WhatsApp order updates reach customers where they already chat — but only if the message is clear, useful and compliant. Below are twelve template patterns for ecommerce, with variables written as {{1}} you fill at send time. Adapt the wording to your brand, keep the category honest, and get them approved before sending.

Two details keep them approvable: none of them starts or ends with a variable, and links go in a URL button rather than at the end of the text.

Order lifecycle (utility)

  1. Order confirmation: Hi {{1}}, thanks for your order {{2}}! We've received it and will let you know when it ships.
  2. Payment received: Payment for order {{1}} is confirmed: {{2}} received. You're all set.
  3. Shipped: Good news {{1}} — order {{2}} has shipped. Tap the button below to track it. (URL button.)
  4. Out for delivery: Your order {{1}} is out for delivery and should arrive today between {{2}}. Reply here if you won't be in.
  5. Delivered: Delivered! Order {{1}} has arrived. Reply here if anything's not right.
  6. Delivery failed / reschedule: We tried to deliver order {{1}} but missed you. Reply with a better time and we'll try again.

Service and retention

  1. Pickup reminder: Reminder: your pickup for order {{1}} is on {{2}}. See you then! (Utility.)
  2. Refund processed: Your refund for order {{1}} ({{2}}) has been processed. It can take a few days to show. (Utility.)
  3. Review request: Hope you're enjoying {{1}}! A quick review helps us a lot — tap below. (Marketing — Meta doesn't treat general feedback requests as utility.)
  4. Back in stock: Good news — {{1}} is back in stock. Want us to hold one for you? (Marketing.)
  5. Abandoned cart: You left {{1}} in your cart. Still want it? Tap below to complete your order. (Marketing — needs opt-in.)
  6. Loyalty / reorder: Time for a refill, {{1}}? Reorder {{2}} in one tap below. (Marketing — needs opt-in.)

Two rules to keep them working

  • Category honestly. Order and payment updates are utility; promotions, restock alerts, reorder nudges and general review requests are marketing and need opt-in. A template submitted as utility that Meta finds promotional is approved as marketing — and charged as marketing.
  • Mind the window. These are business-initiated, so they go as templates when the 24-hour window is closed — which for notifications it usually is. From 1 October 2026, Meta charges utility templates even inside the window.

Sending them without the busywork

With walpio you submit these once, through the templates API or the dashboard (its editor builds text templates; add buttons through the API or in Meta's WhatsApp Manager). Then add a text rule for each one, so your store can keep sending its own wording. If the customer's window is open, the text goes out as written; if it's closed, walpio sends the matching approved template with the values filled in. Delivery is tracked, and opted-out customers are skipped automatically.

One limit to plan for: a text rule fills the variables in a template's body only. A button whose link changes per order — the tracking link in the “Shipped” template, say — cannot be filled from your wording. Give that button a fixed link (a tracking page that asks for the order number), or send that template by name with its button value in components.