Negative feedback follow-up via WhatsApp API

The scenario sends the client a personalised WhatsApp template after they submit a neutral or low satisfaction rating.

Use case overview

The scenario sends the client a personalised WhatsApp template after they submit a neutral or low satisfaction rating. The message includes the client name, the rated topic, and an empathetic follow-up prompt. A static URL button opens a detailed feedback form or recovery page.

Template example

Hello, {{1}}! We received your rating about {{2}}. {{3}} Please share a few details — it takes about a minute.

Share feedback

{{1}}
customer name
{{2}}
rated topic or context (e.g. recent delivery, closed support case, service visit)
{{3}}
follow-up prompt or recovery line (e.g. we want to understand what went wrong and make it right)
“Share feedback”
button — fixed in the Meta template

WhatsApp Business API for negative feedback follow-up

When to use it

Use this scenario when a client submits a neutral or low satisfaction rating and the team needs an empathetic WhatsApp follow-up rather than a manual agent message or silent logging in analytics. It fits CSAT and NPS programs reaching out after poor scores, contact centers recovering from low support ratings, and agencies connecting low-score triggers from Zendesk, Freshdesk, product analytics, or custom survey workflows.

Recovery after low scores

The follow-up lands in WhatsApp with name, rated topic and recovery prompt as three body variables, so the client can explain what went wrong in a channel they already use instead of a rating that never gets a response.

Compliant first message after rating

The survey workflow fires an approved template when a neutral or low score is recorded, so the recovery message reaches the client even when there is no open conversation and free-text replies are not allowed.

No manual agent recovery typing

The low-score trigger resolves the recipient phone and follow-up fields, builds the template with three body variables and a static URL button, so agents do not retype context or remember to send a feedback link after every poor rating.

Topic context before they respond

Customer name and rated topic appear in the message body, so the client knows which interaction they are following up on before tapping the fixed Share feedback button that opens the detailed form.

Delivery logged for recovery analytics

Delivery result is written back to the CRM or survey stack while detailed feedback is captured on the linked form, so service recovery stays tied to the same rating record.

Workflow

Trigger
The survey or CRM workflow fires a low-or-neutral rating follow-up trigger when the score is eligible.
event · triggered
Capture event
The system resolves the recipient phone number and follow-up fields.
phone: "+…"
Build & send
A personalised template message is built with three body variables and a static URL button.
POST /sendTemplate
Delivered
The client receives the WhatsApp recovery follow-up with rated topic context.
delivered
Status tracked
Delivery result is logged; detailed feedback is captured outside WhatsApp on the linked form.
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_TOPIC="___"         # {{2}} topic or subject
TEST_INFO="___"         # {{3}} additional info

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=$TEST_CUSTOMERNAME" \
            "TEST_TOPIC=$TEST_TOPIC" \
            "TEST_INFO=$TEST_INFO"; do
    val="${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}} topic or subject → ${TEST_TOPIC}
# {{3}} additional info → ${TEST_INFO}
read -r -d '' PAYLOAD <<JSON || true
{
  "phone": "${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": "${TEST_TOPIC}" },
        { "type": "text", "text": "${TEST_INFO}" }
      ]
    }

  ]
}
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.

200 OKResponse

{
  "sent": true,
  "message": "Sent to [email protected]",
  "description": "Message has been sent to the provider",
  "id": "wamid.HBgLMzgwNjM5..."
}

sent
Accepted for sending — not yet on the customer's phone
id
Store it; delivery callbacks and hookInfo are keyed on this

Delivery statuses and webhooks →

Common errors

Status	API response	Cause	Fix
200	Message was not sent: template is not defined	namespace, template or language is missing from the request body.	Send all three. Take namespace and the exact template name from GET /templates; language is an object: {"policy": "deterministic", "code": "en"}.
200	template name (…) does not exist in <language>	The template is approved in a different language than the one requested.	Use the exact language code the template was approved in (for example es_MX is not the same as es). Check it in GET /templates.
200	Message was not sent: provide chatId, phone, bsuid, or username	No recipient the channel could resolve.	Pass exactly one recipient: phone (country code plus number, digits only), chatId (for example [email protected]) or bsuid.