← Blog · Business · 4 min read
A WhatsApp QR code that opens a chat, pre-typed
For a lot of businesses WhatsApp is the phone number. A code on the window turns a passer-by into a conversation without them typing anything.
Get the number format right, or nothing works
The number must be in full international format: country code, then the number, with no plus sign, no spaces, no dashes, no leading zero.
A Qatari number written locally as 5551 2345 becomes 97455512345. A UK number written 07700 900123 becomes 447700900123 — note the leading zero disappears when the country code goes on.
This trips up nearly everyone the first time, and the symptom is a code that opens WhatsApp to nothing at all.
Pre-type the first message
A WhatsApp link can carry a message that appears already typed in the box, waiting to be sent. This is more useful than it sounds: it removes the moment where someone has opened a chat and does not know what to say, which is where most of them close it again.
Keep it short and specific to where the code is. "Hi, I would like to book a table" on a restaurant window. "Hi, I am asking about the blue chair in the window" outside a furniture shop. The customer can edit it, and often will, but they are now in a conversation rather than staring at an empty box.
Business account or personal
The code works with either. A WhatsApp Business account adds things worth having if this becomes a real channel: an away message for when you are closed, a greeting for first contact, and labels to keep enquiries organised.
If you expect more than a handful of messages a day, set up the away message before you print anything. A code that produces silence outside business hours is worse than no code.
Where to put it
On the window, at eye level, is the classic. It catches people who walked past while you were closed, which is traffic you otherwise lose entirely.
On the receipt or the invoice it becomes a support channel. On a product label it becomes a question channel — "message us about this item" gets used far more than a printed phone number does.
Test with a phone that is not yours
Your own phone already has the chat open, so it will appear to work even if the number is wrong. Borrow a phone that has never messaged you, scan the printed code, and check the chat opens to the right number with the right text.
Then answer it. A code that opens a chat nobody replies to costs more goodwill than it earns.
Static code — nothing expires, no account, no sign-up.
Make a WhatsApp QR code →