WhatsApp link with a prefilled message: how to create yours
Published on October 14, 2026
A WhatsApp link is an address that opens a chat with your number without the customer having to save your contact.
The official format is https://wa.me/ followed by your full number, and you can add a message that shows up already typed in the text field.
That is how the official page on the click to chat feature describes it, and it works on phones and on WhatsApp Web.
How to build the link for your number
The rule is simple: the number goes in full international format, with no plus sign, no leading zero, no parentheses and no hyphens.
A Brazilian number starts with 55, then the area code and the number.
- Correct:
https://wa.me/5511XXXXXXXXX - Wrong:
https://wa.me/+55-(11)XXXXXXXXX
Both examples are based on the rule in the WhatsApp Help Center.
Someone who taps the correct link lands right in a chat with you.
Someone who taps the wrong one usually gets an error, and the chat never starts.
How to add a prefilled message
To have customers arrive with their question already written, add ?text= and the message to the end of the link.
Spaces become %20, because the text has to be URL encoded, as the same official page explains.
Example: https://wa.me/5511XXXXXXXXX?text=I%27d%20like%20to%20book%20an%20appointment
The customer taps, the chat opens and the sentence “I’d like to book an appointment” is already in the field.
They still have to press send.
The link doesn’t send anything on its own.
There is also a link with only the message and no number: https://wa.me/?text= plus the text.
In that case, whoever taps it picks which contact to send it to.
It’s useful when a customer recommends you to a friend, not when they want to talk to you.
Where the link helps
A few places where the link tends to make a difference:
- Instagram and other social profiles: customers tap and they’re already in the chat.
- Your website and contact page: a button goes straight to WhatsApp, with no number to copy.
- Ads, menus or cards with a QR code: the QR code points to the link, and customers just point their camera.
- Different campaigns: one prefilled message per source, such as “Saw you on Instagram” or “Found you on your website”. That way you know where each chat came from.
WhatsApp also has an official “Chat on WhatsApp” button, in green and white and in three sizes, for your website.
The Help Center asks that it be used as is and placed where people can see it, and notes that for now the button is only available in English.
What the link doesn’t solve
The link opens the chat.
It doesn’t answer anyone.
If a customer arrives through the link at 10 p.m. and nobody is there, the prefilled message only made the path to waiting faster.
It’s also worth being careful with the prefilled message.
A short, clear sentence works better than a long block of text that the customer deletes before sending.
And if your number changes, every old link on your social profiles, ads and QR codes stops reaching you.
Where our assistant comes in
The link is the way in.
What happens once the customer is inside is customer service.
The assistant we set up reads the incoming message, uses your business content, books a time on your real calendar when that’s what the customer wants and hands over to a person anything off script.
A prefilled message per source also helps the assistant understand where the customer came from and what they want.
If your problem today is that customers can’t find your WhatsApp, create the link and share it.
If the problem is that chats start and go unanswered, the link alone won’t change that.