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Documentation Index

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Variables let a single approved template send personalised messages to thousands of contacts without resubmitting to Meta. This page is a deep dive on how variables work in Flowella, where they can appear, and how to wire them up to HubSpot data. For a high-level overview of template structure, see Template reference. For step-by-step template creation, see Templates.

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Syntax

WhatsApp templates use positional variables with double curly braces and a 1-based index: 
Hi {{1}}, your booking on {{2}} is confirmed. Reference: {{3}}.
Rules:
  • Indexes start at {{1}} and must be sequential — you cannot skip from {{1}} to {{3}}.
  • The same index can be reused inside a single component (body, header, or URL) but Flowella will send the same value to each occurrence.
  • Whitespace inside the braces is not allowed: {{ 1 }} is invalid.
  • Variables are text only. Numbers, dates, and currency are sent as strings — format them upstream in HubSpot before sending.
Meta is rolling out named variables ({{first_name}}) for new templates. Flowella supports both, but positional indexes remain the most reliable format across all template types and Cloud API versions.

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Where variables can appear

ComponentVariables allowedNotes
Header (TEXT)1Short values only — no line breaks.
Header (media)1 (the media handle or URL)Variable is the media itself, not text.
Header (LOCATION)4 (lat, long, name, address)All four are required when the header is variable.
BodyUp to ~10 in practiceEach variable counts toward Meta’s body character limit.
FooterNoneFooter is static text only.
URL button1Appended to the end of a static base URL.
COPY_CODE button1The full code value.
Quick reply, Phone, Flow, Catalog buttonsNoneStatic configuration.
Carousel cardsUp to 3 per card bodyEach card’s variables are numbered independently.

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Sample values

When you submit a template to Meta, every variable needs a sample value. Meta uses the samples to:
  1. Decide if the template’s content matches the chosen category (Marketing, Utility, Authentication).
  2. Estimate quality and spam risk.
  3. Display a preview to reviewers.
Sample values are not used at send time — they are only for review. But they matter:
  • Use realistic values. {{1}} = "John" is fine; {{1}} = "xxx" often triggers rejection.
  • Keep samples short. Pasting a paragraph into a single variable is a classic rejection signal.
  • Make sure the sample is type-appropriate. If {{2}} is a date, use a date. If it’s an order number, use something that looks like an order number.

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Wiring variables to HubSpot data

In a HubSpot workflow that uses Flowella’s Send WhatsApp Template action:
1

Pick the template

Flowella shows every approved template for your channel. Variables are auto-detected from the template body, header, and buttons.
2

Map each variable to a HubSpot value

For each {{n}}, choose a HubSpot contact, company, deal, or ticket property — or type a static value. You can mix personalisation tokens and literal text in the same mapping.
3

Set a fallback for empty values

If a contact has no value for the mapped property, the message will fail unless you provide a fallback. Common fallbacks: "there" for first name, "your account" for account name.
4

Test before going live

Send the workflow to a single test contact first. Meta rejects sends where any variable is empty, contains only whitespace, or contains a newline.
Empty variables fail at send time, not at template approval. A workflow that runs against thousands of contacts can be silently dropped if a critical property is missing. Always set fallbacks.

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Variable formatting tips

Names 
Hi {{1}},
Capitalise the property in HubSpot upstream, or use a HubSpot workflow step to copy firstname into a “First name (formatted)” property. Dates WhatsApp templates do not format dates. If your HubSpot property is 2026-05-24T00:00:00Z, that’s what arrives in the message. Use a HubSpot calculated property or workflow action to format dates as 24 May 2026 before mapping them. Currency Same as dates — format upstream. Include the currency symbol in the static text (Total: £{{1}}) so the variable is just the number. URLs in body text You can include the full URL inside a body variable, but the link preview will not render and the URL counts against the body character limit. Use a URL button with a variable suffix instead: 
Base URL: https://acme.com/orders/
Variable: {{1}}
At send time: https://acme.com/orders/AB-1234
  • Skipped indexes ({{1}} then {{3}}). Always renumber.
  • Variable at the very start or end of the body with no surrounding text ({{1}} alone). Add a word before or after.
  • Two variables adjacent ({{1}}{{2}}). Separate them with at least a space or punctuation.
  • Sample values that look like placeholders — "test", "xxx", "123" — especially in Marketing templates.
  • Variables in the footer — not allowed.
  • More than one variable in a URL button — only one is allowed, and it must be at the end of the URL.

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Advanced patterns

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Re-using a value across components

If a customer name appears in both the header and the body, define it once in your workflow and map both {{1}} (header) and {{1}} (body) to the same HubSpot property. Flowella sends each component its own parameter list, so the indexes are independent — you map the value twice, but you only store it once in HubSpot.

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Conditional content

WhatsApp templates do not support if/else logic inside the template. To send different content to different contact segments, create separate templates and branch in your HubSpot workflow — for example, “VIP welcome” and “Standard welcome”.

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Multi-language templates

A template’s name and structure are shared across languages, but each language is submitted, approved, and stored separately. Variables must be in the same positions in every language version. Flowella picks the right language based on the contact’s hs_language property (or a fallback you configure).

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Troubleshooting

  • Template approved but messages fail with “parameter mismatch” — Meta and Flowella disagree on how many variables the template has. Re-fetch the template in Flowella (Templates → refresh) so the variable count syncs.
  • Variable shows literal {{1}} in the delivered message — the workflow didn’t map a value to that index. Check the workflow action’s parameter list.
  • Message rejected at send with “policy violation” — a variable contains a URL or content that doesn’t match the template’s category. Marketing-style content cannot be injected into a Utility template via variables.
For the full lifecycle of submitting, editing, and pausing templates, see Templates and Template reference. For rejection-specific help, see Template rejected.