{"id":3090,"date":"2026-10-22T08:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=3090"},"modified":"2026-10-22T08:42:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:12:00","password":"","slug":"why-was-my-template-rejected-as-incorrect_category-or-changed-to-marketing","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/kb\/why-was-my-template-rejected-as-incorrect_category-or-changed-to-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why was my template rejected as INCORRECT_CATEGORY, or changed to Marketing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you submit a template, Meta reads its content and checks it against the category you chose. If Meta disagrees, one of two things happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rejected with INCORRECT_CATEGORY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The template is refused because its content doesn&#8217;t match the category you picked, most often a utility template that reads as promotional. You can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Edit the content so it fits the category you want, and resubmit; or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resubmit under the category Meta expects; or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Request a review in WhatsApp Manager if you believe your category was right.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Approved, but as Marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since <strong>9 April 2025<\/strong>, Meta may assign the category itself. A utility template it judges to be marketing is approved as <strong>Marketing<\/strong> rather than rejected. The template works, but it costs marketing rates and needs marketing-grade opt-in, so check the <strong>Category<\/strong> column on your <strong>Template Messages<\/strong> page after approval rather than assuming your choice stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you disagree<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You can <strong>request a review<\/strong> in WhatsApp Manager for utility or marketing templates that were rejected, and for marketing templates that were approved. If the review succeeds, the category changes; if not, it stays.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Category changes can be reviewed and appealed in Meta&#8217;s Business Support Home within <strong>60 days<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You <strong>cannot edit the category of an approved template<\/strong>. Create a new one instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting utility templates to stay utility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Remove every promotional line, discount, upsell and marketing call to action. State only the facts of the transaction the customer is already part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.facebook.com\/documentation\/business-messaging\/whatsapp\/templates\/template-categorization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Meta: Template categorization<\/a>. Meta changes these rules from time to time, so check the source if something looks different in your account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you submit a template, Meta reads its content and checks it against the category you chose. If Meta disagrees, one of two things happens. Rejected with INCORRECT_CATEGORY The template is refused because its content doesn&#8217;t match the category you picked, most often a utility template that reads as promotional. You can: Approved, but as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[1383],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-3090","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-template-messages"],"year_month":"2026-10","word_count":261,"total_views":"37","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"admin","author_nicename":"admin","author_url":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Template Messages","term_url":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/kb-cat\/template-messages\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=3090"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=3090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}