Brands that provide fast and responsive assistance are likely to boost sales. That’s why WhatsApp is the best platform to do conversational marketing.
But WhatsApp users can’t send messages to unknown contacts. They have to save it first. This can become a hassle for customers. The solution? Creating a WhatsApp Link!
In a nutshell, WhatsApp Links are “click-to-chat” links that redirect users to a WhatsApp conversation without saving the number. You can put this link on any of your channels.
If you’re not familiar with a WhatsApp Link, it looks like this:
“https://wa.me/[Your full business number in international formatting]”
For example, +39 12345678 becomes https://wa.me/3912345678.
Taking the time to save a number to send messages sounds trivial. It won’t take that much time and it’s free to do.
So why should you even bother to create a link for your customers when they can manually save your business number?
The answer always goes back to convenience for both businesses and customers. With a WhatsApp Link, you get the following:
A study published in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services suggests convenience is a major factor in a customer’s decision-making process.
Factors that were seen as “convenient” in the study include:
With a WhatsApp link, your customers message you first. When this happens, a business already gets a top-of-the-funnel lead.
A WhatsApp Link also supports your other lead-generation efforts on your website and social media channels. The link provided to your customers can also include predefined messages.
Adding these messages helps guide customers into asking the right questions. This helps brands qualify potential leads and provide immediate support to their needs.
Businesses can integrate WhatsApp Links into images or gifs, use them as a scannable QR code, and of course, as clickable hyperlinks.
Doing this type of WhatsApp marketing makes it easy for potential customers to reach out and start a conversation. This can lead to engagement boosts and ultimately, more leads and sales.
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of WhatsApp Link types. Choosing the best one for your brand requires a lot of research and A/B testing.
To streamline the process, we’ve curated a list of the top three WhatsApp Link types that you should know about.
Direct Links are your standard “click-to-chats”. If WhatsApp is installed it will direct the user to a conversation with your business.
The typical structure for the URL is "https://wa.me/[Your full business number in international formatting]”. When creating this link, don’t include special characters or breaks.
A US-based business with the number “(123) 789-6543” will be represented as “+1 (123) 789-654. Converted into a WhatsApp direct link, it would behttps://wa.me/11237896543
When customers click on a pre-filled message WhatsApp link, a template message will show on their text box. This means they don’t have to type the message themselves.
A great way to use this is when you have campaigns for specific products. For example, your brand is selling the new “XYZ Coffee Maker”.
You can pre-fill a message that says “Hello! I want to buy the new XYZ Coffee Maker”. To insert this pre-filled message, add “/?”text=[Your Message]” after the phone number.
Separate the words in your message with “%20” and add a slash at the end”. Using our example message and WhatsApp number, we’ll have the link:
“https://wa.me/11237896543/?text=Hello!%20I%20want%20to%20buy%20the%20new%20XYZ%20Coffee%20Maker”.
You can use prefilled links when broadcasting messages. This way, you can choose who you’d like to receive the message after clicking the link.
For example, if your message is “Thanks for purchasing!”, type “https://wa.me/?text=Thanks+for+purchasing!”. This link will send you to a contact list. From here, you can select multiple contacts and send them all your message.
You can create your own WhatsApp link using WhatsApp Business. To do so, go to settings>Business Tools>Short Link.
After clicking on “Short Link”, you’ll be provided with the link. Plus, you can make your own custom message. The format will be https://wa.me/message/unique code. This option is not available in the basic version of WhatsApp.
You can use a WhatsApp link in a variety of channels. But as a rule of thumb, the best places to insert your link are the following:
Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Google, a WhatsApp in your bio is convenient. New customers visiting your profiles will likely see this first.
Platforms like Facebook even account for this. To add your WhatsApp on your Facebook page go to your Facebook Page, find “Add Buttons” then go to WhatsApp>Set up Whatsapp number.
A website can become a 24/7 lead-generating machine. Support this by adding something like a “24/7 WhatsApp Support” or “Contact Us on WhatsApp” link. You can include this in your banner or CTA buttons to make it more appealing to visitors.
Embedding your links across your posts can help drive traffic to your WhatsApp business account. Another option is to include your links on your “Story”.
According to a HubSpot study, 49% of customers prefer to discover new products on Instagram Stories.
WhatsApp is a powerful tool that helps brands engage directly with customers. You can make this more convenient by integrating WhatsApp Links across your active channels.
To recap, here are some important details on WhatsApp Links:
If you want to learn more about WhatsApp marketing tools for eCommerce, look no further than Zoko! It can broadcast to customers at scale, integrate product dashboards, and more!
Sign up for a demo today and experience how Zoko can streamline and optimize marketing!
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