How do I create a WhatsApp click-to-chat link for my clinic?

A patient who has to save your number, open WhatsApp, and type a message by hand is a patient who might just call someone else instead. A click-to-chat link or QR code removes those three steps. Here is the official format, WhatsApp's own QR code feature, and where a clinic actually gets value from placing this everywhere.

What is a WhatsApp click-to-chat link?

It is a plain web link that opens a WhatsApp chat with a specific number, without the person clicking it needing to have that number saved as a contact. According to WhatsApp's own Help Center (opens in a new tab), "click to chat works on both your phone and WhatsApp Web," and as long as the number belongs to an active WhatsApp account, clicking the link opens a chat with it automatically. Nothing needs to be installed by the clinic and nothing needs to be approved by Meta to use one.

How do I build my clinic's wa.me link?

WhatsApp's Help Center gives the exact pattern: https://wa.me/<number>, where the number is written in full international format with the country code, and with no plus sign, leading zero, brackets or dashes.

1. 1

   Step 1: Start with your clinic's WhatsApp number

   Use the number your front desk or the person handling WhatsApp actually watches, not a doctor's personal line unless that is the intended number.
2. 2Sample: 9198XXXXXXXX (a placeholder, not a real clinic number)

   Step 2: Write it in full international format

   Sample: 9198XXXXXXXX (a placeholder, not a real clinic number)

   Country code plus the number, run together with nothing in between. An Indian mobile number 91XXXXXXXXXX has no plus sign, no space, and no leading zero.
3. 3

   Step 3: Put it after wa.me/

   The finished link reads https://wa.me/9198XXXXXXXX. Anyone who opens it on a phone with WhatsApp installed lands straight in a chat with that number.
4. 4

   Step 4: Test it yourself before sharing it anywhere

   Open the link on a phone that is not your clinic's WhatsApp account and confirm it opens the right chat, before it goes on a card, standee or profile.

How do I add a pre-filled message?

WhatsApp lets you add text that appears already typed in the chat box, which the patient can edit or send as is. Per the Help Center, the pattern is https://wa.me/<number>?text=<urlencodedtext>, where the message after ?text= is written in its URL-encoded form: a space becomes %20, and other punctuation has its own encoded form too. WhatsApp's own example is https://wa.me/1XXXXXXXXXX?text=I'm%20interested%20in%20your%20car%20for%20sale.

The first message here is exactly what would sit in the chat box for the patient to send, unedited, if the link had been built as https://wa.me/9198XXXXXXXX?text=Hi%2C%20I%20found%20you%20on%20your%20website%20and%20want%20to%20book%20a%20checkup. A tool that URL-encodes text for you saves the trouble of writing the percent signs by hand; the result is the same either way.

Where should a clinic use this link?

The same link works anywhere a patient can tap or scan, and the pre-filled message is what makes each placement distinct. The examples below are illustrations, not a fixed script; write a message a patient at that exact spot would actually send.

Adding the link to your Google Business Profile is done from the profile's Contact settings, not from this link itself. For setting up the WhatsApp Business app and profile behind the link, see our WhatsApp Business setup guide for clinics.

How do I get WhatsApp's own QR code for my clinic?

The WhatsApp Business app makes a QR code for you, and it is not simply a picture of your wa.me link. Per WhatsApp's Help Center (opens in a new tab), every WhatsApp Business account gets a QR code built from an automatically generated short link, found under Tools > Short Link. That short link carries its own pre-filled message, which you can set or change any time from inside the app, without writing or encoding a link by hand.

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the WhatsApp Business app

   Go to Tools, then Short Link, or Settings, then the QR code icon next to your business account name.
2. 2

   Step 2: Set your pre-filled message

   Use the message slider or edit option to write what a patient sees when they scan the code, per WhatsApp's Help Center.
3. 3

   Step 3: Save or share the QR code

   Take a screenshot, or tap Share code to save it as a photo or send it to yourself by email.
4. 4Source: WhatsApp Help Center

   Step 4: Print it at the right size

   Source: WhatsApp Help Center

   WhatsApp's own sticker template needs the printed code to be 8cm x 8cm (302x302 px), printed straight from the phone or from an emailed copy to keep the aspect ratio correct.

Your unique QR code will not expire on its own; per the same Help Center page, it stays valid unless you reset it or delete the WhatsApp Business account, so a card or standee printed with it keeps working until you deliberately change it.

• Nothing to install for a plain link. A wa.me link works in any browser and needs no app on your side beyond WhatsApp itself.
• The official QR code needs the Business app. It is generated from your account, not a third-party image tool, though pasting any wa.me link into a generic QR generator also produces a scannable code that does the same job.

How do I tell which place an enquiry came from?

Neither a wa.me link nor the Business app's QR code reports a click count anywhere in WhatsApp itself. The practical way clinics tell their sources apart is the same trick used above: a different pre-filled message for each place, read off the chat when it arrives.

This depends on the patient sending the message unedited, and on someone at the desk actually reading the opening line rather than skimming past it. For the fuller version of this, including a checklist for setting one link per channel and what to log when a message arrives, see our guide to finding out where your patients come from.

What should a clinic check before printing one?

A click-to-chat link or QR code does not collect or transmit anything by itself; it only opens a chat. What it does do is put a specific WhatsApp number in front of anyone who has the link or the printed code, so the number that goes into it is the real decision to get right before printing.

Once a patient does message the number behind the link, ordinary questions about storing and handling their reply start to apply, separate from the link itself. See our guide to missed calls at a clinic for what happens to an enquiry that arrives outside working hours. This page is general information, not legal advice.