If you have an eCommerce business and use WhatsApp to communicate with your customers, having message templates ready for different steps of your customer’s journey is highly recommended. If you want to build customer loyalty by offering discounts to your current customers, you will need a message template that communicates that. For customers that cancel their order, you could use message templates to learn about their reasons for cancellation and offer tailored solutions to save the sale. If your customers abandon their cart, you may want to remind them to complete their purchase. There are many other reasons for an eCommerce business owner to have ready-to-go WhatsApp message templates. In this article, we talk about some of them and give you sample templates.

You could copy these templates for your business or make changes based on your business needs. At the end of this article, you can download them as a CSV file. Although these templates have been approved by WhatsApp, you still need to submit them to WhatsApp for approval before you can use them on your account, so it’s a good idea to set these up as soon as possible. In our article, The Complete Guide to WhatsApp Message Templates for Your Business, we talk about how to create and submit a WhatsApp message template with Rasayel. 

A successful message template that gets approved by WhatsApp satisfies the following criteria. These are not strict rules, just general guidelines:

1. It provides context.
2. It is relevant.
3. It contains a call to action.

Here is an example of a message template for offering a promotion to a customer that has viewed your store:

Hi {{1}}, I just noticed that you were checking out our winter collection. We are offering a 30% discount on all of our jackets. Are you interested in having a look at them?
- Yes, interested.
- No, not interested.

The first sentence, “Hi {{1}}, I just noticed that you were checking out our winter collection.”, offers context. 

The last sentence, “Are you interested in having a look at them?”, is a call to action, asking the customer to take further steps. The message is relevant to the customer because they were viewing your store, and you are trying to help them with their purchase.

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Promotional Message Templates #

As of September 2021, WhatsApp has allowed businesses to send non-transactional message templates that were previously not allowed. As a result, businesses are now able to send marketing and promotional message templates. This is great news for eCommerce business owners because it allows them to use various customer touchpoints to improve their sales and customer retention.

According to a study by Statista in 2020 on UK customers, free delivery, coupons, and discounts were the leading reasons for online shoppers to make a purchase. You can communicate these with customers who have already bought something from you, and you’d like them to come back:

Hello {{1}}, Thanks for purchasing our {{2}}! 😄 We hope that you liked it. We would like to offer you free delivery for your next purchase until {{3}}. Follow this link to view the products that qualify for this offer.

If you have a food supplement store and you’d like to send this template to a customer named Mohamed, the message would look like this:

Hello Mohamed, thanks for purchasing our fish oil supplements! 😄 We hope that you liked it. We would like to offer you free delivery for your next purchase until the end of summer. Follow this link to view the products that qualify for this offer.

With Rasayel, you could broadcast the above template to many of your customers. In our article How to Send Bulk Messages on WhatsApp? we provide you with the steps to take to broadcast your message. Rasayel also lets you send this message, as a proactive message, to a specific customer.

Here are some other promotional template examples:

Hello {{1}}, We are so excited to tell you that our new {{2}} is out! Use the discount code {{3}} to get a 20% discount on all items above $200. Have a lovely day! 

Hi {{1}}, We are super happy to have you as our customer 🤩 As a thank you, we would like to offer you a {{2}} discount on all of our items until {{3}}. Would you like to claim the discount?
- Yes!
- No.

The message looks like this when a potential customer receives it:

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Templates for Cart Abandonment #

According to Baymard Institute, 69.99% of online shopping carts are abandoned. The data shows that the leading reason for this is that customers find extra costs—including shipping, taxes, and other extra fees—to be too high. This creates an opportunity to win back a customer who has left their cart by offering them discounts or free shipping. Here are two examples of message templates for such cases:

Hello {{1}}, Looks like you have an abandoned cart in our store. We would like to offer you free delivery for your selected items. Would you like to finish your purchase?
- Yes
- No

Hello {{1}}, Thanks for checking out our store! We noticed that you did not buy the items that you had collected in your cart. We would like to offer you a {{2}} discount for the items you selected, Would you like to claim your discount and finish your shopping?
- Yes
- No

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Templates for Order Confirmation #

Hi {{1}}, thank you for your purchase. We have received your payment and will dispatch your {{2}} today. We will update you about its shipping status in the next few days.

Hello {{1}}, your order has been placed. You will receive your {{2}} by {{3}}. Thank you for your purchase.

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Templates for Order Tracking #

Hello {{1}}, your order of {{2}} has been dispatched today. Your tracking code is {{3}}. Please visit our website and use your tracking code to check its shipping status.

Hello {{1}}, your order of {{2}} was dispatched today. Your order tracking code is {{3}}. In the next few days, we will update you about its shipping status and the estimated arrival date. Thank you.

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Templates for a Shipping Update #

Hi {{1}}, You will receive your order by {{2}}. Thank you for shopping with us. Have a great day!

_Hello {{1}}, Your order reached the address you provided today at {{2}}. It was given to {{3}}. Thank you for your purchase._‍

Templates for cash on delivery #

Cash on delivery (COD), also known as “collect on delivery” and “cash on demand,” is a payment method in which customers order goods and, upon arrival, they decide whether they’d want to keep the goods or return them. If they choose to keep them, they will pay for them. Otherwise, the goods are taken back to the business. Some businesses expect customers to pay immediately when they receive the goods. In other cases, customers are given a short period of time to keep the items or try them (if they are apparel), and then they will pay.

Cash on delivery is a very attractive payment method for customers as they do not commit to any payment until after they have received the goods and decided whether they’d want to keep them. On the other hand, businesses offering COD carry a great financial risk since they’d have to cover the shipping cost without knowing whether the customer will purchase the goods or not. 

As a business owner, there are certain steps that you can take to minimize your financial risk for the goods that have COD options. Some businesses reduce this risk by requiring customers to pay a deposit in advance or provide their credit card information so that they can be charged if they choose to keep the goods. Another way you can do this is by setting up message templates, asking customers to confirm their orders before you ship them. Here is an example of how you can do this:

Step 1: Ask the customers to confirm or cancel their order before you send the order:

Hello {{1}}, We received your order of {{2}} with cash-on-delivery as your payment method. Please, select “Confirm” if you still want the item or “Cancel” if you’d like to cancel your order.
- Confirm
- Cancel

Step 2: Define a specific waiting time for your customers to reply to your previous message. If they did not reply, follow up with another template:

Hello {{1}}, We received your order of {{2}}. If you are still interested in receiving it, please select “Confirm”. If you are not interested anymore, please select “Cancel”. Thank you and have a lovely day!
- Confirm
- Cancel

Step 3: You can define a specific waiting time after your previous message and send another follow-up with a deadline for confirmation:

Hello {{1}}, We received your order of {{2}} with cash on delivery as your payment method. If you are still interested in receiving it, please select “Confirm” within the next 24 hours otherwise we’d have to cancel your order 🙁 Thank you, and have a beautiful day! ✨
- Confirm
- Cancel

You can decide how many times you’d follow up with a customer before you cancel their purchase. If you choose to cancel, it is a good idea to send them a cancellation confirmation.

Templates for Order Cancellation Confirmation #

If a customer cancels an order, there are a number of things you could do. The easiest one is to send a simple message that confirms their cancellation. However, you could take other steps to save the sale or receive helpful feedback from the customers regarding their cancellations.

Simple cancellation message for an eCommerce business with a free-cancellation policy:

Hello {{1}}, This is to confirm that your order of {{2}} has been canceled. We have not charged your credit card. Have a nice day.

Simple cancellation message for an eCommerce business that incurs a charge after a specific date:

Hello {{1}}, we have received your cancellation request. Since you canceled {{2}} days before the delivery date, a cancellation fee of {{3}} has been incurred. Thank you and have a lovely day.

The following templates help you understand the reason for your customer’s cancellation so that you are able to offer a tailored solution to them:

Hello {{1}}, we received your cancellation request for the {{2}} you had ordered. We are very sorry to see that you are not interested in it anymore and will cancel it immediately. Would you like to tell us why you’d like to cancel?
- High shipping cost
- High product cost
- Long waiting time

Depending on your customer’s answer to the previous question, you can save the sale with a follow-up template:

If their answer was “High shipping cost”:

Thank you for your feedback, {{1}}. We are happy to give you a {{2}} discount on your shipping. Would you like to claim it and keep your order or proceed with cancellation?
- Claim the discount.
- Cancel my order.

If their answer was “High product cost”:

Thank you for your response. We would like to offer you a {{2}} discount on your order. Would you like to claim it and keep your order or proceed with cancellation?
- Claim the discount.
- Cancel my order.

If their answer was “Long waiting time”:

‍_Thank you for your response. We have express delivery options for our customers for {{1}} extra that we could reduce to {{2}} for you. With express delivery, your order should reach you in {{3}} days. Are you interested in it? 
- Claim the discount.
- Cancel my order._‍

Templates for order Feedback and Review: #

Hello {{1}}, Thank you for shopping with us. 🙏How did you find the {{2}} that you purchased recently?
- I loved it.
- I liked it.
- Didn’t like it.

You can then ask your happiest customers to leave a review on your website and receive a discount for their next purchase:

Thank you for your feedback, {{1}}. We are very happy to hear that you loved {{2}}. Would you like to leave a review on our website and claim a 20% discount on your next purchase?
- Yes, I’ll review it.
- No, thanks.

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Final Thoughts #

Keeping in touch with your customers and building relationships with them throughout their customer journey is important. If you are running an eCommerce business, it pays to have a list of message templates ready for different touch points with your customers. You can use the template messages in this article as they are or modify them for your business. If you are using Rasayel and would like to know how to create WhatsApp message templates, please read our article, “The Complete Guide to WhatsApp Message Templates for Your Business”.

If you’d like to learn more about Rasayel and how it could help you with your eCommerce business, feel free to book a call with us. For North and South America, book a call here. For Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, book a call here.

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Download #

You can download the CSV file for the templates in this article here.

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Further Readings #

The Complete Guide to WhatsApp Message Templates for Your Business

How to Send Bulk Messages on WhatsApp

How to Make Sure WhatsApp Approves Your Message Template

Introduction to WhatsApp for sales

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About the author

Niloofar Kavousi

Niloofar helps the team in marketing and partnerships. She has worked in startups and large enterprises and lived in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. When she’s not working, she enjoys socializing, doing reformer and getting lost in nature.