Get customers to write first on WhatsApp
On WhatsApp, who starts the chat matters. When a customer writes to your business, every message you send back is a reply. When your business writes first to someone who never asked, it is a cold message. People report those as spam, and WhatsApp restricts numbers that collect reports.
So the safest and cheapest way to grow on WhatsApp is to make writing to you easy. A chat link and a QR code do exactly that.
Why "they write first" is worth the effort
- Replies are what WhatsApp expects from a business. A chat the customer opened is a conversation, not an interruption. It is rarely reported.
- Your number stays safe. Numbers get restricted for patterns that look like spam: many new chats, the same text to many people, nobody answering. Replies avoid all of these.
- It costs less everywhere. Even Meta's official API charges for messages a business starts, while replies within 24 hours of the customer's message are free.
- The customer tells you what they want. "Is Friday's trip still on?" is easier to answer than a message nobody asked for.
Make your chat link and QR code
A WhatsApp chat link has the form https://wa.me/ followed by your number with its country code, and no plus sign, spaces or leading zero. You can add a greeting that is already typed when the chat opens, such as "Hi, I would like to book a table".
Our free WhatsApp link and QR code generator makes both in a few seconds. It stores nothing you type.
Where to put them
- On your website: a "Chat on WhatsApp" button on every page, and beside your phone number.
- In your social profiles: the link in your bio, and a "Send message" button pointing to it.
- On paper: the QR code on menus, flyers, receipts, packaging and your shop window.
- In your email signature and invoices: customers with a question about an order write straight away.
- In ads: an ad that opens a chat brings people who are ready to talk.
Give each place its own greeting, such as "Hi, I saw your menu" or "Hi, about my order". Then you know where each chat came from.
When the chats arrive
A link that works brings more chats than one phone can answer. That is where Threadwire comes in. It keeps your own number and puts its chats in one inbox for your team, with notes and saved answers. Auto-replies and an AI agent can answer at any hour, and every message can reach your own system through the API.
Because these customers wrote first, every answer is a reply. Your number keeps talking the way WhatsApp expects.