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Clarity. Trust. Efficiency.&nbsp;Today, these are all essential parts of a successful business messaging experience.&nbsp;To support this, Rakuten Viber is introducing Transactional Message Templates – a structured way for brands to send important customer updates in a more consistent and reliable format.Starting July 1, 2026, templates will become mandatory for all transactional Viber Business Messages.In this guide, you’ll learn:<ul><li>Why Viber is introducing templates</li><li>What transactional templates are</li><li>The difference between transactional and promotional messages</li><li>Common template use cases</li><li>How to get started</li></ul><h2>Why is Viber introducing Transactional Message templates?</h2>Over the past decade, Rakuten Viber has continuously enhanced its Business Messages offering to support brands in delivering timely and relevant communication. But as messaging channels become more crowded, ensuring that important messages are both noticeable and trusted has become more challenging.Transactional messages, such as delivery updates, verification codes, or booking confirmations, are often the most important touchpoints between a brand and its customers. These messages must be:<ul><li>Instantly recognizable</li><li>Easy to read and act on</li><li>Trusted by recipients</li></ul>Transactional Message templates are designed to meet these expectations by combining structure, clarity, and reliability into a consistent messaging experience.By providing ready-made formats optimized for effectiveness, templates help brands create high-quality messages while automatically aligning with Viber’s guidelines.Templates have already been tested across multiple markets, where partners and brands reported improved message quality, greater consistency, and more efficient workflows. Following this positive feedback, Viber is now rolling out Transactional Message templates globally to further standardize and elevate business communication.<h2>What are Transactional Message templates?</h2>Transactional Message Templates are structured text-only message formats that businesses use to send recurring customer updates in a clear and consistent way. They combine fixed text with customizable fields, making it easy to personalize messages at scale while maintaining a consistent experience.Message templates include:<ul><li>Static text (fixed parts of the message)</li><li>Variables (dynamic fields such as name, time, order number, etc.)</li></ul>For example:Hi {{NAME}}, your order has shipped! It will be delivered between {{TIME_START}} and {{TIME_END}}.Each template is reviewed and approved by Rakuten Viber to ensure compliance with platform guidelines, reduce the risk of errors or misuse, and simplify the overall message-sending process.<h2>Transactional vs Promotional Messages</h2>Understanding the difference between transactional and promotional messages is essential for choosing the correct messaging format and ensuring compliance with Viber guidelines.<h3>Transactional messages</h3>Transactional messages are designed to inform or update customers with important, non-commercial information.<ul><li>Common examples include:</li><li>OTP and verification codes</li><li>Delivery updates</li><li>Appointment reminders</li><li>Booking confirmations</li><li>Account or security alerts</li></ul>These messages must use approved Transactional Message Templates starting July 1, 2026.<h3>Promotional messages</h3>Promotional messages are designed to market a product, service, or offer.These may include:<ul><li>Discounts or special offers</li><li>Product announcements</li><li>Invitations to take action</li><li>Marketing campaigns</li></ul>Promotional messages support additional rich media formats such as:<ul><li>Images</li><li>Buttons</li><li>URLs</li><li>Carousels</li><li>Videos</li></ul>Promotional content cannot be sent through transactional templates. Including promotional content inside a transactional template may result in template rejection.Beyond improving message consistency, templates also provide several operational and customer experience benefits.<h2>Key benefits of Transactional Message templates</h2>Transactional Message templates are designed to improve both the business and customer experience. By standardizing how critical updates are delivered, templates help brands streamline operations while ensuring users receive clear and trustworthy information.<ol><li>Security and trust: Templates help customers easily recognize legitimate business messages and reduce the risk of fraud or impersonation. This strengthens brand credibility and gives customers greater confidence in message authenticity, an increasingly critical factor in engagement and conversion.</li><li>Consistency: A standardized format ensures that important information is presented clearly and predictably, making messages easier to scan and understand at a glance.</li><li>Operational efficiency: With pre-defined structures, brands no longer need to invest time and resources into crafting repetitive transactional content. This allows them to focus on delivering value rather than formatting messages.</li><li>Compliance: Templates help ensure communications follow Viber guidelines and messaging best practices.</li><li>Reliability: By optimizing format and delivery, templates support higher engagement with critical messages, helping ensure critical updates are delivered clearly and reliably.</li></ol><h2>Common use cases for Transactional Templates</h2>Transactional templates are best suited for recurring customer updates such as:<ul><li>OTP and verification messages</li><li>Order confirmations and receipts</li><li>Delivery and journey updates</li><li>Appointment reminders</li><li>Account activity alerts</li><li>Password and security notifications</li><li>Subscription renewal reminders</li></ul><h2>Best Practices for Using Templates</h2><ul><li>Keep messages clear and concise</li><li>Use variables to personalize content</li><li>Avoid any promotional language in transactional templates</li><li>Test templates across different use cases</li><li>Templates must comply with Viber’s general messaging guidelines.</li></ul><h2>How to Get Started</h2>Getting started with Transactional Message Templates is easy. Here's how it works:For Messaging Partners: If you're an official Viber Business Messages Partner, you'll need to upgrade your integration with our new Templates API to enable this feature for your brand clients.For Brands: Reach out to your Messaging Provider to check their integration status and get the feature enabled. Once your provider's integration is complete, you can activate Transactional Message Templates directly through your existing Viber Business Messages account.Don’t have a Viber Business Messages Account? Set one up through one of our <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.forbusiness.viber.com/en/messaging-partners/">trusted messaging partners</a> to start sending Transactional Viber Business Messages to your customers.<h2>Start using message templates today</h2>Message templates are a strategic step toward more secure, scalable, and user-friendly business communication.By adopting templates early, brands and partners can improve message performance, build stronger customer trust, and streamline their operations.Messaging Partners can refer to the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://vb.me/Transactional_Message_Templates_API&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1779355614608128&amp;usg=AOvVaw2i7Glj4NgUm3lEJ-VQQ3FB">Templates API documentation</a> for technical integration details. For any other questions, reach out to your Rakuten Viber account manager.

Learn more about the new templates available for Transcational Viber Business Messages and how they can help your business.

Viber Message Templates: What you need to know

Find out more about the new standard for Transactional Viber Business Messages and how to get started.

Transactional Message Templates: Everything You Need to Know

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Transactional Message Templates: Everything you need to know

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Transactional Message Templates: Everything You Need to Know

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