What it means
Marketing templates are the WhatsApp messages your business sends to start a conversation that is not strictly transactional. Promotional offers, broadcast campaigns, win-back sequences, new-product announcements. Every marketing template must be pre-approved by Meta, which checks the wording for compliance with WhatsApp's commerce policy.
You pay a per-message rate set by Meta, which varies by country. Marketing templates are charged at the highest of the three template categories, ahead of Utility and Authentication.
Once a customer replies to your marketing template, the 24-hour conversation window opens and any further replies (within that window) are free.
Why it matters
Marketing templates are the engine behind broadcast campaigns. They also represent the bulk of spend for businesses doing serious WhatsApp marketing. Done well (segmented lists, sharp copy, the right cadence) they pay back many times over. Done badly (blast everyone, hope for the best) they burn money and trigger opt-outs.
Singapore's PDPA and equivalent regulations elsewhere mean every marketing template recipient must have explicitly opted in. Sending without consent risks both fines and account-level penalties from Meta.
Example
A gym sends a marketing template to 500 segmented contacts (members who have not visited in 60 days). The template offers a free guest pass for the weekend. Meta charges roughly SGD 30 for the send. 80 contacts reply, the conversation window opens for each, and the AI agent books 24 trial slots without a single extra paid message.