WhatsApp Templates on EatNow
When connecting your WhatsApp Business account to EatNow, a set of templates is automatically created and approved by Meta (usually within a few minutes). These templates are divided into two categories:Templates power the automatic, business-initiated messages (confirmations, reminders…). They require Meta approval, plus an approved display name and a payment method. Replies you or the AI agent send within the 24-hour window are free-form and don’t use templates. To create your own, see Add templates.
The 24-hour reply window
WhatsApp lets a business send free-form replies only for 24 hours after the customer’s last message. During that window, your team can type a normal answer from the EatNow inbox, and the AI agent can reply if it is enabled. Once those 24 hours have passed, WhatsApp closes the free-form conversation window. EatNow then disables the regular text input for that conversation: to contact the customer again, you must send an approved WhatsApp template instead. If your number is connected with WhatsApp Coexistence, your team can also reply directly from the WhatsApp Business app on the phone. That is often the best option for a human follow-up: the reply is sent from the native app, then synced back into EatNow as long as the coexistence connection is active. If coexistence is disconnected, reconnect WhatsApp from Settings → Integrations before relying on phone replies to appear in EatNow. When the customer replies again, a new 24-hour window opens automatically and free-form replies become available again.1. Default Templates
Default templates are provided directly by EatNow and cover the main interactions related to bookings, including:- Booking Request
- Confirmation
- Payment Link
- Modification
- No-show
- Rejection
- Cancellation
- Double Confirmation
- Follow-up
- Reminder
- Refund
- Payment Expired
2. Template Customization
To adapt the notifications sent to customers, you can add new custom templates. You can create as many as needed, but only the template marked as Active will be used for sending messages. Custom templates can include an image or video header, action buttons, or a carousel of cards — see Add templates. Once a template is created, it can only be modified once every 24 hours. This ensures stability in communication with customers while offering flexibility for adaptation.Special template types
A few template families work a little differently from the standard booking notifications:- Missed-call templates — sent automatically when a customer calls and you miss it (see Missed Calls). There are two: a generic one, and one for callers who already have a reservation. Both include a button to book.
- Activity templates — the same notifications, but for your activities/experiences instead of table bookings.
- Marketing templates — for promotional campaigns, and a bit special: they use a different set of variables (
restaurant_slug,customer_id, …), can’t use EatNow smart-action buttons (plain website links only), respect each customer’s marketing opt-out, and Meta bills them as Marketing conversations.
Approval Process
All templates (including those automatically created by EatNow) are subject to Meta’s approval. This process is generally very fast and takes a few minutes. Once approved, a template can be used immediately to notify your customers.Managing Templates on EatNow
- Default templates are automatically created and cannot be deleted.
- You can add new templates from the EatNow interface.
- Each new template must be validated by Meta before being usable.