How To Create A WhatsApp Chat Link

WhatsApp is a great way to get in touch with people (friends, family and clients). It offers the "Click to Chat" function, which allows you to create a link anywhere on your website, email or social media app to open a new WhatsApp chat to a specific number. This feature of WhatsApp is especially useful for marketers, online retailers and other business owners who wish to allow clients and customers to start a chat with them via WhatsApp. WhatsApp chat links can be created and used as part of an Instagram bio, Facebook fan page, Twitter, Snapchat, website or blog. When clicked, the link will open a chat with the number you specified and can also include an optional message. The user clicking the link doesn’t have to have your number saved in their contacts list. All they need do is click the link and start chatting with you right away!  

Creating the WhatsApp Link for Chat

1. Use https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone= followed by your full phone number in international format. For example, https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=2348012345678
2. Optionally, you can specify a default message that would initially be sent by the person clicking the link to start the chat. To do that, add &text= to the URL with a value. For example, https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=2348012345678&text=Hello.

If you'd like to use something longer than just "Hello",  for example: "I will like to know the cost of the red snickers", you must url encode the text like: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=2348012345678&text=I%20will%20like%20to%20know%20the%20cost%20of%20the%20red%20snickers. To url encode a string of text, go to urlencoder.org for free encoding and decoding.