How to Create a Link That Automatically Opens WhatsApp With a Pre-Typed Message

📅 Updated May 2026

⏱ 7 min read

📱 Works on Mobile & Desktop

You want a customer to tap a button on your website and land straight in a WhatsApp conversation with you — message already typed, ready to send. No saving your number, no hunting through contacts. It’s a genuinely useful trick, and the link that makes it happen takes about 30 seconds to build.

Here’s exactly how to create a WhatsApp link with a pre-typed message — manually, with a free tool, and with enough detail that you can customise it for any use case: website buttons, Instagram bios, email signatures, or QR codes.

How the WhatsApp Click-to-Chat Link Works

WhatsApp officially supports a URL format called Click to Chat. When someone clicks this link, WhatsApp opens (or prompts them to install it) and starts a new chat to your number — with a message pre-filled in the text box. The user just hits send.

The base URL structure looks like this:

Two parts to note: the phone number goes after wa.me/ in international format without the plus sign or spaces, and the message goes after ?text= with spaces replaced by %20. That’s URL encoding — the web’s way of handling spaces in a link.

💡	Tip The ?text= part is optional. If you leave it out, the link still opens a chat to your number — just with an empty message box. Include it whenever you want to guide what the person says first.

Method 1 Build the Link Manually (Fastest)

Honestly, this is quicker than any tool once you’ve done it once. Let’s build a real example. Say your number is +233 244 123 456 and you want the message to say “Hi, I’d like to know more about your services.”

⚠️	Warning The most common mistake is leaving the + sign in the phone number or including spaces. wa.me/+233244123456 will fail. It must be digits only: wa.me/233244123456.

Method 2 Use WhatsApp’s Official Link Generator (No Encoding Needed)

If manually encoding special characters sounds annoying, skip the typing and use a generator instead. WhatsApp’s official Click to Chat documentation explains the format, but for actually building the link the easiest route is a dedicated generator tool.

Alternatively, create.wa.link is a widely used free third-party tool. Enter your phone number, type your message in plain text (no encoding needed), and it generates the correct URL instantly. I use this one for quick link creation because it also previews how the chat will look before you copy the link.

📝	Note Third-party generators like wa.link may wrap your link in their own short URL (e.g. wa.link/xxxxx). For personal use that’s fine, but for business websites I recommend using the raw wa.me URL directly — no third-party dependency, no link breakage if the service goes down.

Where to Use Your WhatsApp Link

Once you have the link, here’s how to put it to work in the most common places:

On a Website Button

Wrap the link in a standard HTML anchor tag. Here’s a ready-to-paste example:

In an Instagram or TikTok Bio

Paste the full wa.me URL directly into your bio link field. Instagram and TikTok make any URL in the bio clickable. The pre-typed message works perfectly when a follower taps it on mobile.

In an Email Signature

In Gmail, go to Settings → See all settings → General → Signature. Highlight the text you want to link (e.g. “Chat on WhatsApp”), click the Insert link icon (chain link symbol), and paste your wa.me URL into the URL field.

As a QR Code

Copy your finished wa.me link and paste it into any free QR code generator — qr-code-generator.com works well and needs no account. Download the QR code and add it to flyers, packaging, menus, or business cards. When someone scans it, WhatsApp opens with your pre-typed message ready to go.

Pro Tips & Common Mistakes

✍️ Keep the Message Short Pre-typed messages work best as conversation starters, not essays. One or two sentences max — the user edits it before sending anyway. “Hi, I saw your ad and I’m interested” is perfect.	🌍 Always Use the Country Code A local number like 0244123456 won’t work. WhatsApp requires the full international format without the plus: 233244123456 for Ghana, 447911123456 for UK, 12025551234 for US.
🔗 Test on Both Mobile and Desktop On desktop, the link opens WhatsApp Web or the desktop app. On mobile, it opens the WhatsApp app directly. Test both to make sure the experience is right for your audience.	🔁 Use Different Messages per Context Create different links for different placements. A website button might say “Hi, I’d like a quote” while a flyer might say “Hi, I saw your flyer and want more info.” Same number, different text parameter.