How to create a WhatsApp QR code and link for business: 2026 guide

To create a WhatsApp link, add your business number in international format after wa.me/, for example https://wa.me/77001234567. A QR code is made from the same link in any QR generator or in the WhatsApp Business app. Below, step by step: how to add a ready message, where to place the code and how to count how many customers used it.

Tapping a button or pointing a camera is easier for a customer than saving your number and searching for you in the chat list. Every extra step loses some people. A link and a QR code remove those steps: the person lands straight in a chat with your company, sometimes with the question already typed.

How do I create a WhatsApp link?

Take the number that runs WhatsApp and write it in international format: country code and number together, without a plus, spaces, brackets or a leading 8. Then add it after https://wa.me/. The link is ready, and you can test it in your phone browser.

How the number is written	Correct link	Why
+7 (700) 123-45-67	https://wa.me/77001234567	Plus, brackets, spaces and dashes removed
8 700 123 45 67	https://wa.me/77001234567	The leading 8 replaced with country code 7
+996 555 123 456	https://wa.me/996555123456	Kyrgyzstan uses code 996
+998 90 123 45 67	https://wa.me/998901234567	Uzbekistan uses code 998

The most common mistake is a number starting with 8. Such a link opens WhatsApp but says the number is not on WhatsApp, and the customer leaves.

How do I add a ready message to the link?

Add ?text= and the message to the link, replacing spaces with %20. For example, https://wa.me/77001234567?text=Hello!%20I%20want%20to%20book opens a chat with the phrase already typed, and the customer only has to tap Send.

A ready message helps you too: the first phrase shows where the person came from. A shop window can use "Writing from your sign", a business card "Writing from your card", packaging "Question about my order". This shows which touchpoint works without any analytics.

How do I make a QR code for WhatsApp?

There are three ways, and all of them are free. Choose based on whether you need click statistics.

1. In the WhatsApp Business app. Business tools include a short link to your number with a QR code, and you can set the text of the first message there.
2. In a QR code generator. Paste the wa.me link with the text and download the image. Choose a static code: it points directly to the link and will keep working even if the generator closes or asks for payment.
3. From a link with analytics. If you make a QR code from the public link of a WazzaBee widget, every visit through it is counted. How it works is explained below.

Before printing, scan the code with two or three phones. On a business card make the code at least 2 cm wide, on a sign or banner larger, so it can be read from a distance.

Where should I place a WhatsApp link and QR code?

Wherever the customer is already thinking about buying and has a phone in hand. Each place needs its own format: a button on a website, a QR code on paper, only a direct link on maps.

Where	What to place	Tip
Website	WhatsApp button in the corner of the screen	Let the message include the page address or product name
Instagram and TikTok	Link in the profile	Message text with the network name to see the source
2GIS and Google Maps	Direct wa.me link	These services accept only direct links
Business cards, receipts, packaging	QR code	A caption next to it: "Point your camera to write on WhatsApp"
Sign, stand, menu	Large QR code	A separate message text for each location

A website button comes from the free WhatsApp widget for websites by WazzaBee. It adds the product name, price and page address to the message, and the code is inserted as one line before the closing body tag.

How can I count how many people came through a QR code?

A regular wa.me link does not count visits: you only see those who typed and sent a message. To see those who opened the chat and changed their mind, you need a link with analytics.

The Code tab of a WazzaBee widget has a public link like app.wazzabee.com/w/your_key. It opens WhatsApp just like wa.me, but every visit is recorded in the widget statistics: clicks, countries and pages. Make a QR code from it for your sign, a separate widget with its own link for business cards, and compare which channel brings more people. Setup is described in the widget guide.

WazzaBee widgets on client websites have already been shown to visitors more than 43,000 times, and more than 750 people have opened WhatsApp through them.

How is a customer QR code different from a WhatsApp login QR code?

They are different things. The QR code from this article opens a chat with your company on the customer's phone. The QR code shown by WhatsApp Web or a third-party service links your number to it: whoever scans it gets access to your conversations.

Never publish a login QR code and never scan someone else's code at the request of a "support team". And do not connect a work number to bulk messaging services by QR: Meta bans such numbers for mass messages, see why WhatsApp was banned.

What should I do when many customers write through the link?

Move the number to the official WhatsApp Business API. While there are a dozen messages a day, one phone is enough. When there are a hundred and three agents reply, the phone becomes a bottleneck: replies get lost, and the owner cannot see who talks to customers and how.

The link and QR code stay the same because the number is the same. What changes is what happens after the tap:

• messages arrive in a shared dashboard where several agents reply at once;
• every chat goes to Bitrix24 or amoCRM as a lead or deal;
• templates and a chatbot answer frequent questions;
• a customer who wrote first can be answered with regular messages for 24 hours, this is the 24-hour rule;
• you can send broadcasts to your own base without a ban for the mere fact of sending them.

How the app differs from the API is explained in WhatsApp Business or WhatsApp Business API.

How much does it cost to connect a number to WhatsApp Business API?

A WhatsApp Business API line in WazzaBee costs $68 per month, connection is free and takes 15 minutes. A new line works for 7 days on trial. The website widget and the link with analytics are free and work without a subscription.

WazzaBee is an official Meta partner operating since January 2026, and more than 500,000 messages have passed through the service. Support answers in the dashboard and by phone +7 777 261 11 16.