WhatsApp for retail and online stores

Order status is the message customers actually want, and the one Meta approves fastest. Abandoned-cart is the one that gets accounts restricted, because it is marketing however it is worded.

What you send, and what it counts as

The category decides everything else: the price, whether it reaches somebody who opted out, and the criteria it is reviewed against.

MessageCategoryWhat that means
Order confirmed, shipped, deliveredUtilityReaches everybody, priced lowest, approved fastest.
Cash-on-delivery confirmationUtilityIn this region it is the message that saves the most money — a confirmed COD order is one that does not get refused at the door.
"You left something in your basket"MarketingHowever it is phrased. Labelling it utility is the specific behaviour Meta revokes accounts for.

The messaging tier is shared, and a sale exhausts it

Your messaging tier is a count of unique people per 24 hours across the whole business portfolio — not per number and not per campaign. A 12,000-recipient promotion against a 10,000 tier does not fail; it queues 2,000 people to tomorrow, and it takes the capacity your order-status messages needed. Zanii shows the arithmetic on the review step, before the send.

The order update customers keep

Hi {{1}}, order {{2}} is out for delivery today between {{3}} and {{4}}. Reply here if you need to change the time.

Category: Utility

The double braces are variables WhatsApp fills per recipient. Meta rejects a template whose numbering has gaps, and Zanii catches that before you submit it.

Common questions

Can I send abandoned-cart messages on WhatsApp?
Only as a marketing template, only to people who opted in, and only outside the 24-hour window if it is approved in advance. Sending it as a utility template because it mentions an order is the specific mislabelling Meta's abuse ladder ends in permanent revocation for. Zanii makes the category an explicit choice with the consequence written next to it, rather than guessing it from the template's name.
Does CST apply to these messages?
Commercial messaging in Saudi Arabia is governed by the Communications, Space & Technology Commission. Sender identity and consent records are the parts audited in practice.