Category is the highest-stakes field on the template form. It determines whether you are approved, and it determines the rate you pay — Utility is materially cheaper than Marketing in most markets. It is also the field most often filled in hopefully rather than accurately.
The three categories
Utility messages follow from something the customer did: an order, a booking, a payment, an account change. They are informational and specific to that transaction.
Marketing messages promote. Offers, launches, re-engagement, newsletters, abandoned-cart nudges, anything intended to cause a purchase rather than to inform about one.
Authentication messages deliver one-time passcodes and verification codes. Narrow, tightly formatted, and not to be used for anything else.
The test that resolves most cases
Ask: did the customer's action make this message necessary?
If the message exists because they placed an order, made a booking or changed something, it is Utility. If it exists because you want them to buy, it is Marketing — even when it is wrapped around a genuine transactional update.
Edge cases worth getting right
- Abandoned cart. Marketing. The customer did not complete a transaction, and the purpose is to cause one.
- Delivery update plus discount code. Marketing, because of the code. Split it into two messages if you want the update at the Utility rate.
- Appointment reminder. Utility — unless it suggests additional services, at which point it is Marketing.
- Payment failed. Utility. Informational and consequential.
- Subscription about to renew. Utility. Renewal at a discount if they upgrade: Marketing.
- Feedback request. Usually Utility when tied to a specific completed order and asking only for feedback. Add an incentive and it becomes Marketing.
- Order confirmation with "you may also like". Marketing. This is the most frequently mis-filed template we see.
Why gaming it backfires
Filing Marketing as Utility to save money fails in one of three ways: rejection at review, recategorisation afterwards so you pay the Marketing rate anyway, or — worst — approval followed by recipient complaints, because people who consented to order updates did not consent to promotions. That last route damages quality rating, which costs more than the price difference ever saved.
Structuring for cost
The legitimate way to spend less is to separate concerns. Send the shipping notification as a clean Utility message. If you want to promote, send that separately to people who opted into marketing. You pay two conversation rates rather than one, but you keep the Utility template approvable, the marketing properly consented, and your quality rating intact.
There is also a genuine saving available in the free-entry-point rules: conversations a customer starts do not incur the same charge, so a well-placed website button or click-to-WhatsApp ad shifts spend in your favour without any category gymnastics.
Authentication, briefly
Use it only for codes. Keep the body minimal, add the expiry, and never append promotional content — an authentication template carrying an offer is both a rejection and, if it slips through, a security-hygiene problem, because it trains customers to read marketing in messages that should only ever carry codes.