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Executive bullet points for fast decision-making
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✓
The format is
https://wa.me/<number>— country code included, no plus sign, no spaces, no dashes. -
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Add a pre-filled message with
?text=and URL-encode it. - ✓ A leading zero or a stored plus sign is the single most common reason a link fails.
- ✓ One link per placement, tagged, so you can tell which one actually produces conversations.
A WhatsApp chat link is one URL that opens a conversation with your business, with a message already typed. It works from an Instagram bio, an email signature, a printed card or an ad — and it works whether or not the person has saved your number.
The format#
https://wa.me/<number>
https://wa.me/<number>?text=<url-encoded message>
Two live examples:
https://wa.me/919876543210
https://wa.me/919876543210?text=Hi%2C%20I%20want%20a%20quote%20for%2050%20units
The number is the only part people get wrong, so it deserves the rule stated plainly:
Country code, then the subscriber number. No plus sign. No spaces, dashes or brackets. No leading zero.
| Number as written locally | In a wa.me link |
|---|---|
| +91 98765 43210 | 919876543210 |
| 07700 900123 (UK) | 447700900123 |
| (555) 123-4567 (US) | 15551234567 |
| +971 50 123 4567 | 971501234567 |
Pre-filling the message#
Everything after ?text= is the message the customer sees in their input box. They still have to press send — WhatsApp will not send it for them, by design.
Encode it. Spaces become %20, commas %2C, line breaks %0A, ampersands %26. An unencoded ampersand is the sneakiest failure: the browser reads it as a new URL parameter, so your message gets truncated at that point.
?text=Hi%2C%20I%20saw%20your%20ad%0AProduct%3A%20Starter%20Plan
Renders as:
Hi, I saw your ad
Product: Starter Plan
Write pre-filled text from the customer's side, not yours. "Hi, I want a quote for 50 units" is a message a person is willing to send. "I am interested in your premium services offering" is not, and they will delete it and type something vaguer, which costs you the qualification signal.
Five mistakes that break links#
- Leading zero left in.
wa.me/07700900123fails. The trunk prefix is for domestic dialling only. - Plus sign kept.
wa.me/+919876543210may be rewritten by some link handlers into something invalid. Drop it. - Unencoded characters.
&,#,+and?inside the message text all change the meaning of the URL. - A number that is not on WhatsApp. The link opens with an error the customer sees, not you. Always test against the real number.
- Shortened by a tracker that drops the query string. Some link shorteners strip everything after
?. Test the short link, not just the long one.
Where to place it#
| Placement | What to pre-fill |
|---|---|
| Instagram / TikTok bio | The one thing people message you about: "Hi, I want to book" |
| Email signature | Context the sender already has: "Hi, following up on my email" |
| Website button | Page-specific text so you know what they were reading |
| Invoice or receipt | The reference number, so support starts with the order in hand |
| Print, packaging, vehicle | Nothing complex — print space is better spent on a QR code |
| Paid ads | Campaign identifier in the text, since ad platforms report clicks, not conversations |
The pre-filled message is your cheapest attribution mechanism. One line of different text per placement, and your first inbound message tells you which surface produced the lead — no tracking code required.
Tracking clicks#
Two workable options, depending on how much you need:
- Different pre-filled text per placement. Free, instant, and readable by the person answering. Good enough for most businesses.
- A redirect you control. Point the button at
yoursite.com/chat?src=footer, log the hit, then redirect to the wa.me link. This gives you click counts and lets you change the destination number later without editing every placement — useful once you have more than a handful of links in the wild.
Analytics platforms can also track outbound clicks on the link element itself, which counts clicks but tells you nothing about whether a conversation followed.
What happens after the click#
The link is the easy half. The conversation lands on one number, and if several people need to answer it, the phone in someone's pocket becomes the bottleneck — here is how teams share one WhatsApp number properly.
If you want the same link printed instead of clicked, the WhatsApp QR code guide covers sizes and materials. For the mechanics behind the URL — device behaviour, in-app browsers, encoding edge cases — read WhatsApp deep links explained.
Start a free AR-Inbox workspace to route every click-to-chat conversation to the right person automatically.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create a WhatsApp link? +
Take your number in full international format with no plus sign or spaces, and put it after https://wa.me/ — for example https://wa.me/919876543210. Anyone opening that link starts a chat with you.
How do I make a WhatsApp link with a pre-written message? +
Add ?text= and your message to the end of the link, with spaces encoded as %20: https://wa.me/919876543210?text=Hi%2C%20I%20need%20pricing. The text lands in the customer's input box; they still press send.
What is a wa.me link? +
wa.me is WhatsApp's official short domain for click-to-chat links. It opens the app on mobile and WhatsApp Web on desktop, and works whether or not the recipient has saved your number.
Why is my WhatsApp link not working? +
Almost always the number. Remove the plus sign, drop the national trunk prefix (the leading zero in many countries), and include the country code. A link built from a locally formatted number will open an invalid-number error.