How To Create A Whatsapp Message Link

Customers generally dislike waiting for an email reply or being kept on hold when they reach out to a business. And this is the reason why customers are always looking for the easiest and fastest way to contact them. In today's world of instant gratification, WhatsApp is becoming customers' best friend to get in touch with a business. With this trend emerging at a lightning-fast speed, more than 5 million businesses have already been using WhatsApp to interact with their customers.

In this article, we explain what is WhatsApp's click-to-chat link, why use it, how to create one and where to implement these for the best results. Let's dive into it.

What is WhatsApp's click to chat feature?

The click-to-chat link allows businesses to chat with customers and website visitors on WhatsApp. Once a person clicks on the link, a chat window will open on their phone or on WhatsApp web, where they can directly chat with the business. The biggest benefit is, neither the business nor the customer has to save any number on their phone.

Click to chat works on both your phone and WhatsApp web, as long as the person clicking on the link has a WhatsApp account.

Here is an example of a WhatsApp link embedded in an image. This will open a chat window on WhatsApp with our WhatsApp chatbot.

Why use WhatsApp click-to-chat link?

Hassle-free – Customers don't have to save your number in their contact list before they contact your business.
One-click to chat – Just one click initiates the conversation between your business and the customers on WhatsApp.
Multiform factor – Can be used as a hyperlink, QR code, or can be integrated into an image or a GIF.
Lead magnet – The links can be used prominently with an offer banner on your website or can be hyperlinked in the chat widget to initiate conversion, generate leads and sell. With click-to-chat link and chat widget, small businesses who just have a website can sell directly on WhatsApp without having to invest heavily into building a full-fledged e-commerce website.

Whatsapp click to chat link in Freshchat chat widget

How to create a click-to-chat WhatsApp link?

There are two ways to create a WhatsApp link. The first way is to directly put the phone number and the message in a specific format and another way is to generate it within the Business app. Let's take a look at each of these.

Create a link without any tool

⚫︎ Create a simple link – For a simple link without any custom message, the URL starts with " https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=" followed by your phone number in the international format.

For example:
My Phone Number: 8818181080
My Country Code: +44
Your WhatsApp link will be: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=448818181080

Here, note that we have not included "+" or any other special characters in the phone number. So, while adding the phone number make sure you omit any zeros, brackets, special characters or dashes.

⚫︎ Create a link with a pre-filled message – Prefilled or the custom message is the default message that the user will send to initiate the conversation. For example, if the business adds, "Hello!" as a custom WhatsApp message then this will be the first message that will come from the user to initiate the conversation. Even if you don't add a custom message in your link, the chat will get initiated as soon as the user sends any text in the chat.

Space : To add space in the text you want to create, use %20. For example, you want to write 'Hi how are you?', It will be Hi%20how%20are20you?

And your WhatsApp link will be:
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=44768483016&text=Hi%20how%20are20you?

Multiple sentences : If you want to write multiple sentences, then to include a full stop you can add %0A . Suppose you want to write it like this – 'Hello Saurav. How are you', then you can write it as Hello%20Saurav%0Ahow%20are%20you%0A

And your WhatsApp code will be
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=44768483016&text=Hello%20Saurav%0Ahow%20are%20you%0A

Create a link within the WhatsApp business app

If you are already using the WhatsApp business app then you can create the link within the app itself. This link will have a unique ID linked to your business account and will initiate the chat only with the number linked to your WhatsApp business account. But you can always create links for multiple WhatsApp numbers with the steps mentioned earlier.

To generate a link from the Business app, go to Settings> Business Tools >Short Link

The format of the link created in the Business app will be: https://wa.me/message/NSGZX546XIj1 and the text after "message/" will be your unique code.

Where to implement WhatsApp links for better results

Websites – Implementing it on a website is one of the best places you can use WhatsApp links. But instead of using it just as a link, businesses should embed it in a banner saying "Contact us on WhatsApp" or "Shop with us on WhatsApp". The simple reason is, an image with good creatives will get more attention than a simple link. Here is a good example of how ICICI Bank has done it on their website.

ICICI bank website Whatsapp banking

If you want to be more creative, you can even use the WhatsApp links with a GIF as well.

Businesses can also use it as a QR code, that website visitors can scan and chat instantly. If you are using the Business app, you can get the QR code from the app itself. And if you are creating the WhatsApp link manually then you can use a QR code generator to get the code.

Social media pages – Today almost all social media platforms including Instagram give you an option to add your website address to the pages. This is a great place where you could add the WhatsApp click-to-chat links. But with Facebook pages, you don't even have to do that because there is already an option to add a WhatsApp button on your page without using any link. To do that, follow the steps mentioned in the image below.

Social media post – Including the click-to-chat link on your social media posts is a great way to reach your customers and give them a quick way to chat and buy from you.

In the below social media post from Pantaloons, although they are asking their customers to Say 'HI' on WhatsApp, things would be a lot easier for customers if they had just added the click-to-chat link instead. Because then, customers would have avoided the hassle of saving this number on their phone.

Pantaloons WhatsApp ecommerce store - Freshchat blog

Chat widget – Another great way to leverage WhatsApp links on your website is by using the chat widget available on your website. Chat widgets can get the user's attention instantly and can nudge them to initiate a conversation with your business.

With Freshdesk Messaging's chat widget you can embed the WhatsApp links in the chat popup and initiate conversations on WhatsApp right away. Not only that with Freshdesk Messaging you can add a different message on different pages and can also set up follow-up messages based on user behavior on your website.

A great customer experience is delivered when businesses are empathetic towards customer problems. And the best way to achieve that is by providing them the right solution, fast! Live chat software like Freshdesk Messaging not only opens the opportunity for your business to interact with your customers on WhatsApp but on other messaging channels like Apple Business Chat and Facebook messenger. With Freshdesk Messaging the opportunity to grow your business is endless. Want to know what Freshdesk Messaging can do for you? Click on the banner below.