WhatsApp, QR Codes and the Doorways You Control

Where your link should already be

Your website address is an asset only when it is in front of people. In India the highest-traffic doorway is usually WhatsApp, and it is entirely free.

• WhatsApp Business profile. The business profile has a website field. Fill it in. Also fill in the address, hours and a one-line description, because customers open this before they type.
• Greeting and away messages. An automatic greeting for first-time messages, and an away message outside working hours, both of which can carry your link. “We are closed now, we open at 10 am. Timings and services are at yoursite.in.”
• Catalogue. If you sell products or fixed-price services, the WhatsApp catalogue lets people browse inside the chat.
• Instagram bio, Facebook page button, YouTube description. One link each, pointing at the page that matches what that audience came for.
• Email signature. Name, business, phone, website. On every phone and desktop you send mail from.

A QR code your customers will actually scan

Generate a QR code for your website or for a specific page, print it, and put it where people are already standing still: the billing counter, the waiting area, the back of your visiting card, the delivery packaging. Print it at least three centimetres square, test it with two different phones before printing a hundred, and put one line of text under it saying what happens if they scan. “Scan to see timings and book a slot” gets scanned. A bare square does not.

The click-to-chat link

WhatsApp supports a direct link in the form https://wa.me/91XXXXXXXXXX using your number with the country code and no spaces or plus sign. Anyone tapping it opens a chat with you, with no need to save your number first. Your site’s floating WhatsApp button uses exactly this mechanism, and you can use the same link in an Instagram bio or an email.

Then close the loop

Every doorway has to lead somewhere finished. Before you push the link anywhere, open it yourself on a phone, tap the enquiry button, and confirm the message or the form actually reaches the inbox you expect. A doorway that opens onto a broken step is worse than no doorway.