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Ledger entryNo. 243921

Single-Product Message(SPM)

Also called: Single product message · Product message · SPM template · interactive product message

Definition
An interactive WhatsApp message showing one catalogue item, with image, title and price drawn from the catalogue and a View button that leads to the cart.

Commerce & payments

Mode · chat

Work it out

Answer a product question with one card

6 / 6
Kitchenware StoreBusiness account

Today

  1. Customer: Hi, is the 5-litre steel pressure cooker in stock?10:30
  2. Kitchenware Store: Steel Pressure Cooker, 5 L · INR 2,349In stock, ships tomorrow.Prices include GSTView10:31Read
  3. Customer: Does it work on induction?10:32
  4. Kitchenware Store: Yes, the base is induction-ready. Tap View → Add to cart when you're ready.10:33Read
  5. Customer: Steel Pressure Cooker, 5 L × 11 itemView sent cart10:34
  6. Kitchenware Store: Thanks! Order KS-5521 reserved. Your payment request follows in a moment.10:35Delivered

Message 6 of 6

Kitchenware StoreTextDelivered (two grey ticks)

The cart is a request, not a sale: check stock and price in your own system, then collect payment.

Free-form text. A business can send it only within 24 hours of the customer’s last message.

A customer asks about one item; the business replies with a single-product message. Step through to see the card, a question sent from the product page, and the cart arriving as an order.

Message 6 of 6: Kitchenware Store, Text, Delivered (two grey ticks). The cart is a request, not a sale: check stock and price in your own system, then collect payment.

What is a single-product message?

A single-product message (SPM) is an interactive message of type product that displays one item from the WhatsApp catalog connected to your WhatsApp Business Account. WhatsApp draws the card itself from catalogue data — product image, title and price — and adds your optional body text and footer plus a View button. Tapping it opens the product detail page, where the customer can add the item to their in-chat cart and send the cart to you as an order.

The request carries only two identifiers in action: catalog_id and the item's product retailer ID (product_retailer_id). There is no header, image URL or price in the payload, because everything shown comes from the catalogue when the customer views it — a price or stock change in Commerce Manager reaches messages you have already sent. If no item matches the pair, the API returns an error and nothing is sent.

Meta allows the interactive SPM only inside an existing chat thread: it cannot be sent as a notification, so in practice it is a reply inside an open customer service window. To open a conversation with one product, use an SPM template instead — a marketing template with a product header, body text of up to 160 characters, an optional 60-character footer and a single View button, with catalog_id and product_retailer_id supplied at send time. A catalog message, by contrast, opens the whole catalogue and a multi-product message lists up to 30 items in sections; an SPM is for the moment the customer needs to see one exact item.

Key takeaways

  • A single-product message is an interactive WhatsApp message of type product that shows one catalogue item with a View button.
  • The payload carries only catalog_id and product_retailer_id; the image, title and price come live from the catalogue.
  • The interactive version is a reply inside an existing chat; to open a conversation with one product, send an SPM template instead.
  • SPM templates are marketing templates; an interactive SPM inside an open window is billed as a service message in India since 1 October 2026.

How does a single-product message work?

  1. Connect a catalogue and switch on the cart

    The item must exist in the catalogue connected to the WABA. Keep the phone number's is_cart_enabled commerce setting on (the default) if you want customers to order, not only enquire.

  2. Wait for the customer to open the thread

    An interactive SPM is a reply. It needs an existing chat with an open customer service window; to start a conversation with a product, send an approved SPM template instead.

  3. Send the product by its retailer ID

    POST to /{PHONE_NUMBER_ID}/messages with type: "interactive", interactive.type: "product", optional body.text and footer.text, and action.catalog_id plus action.product_retailer_id.

  4. The customer views and adds to cart

    WhatsApp renders the image, title and price; View opens the product detail page, where the customer can add up to 99 units of the item and send the cart.

  5. Receive the enquiry or the order

    A sent cart arrives as an order webhook listing product_items; a question asked from the product page arrives as a text message carrying context.referred_product.

The figures

A single-product message: key facts and limits

Message type
interactive, with interactive.type = product
Required action fields
catalog_id and product_retailer_id
Header
None — image, title and price come from the catalogue
When the interactive SPM is allowed
Inside an existing chat (open service window)
SPM template
Marketing; body ≤ 160, footer ≤ 60 characters
Billing (India)
Interactive: ₹0.145 since 1 Oct 2026 · template: ₹0.94
Cart limit
Up to 99 units of each item

In code

A single-product message in code

curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/{PHONE_NUMBER_ID}/messages" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
    "recipient_type": "individual",
    "to": "919812345678",
    "type": "interactive",
    "interactive": {
      "type": "product",
      "body": { "text": "In stock, ships tomorrow." },
      "footer": { "text": "Prices include GST" },
      "action": {
        "catalog_id": "{CATALOG_ID}",
        "product_retailer_id": "PC-SS-5L"
      }
    }
  }'

Only valid inside an existing chat. No header, image or price: WhatsApp takes those from the catalogue.

Example: One cooker, one tap, in Coimbatore

A customer asks a Coimbatore kitchenware shop whether the five-litre steel pressure cooker is in stock. The agent replies with an SPM for retailer ID PC-SS-5L and a one-line body: "In stock, ships tomorrow." The customer opens the card, asks "Does it work on induction?" from the product page — the shop sees the question tagged with the same retailer ID — then adds one to the cart and sends it. The order webhook names PC-SS-5L, quantity 1; the shop checks stock and replies with a payment request. The SPM itself is billed as one service message at ₹0.145.

Costly mistakes

Common mistakes with a single-product message

  • Using it to start a conversation

    The interactive SPM cannot be sent as a notification. If the customer has not messaged you within the window, send an approved SPM template — and budget for it as marketing.

  • Sending the wrong identifier

    product_retailer_id is your content ID or SKU, not Meta's numeric item ID. A mismatch returns an error and the message never leaves.

  • Promoting an item the catalogue cannot sell

    Items rejected under the commerce policy cannot be shown, and an item marked out of stock cannot be bought, so the card answers the question with a dead end. Check availability before you send, especially from a campaign list.

  • Treating the cart as a confirmed order

    An order webhook is a request, not a sale. Confirm stock and price from your own system, collect payment, then confirm the order back to the customer.

SPM FAQs

Can I send a single-product message to a customer who has not messaged me?
Not as an interactive message: Meta only allows it inside an existing chat thread. Use an approved SPM template, which is a marketing template, to start the conversation.
Can I set the image or the price in the message?
No. The card shows the catalogue's image, title and price. Change them in Commerce Manager or your product feed and the message picks up the change.
How is it different from a multi-product message?
An SPM shows one item with a View button. A multi-product message needs a text header and a body and shows up to 30 items in sections, so the customer can browse and build a cart.
What does a single-product message cost?
Inside an open window it is a service message, charged in India at ₹0.145 since 1 October 2026. An SPM template is billed as marketing at ₹0.94 per delivered message.

Why does a single-product message matter?

Most product questions in chat are about one specific thing: is the blue one back, what does the five-litre model cost, does it come in steel? An SPM answers with the live catalogue card instead of a forwarded photo and a typed price that may already be out of date, and it puts Add to cart one tap away — so the answer to the question is also the path to checkout, and the resulting order arrives as structured data rather than a free-text request.

Best practices for a single-product message

  • Let the card show the price and spend the body text on what the customer actually asked.
  • Switch to a multi-product message when the customer is still choosing; keep the SPM for when they have chosen.
  • Track product-message-to-order conversion per retailer ID to see which items sell from chat.
  • Watch for failed statuses on product messages: a customer on an outdated WhatsApp version cannot open one, so keep a text fallback with a link ready.

See InfiQ pricing

* Per-message rates for India, ex-GST: marketing, utility and authentication effective 1 July 2026; service messages ₹0.145 since 1 October 2026 (they were ₹0 until 30 September 2026). Volume commitments earn discounts — final rate is confirmed on your account; applicable GST extra. Rates for other countries differ (see the international rate table on /pricing).

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