Template Pacing – What It Is and How It Affects Your Messages

Meta has introduced a feature called Template Pacing to monitor message performance and protect customer experience. This article explains what template pacing means, why it happens, and how it may impact your messaging on DoubleTick.

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What Is Template Pacing?

Template Pacing is a process where Meta temporarily holds or slows down the delivery of new template messages to check early customer feedback before allowing the full campaign to go through.

Think of Template Pacing like a “trial run” for your template—Meta tests a small sample of users before sending it to everyone.

This helps Meta detect issues like:

• High report/block rates

• Low engagement

• Negative feedback

• Customer dissatisfaction

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Which Templates Are Affected?

Template pacing applies to:

✔ Marketing Templates ✔ Utility Templates

The following types of templates can be paced:

• Newly created templates

• Unpaused templates

• Templates without a GREEN (High Quality) rating

• Templates with low or inconsistent quality history

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When Does Template Pacing Get Triggered?

Template pacing usually happens when:

• Your template has never been used before

• Your past templates received negative feedback

• You restart a previously paused template

• Your template does not yet have a strong quality rating

For Utility templates specifically, template pacing applies only for 7 days after a utility template has been paused once.

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How Does Template Pacing Work?

When you send a campaign using a paced template:

Step 1: Initial Batch Sent

Meta allows a small set of messages to be delivered

Step 2: Remaining Messages Are Held

The rest of the messages are temporarily held for review

In API responses, you may see:

held_for_quality_assessment

This does not mean the message failed — it means Meta is evaluating feedback.

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What Happens After Meta Reviews Feedback?

Meta monitors signals like:

• Replies

• Blocks

• Reports

• User engagement

Based on this, one of two outcomes occurs:

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If Feedback Is Positive

✔ Template gets “High Quality” (GREEN) rating ✔ Held messages are released ✔ Campaign continues normally

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If Feedback Is Negative

⛔ Template is paused ⛔ Remaining held messages are dropped ⛔ Quality rating moves to “Low” ⛔ Admins are notified

Dropped messages show failure with code:

132015

Admins will be alerted via:

• Meta Business Suite notifications

• WhatsApp Manager banners

• Email

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Important — Guardrails for Time-Sensitive Campaigns

Meta ensures pacing does not cause extreme delays. Even under pacing, high-throughput campaigns are expected to be delivered within about an hour (99th percentile).

If enough feedback is not collected in time, held messages may be released automatically.

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What This Means for DoubleTick Customers

If you are sending templates via DoubleTick and notice delays or held statuses: ✔ It is a Meta-level quality check ✔ Campaigns may resume automatically

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Best Practices to Avoid Template Pacing

To minimize pacing:

✓ Use clean, relevant messaging ✓ Avoid spam-like promotional language ✓ Target users who are expecting communication ✓ Don’t blast outdated or cold audiences ✓ Monitor quality rating regularly ✓ Keep block/report rates low

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Summary

Template pacing = Meta tests your template on a small audience → waits for feedback → then decides to:

✔ Continue ⛔ Pause 🛑 Drop

It protects customer experience and ensures quality.