How a wa.me link works
Every WhatsApp number can be reached through a web address. The format is https://wa.me/<number>, the number in full international form, with the country code and no plus sign, no leading zero, no spaces. For the Indian number 98765 43210, the link is https://wa.me/919876543210.
Tapped on a phone, it opens WhatsApp straight into a chat with you; clicked on a laptop, it opens WhatsApp Web or the desktop app. The person never has to save your contact or search for your name.
Add ?text= plus a URL-encoded message and the chat opens with the customer's first message already typed, waiting behind the send button: https://wa.me/919876543210?text=Hi%2C%20I%20want%20the%20price%20list. That pre-fill does more work than it appears to, a blank chat asks a stranger to compose an opening line, and plenty of them quietly don't. A pre-filled chat asks them to press one button.
The generator below builds the whole thing, number formatting, message encoding and all, so you never hand-type a %20 again.
Make your link in under a minute
Enter your WhatsApp number
Country code first, 91 for India, and no plus sign. Spaces and dashes are stripped for you, so 91 98765 43210 is fine exactly as you'd write it.
Add a pre-filled message (optional)
Write it in the customer's voice, not yours 'Hi, I'd like the price list for bridal lehengas.' The generator URL-encodes it for you, spaces, commas and all.
Copy, test, place
Tap the finished link on your own phone once; thirty seconds of testing saves an ad campaign pointing at a typo. Then paste it anywhere a URL goes.
Six places to put the link
Instagram and Facebook bios
You get one bio link slot, spend it on a chat rather than a homepage. The same link works in Story link stickers and link-in-bio pages.
Click-to-WhatsApp ads
Meta ads can land the click directly in your chat instead of on a form nobody fills. The link is the destination.
Invoices and quotations
A 'Questions? Message us' link under the total gets doubts answered before they turn into unpaid invoices.
Google Business Profile
Put it in your profile and listing description so a 'near me' searcher reaches a chat instead of a phone that's engaged.
Email signatures and SMS
One line under your signature 'faster on WhatsApp', moves a stalled quotation thread to a channel people open the same day.
Visiting cards and packaging
Print the link short and readable, or pair it with a QR code so it works at scanning distance.
Pre-filled message examples that actually help
The best pre-filled text names the thing the customer wants, so your first reply can be an answer instead of a question:
- "Hi! Please share today's gold rate.", jewellery counter card
- "Hi, I'd like to book a table for tonight.", restaurant page
- "Hello, I'm interested in the 2BHK at Green Meadows.", property listing
- "Hi, please send the fee structure for NEET coaching.", institute brochure
- "Hi, I saw the Diwali offer on Instagram, is it still on?", festival campaign
Two habits worth keeping. Write in the customer's voice, because they are the one "saying" it. And give each placement its own message, the link on your invoice and the link in your ad shouldn't start identical conversations.
Different pre-fills also tell you, at zero cost, exactly where each chat came from. For deeper link-craft, buttons, short links, tracking, see the click-to-chat links guide, and if the link lives on your website, a floating WhatsApp chat button usually outperforms a text link.
The link starts the chat. What answers it?
Every tap starts a customer-initiated conversation, which is the cheap kind: replies you send inside the 24-hour window carry no Meta conversation fee at all. The trouble is never the bill, it's the volume, fifty chats a day on one phone is where good response times go to die, and the enquiry that lands at 11pm gets answered at noon.
The link keeps working at that point; what changes is the machinery behind it. An auto-reply answers in the first second, a shared team inbox lets three people work one number without forwarding screenshots to each other, and tags keep price-list requests apart from complaints.
If the link is the destination for paid ads, click-to-WhatsApp campaigns need their own follow-up plan on top. Growcord's free tier, 1 number, 50 conversations a month, is enough to put a real receiving end behind your link; the Basic plan is ₹299/month, or ₹99/month billed yearly, when the volume outgrows it.
Put a working link in your bio today
Generate it free above, then give it a proper receiving end. Growcord's free tier includes 1 number and 50 conversations a month.
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What you get here that you don't get elsewhere
Frequently asked questions
How do I create a WhatsApp link with a pre-filled message?
Use the format https://wa.me/ followed by your number in international form, then ?text= and your message with spaces encoded as %20, for example wa.me/919876543210?text=Hi%20there. The generator on this page does the formatting and encoding automatically: enter the number, type the message, copy the link. It works for any WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business or API number.
Is the wa.me link generator free?
Yes, completely free, with no signup, no watermark, and links that never expire. wa.me is WhatsApp's own official link domain, so there is nothing to subscribe to; a generator simply saves you hand-formatting the number and URL-encoding the message. Create as many links as you like, one per placement if you want to tell chats apart.
Does the link work if the customer hasn't saved my number?
Yes, that's the whole point of a click-to-chat link. Tapping it opens a chat with your number even if the person has never seen it before, on a phone or on WhatsApp Web. Nobody saves a contact, nobody types digits; the chat simply opens, with your pre-filled message ready to send if you set one.
Can I put a WhatsApp link in my Instagram bio?
Yes. Paste the wa.me link into the website field of your Instagram profile, or into link-in-bio pages, Story link stickers and Facebook page buttons. Tapping it takes the visitor from Instagram straight into a WhatsApp chat with you, a far shorter path than 'DM us for price', and it works for viewers who don't follow you.
What's the difference between wa.me and api.whatsapp.com links?
They do the same job. https://wa.me/<number> is the short official form; https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=<number>&text=... is the older long form, and wa.me redirects to it behind the scenes. Use wa.me, it's shorter, looks cleaner on printed material and in bios, and behaves identically with pre-filled text.
Do WhatsApp links expire or stop working?
No. A wa.me link is simply an address for your number, so it works for as long as that number is on WhatsApp. It only breaks if you change numbers or leave WhatsApp, links printed on packaging and visiting cards keep working for years. Anything time-limited, like an offer mentioned in your pre-filled text, is your copy's problem rather than the link's.
Why businesses pick Growcord
Official WhatsApp Business API
Built on Meta's Cloud API, the sanctioned channel, not a modded app. No number-ban roulette.
Indian pricing, GST invoice
Plans from ₹99/month billed yearly. Paid in ₹ via Razorpay, with a proper GST invoice every time.
Free tier, no card needed
1 number and 50 conversations a month to prove it on real customers before paying anything.
Support from New Delhi, in IST
A real team on email and WhatsApp, Monday to Saturday 10:00–19:00 IST, not a ticket void.
Talk to us
Get set up on WhatsApp this week
Tell us what you sell and how many customers you message. We'll reply on WhatsApp with the plan that fits and, if you want it, walk you through the Meta approval step.
- No sales call unless you ask for one
- Answers from the team that builds it, in IST hours
- Free tier available. You can start before you decide
Documentation and official resources
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Last updated: 2026-08-07