WhatsApp- Template Pacing

1. What is “Template Pacing”?
​"Template Pacing" is a feature by Meta that initially sends marketing messages to a smaller subset of a campaign's total audience and assesses the quality of the content based on the initial feedback received, depending on the quality assessment.
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​2. Does template pacing apply to all types of templates? 
​Template pacing is relevant exclusively for marketing templates.

​3. Where can we understand template quality?
​Partners and businesses should monitor template quality ratings in WhatsApp Manager or set up webhooks for immediate quality signal alerts.
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​4. How does WhatsApp assess the quality of a campaign during Template Pacing? 
When the initial messages are sent, WhatsApp monitors real-time user feedback and quickly processes it to determine an accurate quality assessment of the template.
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​5. How will template pacing work? 
​Instead of broadcasting the template to everyone, the message will be sent to a selected group of recipients. WhatsApp will evaluate the quality of the template using these sample messages, while processing the rest of the queued messages. If the sample messages receive positive feedback, the rest of the messages will be sent. However, if the feedback is negative, the remaining queued messages will be canceled, and the business will be informed about the poor-quality feedback from users.

6. How will template pausing work in conjunction with template pacing?
​Meta uses the same system and indicators for evaluating template quality in Template Pacing as they do for template pausing and other quality enforcement measures. This means that messages dropped during Template Pacing due to low-quality templates would have been paused later on a larger scale. By offering this quality assessment earlier, Meta provides businesses with greater predictability and control. Template Pacing happens within the first 30 minutes of a campaign, allowing businesses to respond more quickly compared to hours or days later with template pausing. However, even after initial success, a template might still encounter quality issues.

7. Will phone number rate limiting no longer take place?
Under the new messaging-limit regime (from October 7, 2025), phone number rate limiting / downgrades are no longer applied. Instead, message volume constraints are governed centrally at the portfolio level.

Template pacing remains active: WhatsApp will still send a small sample first, evaluate quality signals, and then proceed (or not) with the rest of the campaign. But limiting / pausing decisions will no longer be tied to individual number thresholds — they will respect the portfolio’s message limit.

8. How long does the Template Pacing process take before deciding to send or drop the remainder of the messages?
​Once WhatsApp begins processing messages, Meta intends to make a prompt decision. However, if the quality systems cannot reach a decision within 30 minutes, they will permit the template to scale and send messages to the rest of the recipients. It’s important to note that not all messages will be queued; the pace limit is influenced by the speed of user feedback and the accuracy of quality assessments.

9. Can Template Pacing be applied to any campaign, regardless of its size? 
​Although specific details are not provided, Template Pacing is mainly intended for high-volume marketing campaigns. Our pacing system is designed to make the process smooth for businesses, giving them complete transparency into the progress of their messages.

10. What happens if the user feedback during the Template Pacing process is negative?
​If WhatsApp finds that the feedback from the sample users is unsatisfactory, Meta will discard the remaining queued messages and notify businesses via email, webhooks, and WhatsApp Manager notifications. Businesses can reactivate templates that were paused during the quality assessment phase using either the API or the WhatsApp Manager UI.

11. Can I decide the size of the initial audience for the Template Pacing process, or is it predetermined by WhatsApp? 
​WhatsApp will set the size of the initial audience in advance and manage the entire message delivery process for your campaign.

12. What feedback will be provided to businesses during template pacing, and through which channels? 
​If a template is paused and messages are dropped, the business will be notified through:

- Business Manager Notifications Center

- WhatsApp Manager Banner

- Email

- Webhook (message_template_status_update)

Furthermore, any quality changes will be communicated through the message_template_quality_update webhook. The business will also receive updates via webhooks for message sends from and drops from the queue through the messages webhook.