Designing dynamic, visually appealing message templates is a crucial aspect of building customer trust and driving high CTR on the WhatsApp Business Platform. Unlike plain email text, WhatsApp templates support rich styling markers like bold, italics, strikethrough, and monospaced code blocks.

Using formatting effectively helps businesses structure alerts, highlight key details (such as order status or promo codes), and improve overall readability. This guide explains how to format text inside WhatsApp template bodies and dynamic variables, manage spacing, and handle emojis.

Key Takeaways

  • Wrap text with asterisks (e.g. *text*) to format text in bold style.
  • Wrap text with underscores (e.g. _text_) to display text in italics style.
  • Use backticks (e.g. `code`) to format verification codes or serials in monospace style.
  • Include newline characters (\n) to trigger formatting paragraph breaks inside API calls.

Table of Contents

1. Core Meta Text Formatting Rules

Meta supports standard markdown-style formatting triggers inside your template bodies. To apply bold styling to key words, wrap them in asterisks (e.g. `*Order Confirmed*`). To italicize text, wrap it in underscores (e.g. `_thank you_`). Strikethrough is achieved by wrapping text in tildes (e.g. `~old price~`). This is highly important for optimizing broadcast layouts. For template creation guides, explore our WhatsApp Template Manager page.

Using formatting lets you highlight price discounts, call-to-actions, and confirmation numbers. These styles render natively on Android, iOS, and WhatsApp Web, keeping your brand messages consistent across all platforms.

2. Styling Dynamic Template Variables

You can also format dynamic template parameters (e.g. `{{1}}` or `{{2}}`). If your database feeds a value to the variable, wrapping the variable itself in markdown markers within the WhatsApp Manager (like `*{{1}}*`) will display the variable value as bold to the end-user.

This allows personalizing notifications dynamically while retaining visual styling. Check how our team inbox routes these incoming parameters on the Shared Team Inbox page.

3. Formatting Monospace and Code Blocks

Monospace formatting is extremely useful for technical data, promotional voucher keys, or authentication OTP pins. To display text in a monospaced font, wrap the target word or variable in backticks (e.g. `` `CODE123` ``). This makes the text clean and visually distinct on mobile screens.

It also simplifies copy-pasting for clients. You can set up automation rules to send coupon codes using our WhatsApp Automation page.

4. Handling Line Breaks and Spacing

To prevent walls of text, use line breaks to separate paragraphs. When registering template bodies, hit Enter to create spaces. In custom API payloads, send `\n` characters inside variable strings to trigger line breaks dynamically on customer screens.

This keeps customer inquiries structured. Learn how to design interactive conversational structures using our WhatsApp Chatbot Builder page.

5. Formatting Emojis and Special Characters

Emojis help break the ice and increase user engagement. You can copy and paste standard Unicode emojis directly into your template editor. Always keep emojis relevant to the text topic, and place them at the start or end of paragraphs for readability. For onboarding setups, check our Partnership Portal. Learn about plans on our Pricing Details page.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: How do we format bold text in templates?

A: Wrap the target text in asterisks (e.g. *bold*) inside your template body or parameter variables.

Q2: How do we format italics?

A: Wrap the target text in underscores (e.g. _italics_) to format it in italic styling.

Q3: Is strikethrough supported?

A: Yes. Wrap the target text in tildes (e.g. ~strikethrough~) to format it in strikethrough styling.

Q4: How do we format monospaced coupon keys?

A: Wrap the variables in backticks (e.g. `code`) to format them in monospace.

Q5: Can we mix multiple styles?

A: Yes. You can combine formatting tags (like *_bold italic_*) to style variables.

Q6: Do markdown tags count against character limits?

A: Yes. Text formatting tags count toward the 1,024-character limit for message templates.

Q7: Can we use HTML tags in templates?

A: No. Meta only supports basic markdown-style formatting tags; raw HTML tags are rejected.

Q8: How do we format newline line breaks?

A: Include standard newline tags (\n) in your variable payloads to format line breaks.

Q9: Are emojis supported in variables?

A: Yes. You can pass emojis inside variables to style templates.

Q10: What is the benefit of the green tick?

A: The verified checkmark displays your verified company name in chats, improving open rates.

Q11: Can we test text styling in sandbox?

A: Yes. The sandbox allows you to deliver test templates with dynamic formatting to whitelisted numbers.

Q12: Can we style text in header variables?

A: Yes. You can style text in header fields, but media files do not support text formatting tags.

Q13: What causes delivery error code 132001?

A: This error indicates a template parameter mismatch, usually caused by passing incorrect variable counts.

Q14: Are virtual numbers allowed?

A: Yes. Verified API numbers can deliver formatted templates regardless of whether they use mobile or virtual lines.

Q15: Can we run automated surveys using formatted lists?

A: Yes. Survey templates and interactive button selections operate identically on all verified API setups.

Next Steps

Deploying automated messaging and tracking features on WhatsApp helps brands improve customer experience, scale support operations, and optimize communication ROI.

Ready to deploy your messaging flows? Connect with our integration consulting team to start planning your setup today.