WhatsApp: When Sending Templates, Allow Custom Variable Input / Free-Text Section (Initiate Conversations)
N
Naeem Sajjad
Request:
In GoHighLevel WhatsApp messaging (outside of workflows), we currently can:
Reply to an incoming WhatsApp message (only after the contact messages us), or
Send a WhatsApp template to initiate outreach
But when sending a template, the content is too rigid—there’s no clean way to input a custom message at send-time beyond fixed placeholders. This forces us to create lots of near-duplicate templates just to change the wording for different scenarios.
What I’m asking for:
When we choose a pre-approved WhatsApp template, add a “Custom Variables / Message Input” section where we can:
Fill template variables with custom text (not just single-word fields)
Optionally have a dedicated variable like {{custom_message}} that opens a larger text box so we can type a contextual message at send time
Keep it compliant by still requiring the outbound initiation to use the approved template structure
Example:
Template: “Hi {{name}}, {{custom_message}} Reply YES to confirm.”
At send-time, we type: “Just confirming your appointment is tomorrow at 3pm—can you make it?”
Why this matters:
Other WhatsApp providers support this model: you initiate with an approved template, but you can customize the variable content (including longer free-text) per send. This reduces template sprawl and makes WhatsApp outreach usable for real sales/support scenarios.
Impact:
Initiate WhatsApp outreach cleanly without requiring inbound messages first
Fewer duplicate templates
Faster, more human personalization at send-time
Better sales + support operations
Implementation (what GHL would likely build)
Add a large-text input for one or more variables in template messages (e.g., {{custom_message}})
Allow multi-sentence variable values (within WhatsApp limits)
Keep approval/compliance intact by not altering the template structure—only variable values
Log In
S
Sales & Marketing
Merged in a post:
Open variable for WhatsApp template to be filled within a workflow
N
Nitay Ben Zvi
Currently, inside a template we can only use the built in variables. For me there are a lot of cases where the variable would come from a workflow, either a webhook, custom code, chatGPT response or any other things that are temporary variables that only show in a workflow.
There is a messy workaround to get the is done and it's with a global variable or creating contact variable to store that information but it just messes up the system and creates unnecessary work and fields.
I've seen in other systems that a variable does not have to be filled immediately when creating a template, it can be populated "on the run", in our case, we would be able to fill this template variable from within the workflow, and not when creating the template.
Thanks
A
Agencia Propietario
I'm completely agree, I used to work at an enterprise where we had that function, is really useful!!
E
Eddy CEO WhatSnap.ai - Connect YOUR phone to GHL
We run into this constantly. Right now we have like 15 nearly identical templates just to change one sentence. Being able to customize variables at send time while keeping the approved structure would save so much template management headache.