In Mekari Qontak, you can create a Follow-up type template to send outbound messages (business-initiated message), which are proactive messages from the business to customers who have not responded for more than 24 hours, causing the chat session to end (expired) or expire.
The new interface for creating Follow-up templates will be rolled out gradually starting May 11, 2026.
With this new interface, you can now add media such as images, videos, and documents, as well as use up to 3 variables in the follow-up template to create more personalized and relevant messages when following up with customers.
You can create Follow-up templates with 2 (two) category options:
- Marketing. Sending follow-up messages containing promotional content, for example, follow-ups on inquiries related to promotions and sales.
Utility. Sending general follow-up messages, for example, for confirming issue escalation and other non-promotional contexts.
Learn more about pricing per template message category here.
Templates that you have created and approved by META can be sent to your customers through the Inbox menu in Mekari Qontak.
Additional Information:
Starting from April 9, 2025, META enforces automatic reclassification of template categories from Utility to Marketing if the template content contains promotional messages.
You can appeal this change (appeal) to META within a maximum period of 60 days through the Business Support Home META page.
To ensure you are billed correctly per message category, the system will ensure that follow-up messages can only be sent if you have confirmed the template whose category has been automatically changed by META. Information and the confirmation process for template category changes have been available in Mekari Qontak since April 7, 2026. Learn more here.
Also, before creating a Follow-up template, you can view the guidelines provided by META to help you create template content according to the category and purpose.
Follow these steps to create a WhatsApp Follow-up template in Mekari Qontak.
Log in to your Mekari Qontak Account.
Select the Campaign menu.
Then click "Templates".
Next, on the “WhatsApp” tab, click "Create template".
You will enter the first page, which is Template setup.
| No. | Feature Name | Description |
| 1 |
Account (Required) |
Displays a list of integrated WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) accounts along with their phone numbers. Learn how to integrate a WABA account here |
| 2 |
Template name (Required) |
Enter the template name with a maximum of 495 characters. The system will automatically add “_hsm_chat_expired” (a total of 17 characters) as a suffix (ending) to the template name for the Follow-up type. The following are the rules for filling in the Template name:
|
| 3 | Type |
Select the type of template you want to create with these options:
In this case, select the Follow-up type. Unlike the Campaign type, templates of the Follow-up type are used to reconnect with customers through the inbox page for chat sessions that have ended (expired) or expired. |
| 4 |
Category (Required) |
Select the category of the template you want to create, with options:
Important: |
| 5 |
Language (Required) |
Select the language you will use to create the template content. |
If the above information has been filled in, click "Continue" to proceed to the “Content editing” stage to create the template content.
| No. | Feature Name | Description |
| 1 |
Media content: Type (Optional) |
The type of media you want to use as the message header. You can only choose 1 media type per template. The following media types can be selected as the message header: b. Video c. Document |
| 2 |
Body: message (Required) |
You can compose your message content in this field, using emoji, text formatting, and variables to make your message more engaging and personalized, with a maximum of 1024 characters. The available text formatting options are as follows:
You can use variables to insert dynamic information (for example, specific information per customer, such as the customer's name) into your message content. For follow-up templates, you need to enter the variable content manually when sending follow-up messages through the Inbox page. You must fill in example variable content to create the template. - Variables are optional. |
7. Then, you can see the template preview on the right side to ensure the appearance is correct before confirming the template creation.
8. Click "Submit" if the data you entered is complete and correct.
The template will be successfully created with the status In Review and will be sent to META for review before it can be used to send follow-up messages to customers. Learn about template statuses here.
9. A pop-up notification will appear if the data you submitted is correct.
If you have enabled the OTP Application feature, you are required to enter the OTP code sent to your email before you can confirm the creation of templates with the Marketing and Utility categories.