WhatsApp Business API for overdue payment reminder
The scenario sends the customer a personalised WhatsApp template when their payment becomes overdue.
Use case overview
The scenario sends the customer a personalised WhatsApp template when their payment becomes overdue. The message includes the customer name, the outstanding amount, and the overdue date. A static URL button opens the online payment page.
Template example
Hi {{1}}, this is a friendly reminder that your payment of {{2}} is now overdue as of {{3}}. Please complete your payment at your earliest convenience to avoid service interruption. If you have already paid, please disregard this message.
- {{1}}customer name
- {{2}}outstanding payment amount
- {{3}}overdue payment date
- “Pay”button — fixed in the Meta template

When to use it
Reach for this scenario when billing marks an invoice as past due and reminders by email or SMS are getting overlooked while manual collection calls strain the team. It fits subscription billing, B2B services with outstanding contract balances, and agencies connecting ERP or accounting systems to automated WhatsApp payment nudges.
Workflow
- Trigger
Billing or the accounting system detects that a payment is past due.
event·triggered - Capture event
Customer phone number, outstanding amount, and overdue date are retrieved from the billing system.
phone:"+…" - Build & send
A personalised template message is built with three body variables and a static URL button linking to the payment page.
POST/sendTemplate - Delivered
The customer receives the WhatsApp reminder and can follow the link to complete payment.
delivered - Status tracked
Delivery result is logged for further collection or CRM follow-up.
status:"read"

Technical implementation
Prerequisites
- 1MSG API Key · How to get API Key
- WhatsApp Business account · How to Connect WABA
- WhatsApp Template · How to Approve WABA Template
- Customer opt-in · How to Manage Customers Consent
Code examples
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
# === Configuration (replace "___" placeholders) ===
API_BASE_URL="https://api.1msg.io" # production 1MSG API base URL
CHANNEL_ID="___" # channel ID from 1MSG dashboard
API_TOKEN="___" # channel JWT token (Bearer)
TEMPLATE_NAME="___" # approved template name
TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE="___" # template namespace (required — send fails without it)
TEMPLATE_LANGUAGE="___" # template language code, e.g. "en"
# === Test data ===
TEST_PHONE="___" # client phone in international format
TEST_CUSTOMERNAME="___" # {{1}} customer name
TEST_PAYMENTAMOUNT="___" # {{2}} payment amount
TEST_DUEDATE="___" # {{3}} due date
PHONE_NORM="$(printf '%s' "$TEST_PHONE" | tr -cd '0-9')"
for pair in "CHANNEL_ID=$CHANNEL_ID" "API_TOKEN=$API_TOKEN" \
"TEMPLATE_NAME=$TEMPLATE_NAME" "TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE=$TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE" \
"TEMPLATE_LANGUAGE=$TEMPLATE_LANGUAGE" "TEST_PHONE=$TEST_PHONE" \
"TEST_CUSTOMERNAME=$TEST_CUSTOMERNAME" \
"TEST_PAYMENTAMOUNT=$TEST_PAYMENTAMOUNT" \
"TEST_DUEDATE=$TEST_DUEDATE"; do
val="${pair#*=}"
if [ -z "$val" ] || [ "$val" = "___" ]; then
echo "Missing configuration value: ${pair%%=*}" >&2
exit 1
fi
done
if [ -z "$PHONE_NORM" ]; then
echo "Error: phone number has no digits after normalization" >&2
exit 1
fi
URL="${API_BASE_URL%/}/${CHANNEL_ID}/sendTemplate"
# params carries body ONLY. Button text is fixed in the Meta template — no button param.
# {{1}} customer name → ${TEST_CUSTOMERNAME}
# {{2}} payment amount → ${TEST_PAYMENTAMOUNT}
# {{3}} due date → ${TEST_DUEDATE}
read -r -d '' PAYLOAD <<JSON || true
{
"phone": "${PHONE_NORM}",
"template": "${TEMPLATE_NAME}",
"namespace": "${TEMPLATE_NAMESPACE}",
"language": { "policy": "deterministic", "code": "${TEMPLATE_LANGUAGE}" },
"params": [
{
"type": "body",
"parameters": [
{ "type": "text", "text": "${TEST_CUSTOMERNAME}" },
{ "type": "text", "text": "${TEST_PAYMENTAMOUNT}" },
{ "type": "text", "text": "${TEST_DUEDATE}" }
]
}
]
}
JSON
RESPONSE="$(curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}' -X POST "$URL" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ${API_TOKEN}" \
-d "$PAYLOAD")"
HTTP_CODE="$(printf '%s' "$RESPONSE" | tail -n1)"
BODY="$(printf '%s' "$RESPONSE" | sed '$d')"
case "$BODY" in
*'"sent":true'*) ok=1 ;;
*) ok=0 ;;
esac
if [ "$HTTP_CODE" -ge 200 ] && [ "$HTTP_CODE" -lt 300 ] && [ "$ok" -eq 1 ]; then
echo "Message sent to client."
echo "API response: $BODY"
else
echo "Send failed. HTTP status: $HTTP_CODE" >&2
echo "$BODY" >&2
exit 1
fi
Response and delivery status
HTTP 2xx and JSON "sent": true mean 1MSG accepted the message for sending — not that it already reached the customer's phone. Save the id field (looks like wamid.…) to correlate delivery callbacks.
{
"sent": true,
"id": "wamid.HBgLMzgwNjM5...",
"message": "Message accepted for delivery"
}sentAccepted for sending — not yet on the customer's phone
idStore it; delivery callbacks and
hookInfoare keyed on this
Delivery itself arrives later, as a separate callback. Register a webhook (POST …/webhook) and 1MSG POSTs status updates to your HTTPS endpoint in a top-level hooks[] payload.
{
"hooks": [
{
"id": "gBGGeSaGViBfAgnlzOSHEwK9O6F",
"type": "message",
"status": "sent",
"timestamp": "1654864094",
"recipient_id": "556123122026"
}
]
}statussent,delivered,read— or a failure status when applicableidCorrelates the callback with the
idreturned by the send calltimestampUnix seconds, as a string
If you would rather not receive callbacks, poll GET {base}/{channel}/hookInfo?messageId=<id> instead. In practice delivery often completes within seconds — but the API contract does not guarantee it, so never block a flow waiting on it.
Common errors
| Status | Response | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | Message was not sent: template is not defined | namespace, template or language missing from the request body. |
| 200 | template name (…) does not exist in <language> | The template is approved in a different language than the one requested. |
| 200 | Message was not sent: provide chatId, phone, bsuid, or username | No recipient the channel could resolve. |
| 403 | access denied | The token is wrong, or belongs to a different channel than the URL. |
| 429 | too many requests. please try later | The channel is over its send rate. |

