WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app on the planet, with over 2 billion users in 180 countries.
WhatsApp should be on the radar if you’re running a company in 2020.
If you’ve used WhatsApp before, you’re already familiar with the method of adding contacts by exchanging them across the platform’s groups and conversations, as well as manually entering the phone number.
The issue with these approaches is that they both require several steps, which often entails exchanging your WhatsApp link on another channel and then switching the conversation to a different place.
A WhatsApp chat link removes the friction by allowing contacts and customers to communicate with only one touch.
We’ll look at how to generate WhatsApp chat link & how it benefits both companies and individual users in this article.
How To Generate A WhatsApp Chat Link
A brief note: if you want to use your WhatsApp chat link to support a company, you must first create a business profile.
You will find step-by-step directions for getting started here if you haven’t already.
**Creating a WhatsApp link** is easy once you’ve created an account.
You can manually build your own WhatsApp link by modifying the URL people use to reach you, according to WhatsApp’s FAQ article.
To create a WhatsApp link, copy the following code: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=
Following the (=), type your phone number in its full international format, without any brackets, dashes, or zeroes.
How To Generate A WhatsApp Link With A Default Message
You may also create a default message that appears in the text box when a user initiates a conversation, in addition to creating and exchanging links.
To set it up, make sure the URL follows the following format:
https://wa.me/whatsappphonenumber
Followed by:
”? text=urlencodedtext”
Instead of typing a longer response, users may pick a default message from the “URL-encoded text.”
For instance, https://wa.me/1XXXXXXXXXX?text=I’d%20like%20to%20puchase%20%the20product
If you want, you can leave out the phone number and create a link that just includes a default message:
https://wa.me/?text=I’d%20like%20to%20see%20the%20price
Where You Can Promote Your WhatsApp Chat Link
WhatsApp is used by billions of people all over the world as their primary means of communicating with friends and families.
WhatsApp provides companies with the ability to engage clients on their turf, allowing them to establish partnerships on the platforms that their target markets use regularly.
Although the app hasn’t yet gained traction in the United States to the extent that it has in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, giving customers the ability to communicate directly with a brand through WhatsApp will improve the consumer experience by eliminating friction from the journey.
Social Media Profiles
Since you can’t use WhatsApp to initiate a chat with customers, you’ll want to make it as simple as possible for them to do so.
The simplest way to do this is to make sure your WhatsApp link is available on all of your brand’s profiles and pages.
Customers, prospects and everyone else will quickly contact you this way. It should be used in your Instagram and Twitter profiles, as well as your LinkedIn page and every other channel where your company has a presence.
Social Media Posts
Promoting your WhatsApp website link in social media posts across all active channels is one of the most powerful ways to bring traffic to your chat window.
Put your WhatsApp chat link in Instagram Stories, Facebook updates, YouTube CTAs, and everywhere else you can think of.
Business Page
Creating a WhatsApp business profile is a simple way to boost the brand’s exposure. First, it’s another way to feature in Google search results, similar to a Facebook company page or a Google My Business Profile.
Second, it assures customers that they’re talking with someone from your legitimate company rather than an imposter.
You can exchange links to your virtual shop and even sell directly through WhatsApp using your business page.
Verified users will have access to messaging statistics and metrics (such as sends, delivery rates, and read receipts) as well as the ability to create a product list that can be exchanged via chat.
Take Precautions With Your WhatsApp Link
Utilizing public-facing platforms and accounts to promote your WhatsApp link increases your exposure and makes it easy for customers to contact you.
Around the same time, it gives hackers, trolls, and spammers access to your contact information, which they can exploit for nefarious purposes.
Here’s what you need to know about attackers and how to defend yourself, your clients, and your brand.
Protect Your Privacy
Anyone who comes into contact with that URL will see the phone number and the accompanying message if you manually establish a direct link.
For example, if you make a link and post it on Facebook or Instagram – Reach out to us on WhatsApp using the link: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=number&text=message anyone can have your contact number.
Fortunately, you can conveniently prevent this from happening by hiding your contact information with a link shortener like Bit.ly.
We suggest reviewing the platform’s official tips for more detail on keeping secure on WhatsApp.
Keep An Eye On Bots & Suspicious Activity
While using a link shortener can help you hide your WhatsApp phone number, it won’t stop the wrong people (or bots) from clicking the link and sending a message to you.
With this in mind, be on alert for unusual messages and spam.
You can block a user from your WhatsApp account if you don’t know the number or something about the message that seems “wrong.”
However, if you’re using WhatsApp as a customer service platform, many of the “legitimate” messages that land in your inbox would almost certainly be from random numbers.