ Settings icon in the top-right corner.
Under the CRM section, click WhatsApp.

Click the Message Templates tab.
In the filter row above the table, click Utility.

Creating a Utility Template

Click the Utility tab then click + Add Template, a dialog titled "New WhatsApp Template" will appear.

Fill in the template details:

Template name — An internal label for your team (e.g. Order Confirmed, Collection Ready). Not shown to customers.
Auto-move deal to stage — Optional. Automatically moves the customer to a stage in your sales pipeline when this template is sent. Leave as None if you are not using Deals. [Learn more about Deals — Coming Soon]
Default reply status
- Replied — Marks the conversation as done and removes it from your Pending list.
- Pending — Keeps it in your Pending list so your team remembers to follow up.

Click a pre-built template card to select it. A blue border appears around the selected card. The Create button is greyed out until you have selected one. Click Create and the editor will open with the template pre-loaded and ready for you to customize.
Click Create to open the template editor

📝 Note: The pre-built template text is a starting point, it is fully editable. Once the editor opens, replace the sample wording with your own message. The structure (placeholders, buttons, layout) is what you are reusing, not the exact words.

Configuring the Template in the Editor

The editor shows a live preview on the left that updates as you type. Configure the template using the sections on the right:

📝 Note:

At the top right of the editor you will see three buttons

Discard -> reverts your draft back to the last published version of this template.
Send Test -> lets you preview how the message looks on a real device

For Utility and Marketing templates, Send Test only becomes available after Meta has approved the template. If you click it before approval, the account selector will be empty. Once approved, use Send Test to verify everything looks correct before sending to customers.

Submit -> submit your template to Meta for review

Header

Appears at the very top of the message. Options:

None — No header
Text — A short bold title (e.g. Your Order Is Confirmed!)
Image — A photo or banner
Document — A PDF attachment

📝 Note: When you select Image or Document as your header type, a "Samples for header content" section appears below the header fields. This is where you upload a sample image or PDF so WhatsApp can review your template with real content. Without a sample, your template may be rejected. Upload any relevant image or sample PDF — it does not have to be the final file.

Body

The main message your customer reads. Keep it short and factual.

To personalise the message, type @ in the Body field and a dropdown list of available placeholders will appear, Click any one to insert it into your message. EasyBiz fills these in automatically with real information when the message is sent. Some commonly used placeholders:

@Customer Name — e.g. Sarah
@Order Number — e.g. #00234
@Order Pickup Date — e.g. Wednesday, 9 April
@Order Pickup Time — e.g. 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
@Order Delivery Date — e.g. Friday, 11 April
@Order Delivery Time — e.g. 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
@Order Amount Due — e.g. SGD 45.00

These are just the most commonly used ones. The system has many more available — customer email, customer phone, store name, order date, order subtotal, and more. Type @ in the Body field to see the full list and pick exactly what you need.

💡 Tip: If you are not sure where to begin, start with Order confirmation, Pick up complete, and Ready for collection. These three cover the most important moments in a customer's order journey — and once set up, they alone will cut down the "Is my order ready?" messages your team gets every single day.

⚠️ Important: Your message cannot end with a placeholder. Always add at least one word or punctuation mark after the last placeholder. Do not use too many placeholders in one template, WhatsApp limits the number allowed.

Footer

A short closing line below the body. Use it for your business name or a brief note. Cannot contain placeholders.

Buttons

Buttons appear below the message as tappable links. Click + Add button and choose:

Quick reply -> A tappable reply button the customer can tap (e.g. "Yes, I'm interested", "Stop Promotion").
Visit website -> Opens a webpage. Choose Static (same URL for everyone) or Dynamic (URL changes per customer). For most businesses, Static is all you need.
Call phone number -> Dials a number you enter.
Open Mini App -> Opens a booking or order form inside WhatsApp. Select which Mini App to link. [Learn more about Mini Apps]

You can add up to 10 buttons. If you add more than 3, they automatically appear as a scrollable list. Drag and drop to reorder.

Submitting for Approval

When you are happy with your template, click Submit at the top right.

Select your WhatsApp Business Account and click Submit. Meta review usually takes a few minutes but can take up to 24 hours.

After submitting, you can return to the template list where the status will show as Pending. Once Meta approves it, the status will change to Approved and the template is ready to send to customers.

⚠️ Important: If your template does not appear in the Utility tab after approval, check the Marketing tab. Meta may have reclassified it based on your wording.

How to Send Your Utility Template

Once your template is approved, there are two ways to send it.

Send directly from the template list

Go to the Message Templates page and click the Utility tab
Find the template you want to send
Click the ⋮ three-dot menu on the right of that template row
Click Send message and a dialog will appear
If your template contains placeholders like @Customer Name or @Order Number, EasyBiz will ask you to confirm the details before sending. Templates with no placeholders will send immediately.
Click Send

Send from the inbox

Open your WhatsApp Inbox and select the customer
Below the typing area, click the Template icon (it looks like a message bubble 💬)
Select your approved Utility template
If your template contains placeholders like @Customer Name or @Order Number, EasyBiz will ask you to confirm the details before sending. Templates with no placeholders will send immediately.
Click Send

Keeping Your Templates in the Utility Category

If customers suddenly stop receiving your messages — don't panic. This is likely Error 131049, WhatsApp's way of flagging messages that too many recipients are ignoring. Utility templates are far less likely to trigger this block because they respond to real customer actions, not unsolicited outreach.

If you see Error 131049, stop using that template. Create a new one as Utility, follow these tips, and resubmit:

Tie every message to a specific customer action. "Your order #1234 is confirmed" is Utility. "Don't forget to book again!" is Marketing.
No promotional content anywhere — not even one line. Adding "Enjoy 10% off your next visit!" to a receipt moves the entire template to Marketing.
Be specific, not generic. Vague messages with no order details or context are automatically classed as Marketing.
Avoid open-ended questions. "Let us know if you need help" or "Any questions?" signal engagement intent to Meta's system.
Write like a system notification. Order number, status, date, amount. Just the facts.

⚠️ Important: You can only edit a submitted template once every 24 hours. If your template is rejected, you can edit it to match a previously approved version to keep it active.

What's Next?

Now that your utility templates are ready, continue to [Setting Up Marketing Templates] to create promotional messages you can send to opted-in customers.

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