There are various methods for collecting client information:
✅ Online surveys
✅ Registration forms
✅ Order forms
✅ Rewards programs, and many more
But most of these solutions are rapidly becoming outdated in the era of digital transformation. The question is, how can your business keep up?🤔
The answer is simple! (You are probably holding the solution to unlocking your business potential in your hand right now 📱)
That solution is a WhatsApp link! But let’s rewind a little bit 📼
It is estimated that an average adult spends almost 3 hours a day (44 days a year) on their smartphone texting and scrolling on social media 🤳 This makes a smartphone the most used device and the best platform to communicate with your customer.
And what is the most popular communication app out there?
🥁 WhatsApp (with over 2 billion users worldwide 😱)
And great news for you, WhatsApp also caters to businesses like yours with their WhatsApp for Business and Business API extensions, helping you gain more visibility and accessibility. If you want to learn more about that, check out our blog.
In this article, we will go over a WhatsApp Lead Generation Strategy you can adapt to grow your customer base, primarily through the use of WhatsApp link.
Keep reading to learn about WhatsApp link and how it can transform your business 😉
In this article, you will see
- What is a WhatsApp Link?
- How Does a WhatsApp Link Work?
- How to Create a WhatsApp Link
- Ways of using a WhatsApp link
- Using WhatsApp Link with Kommo
- How can our team help?
- Make a personal sale with Kommo
What is a WhatsApp Link?
WhatsApp link is a link that redirects your website visitors directly to the messenger either on their smartphone or a desktop, prompting them to start a conversation without any extra steps.
A WhatsApp link consists of three different parts:
- Phone number
- Pre-filled message
- Standard link
📚 Recommended reading: Using WhatsApp for Bussiness
How Does a WhatsApp Link Work?
First of all, there are countless benefits to creating WhatsApp link for a business 🤩
📈 Increases the number of potential leads
👍 Enhances user experience
⏰ Saves time for your sales team
💬 Provides a two-way communication channel
You can use WhatsApp links in two ways:
- WhatsApp Click to Chat Links without Pre-filled message
- WhatsApp Click to Chat Links with Pre-filled message
Let’s see how each of these links works 🧐
WhatsApp Click to Chat Links without Pre-filled message
The user can reach out to you in just 2 clicks:
1st 👆: User follows WhatsApp link on your website, which opens the WhatsApp app 📲
2nd 👆: User sends you a message 💬
Once a lead sends a chat message, you receive the following:
✅ Phone number
✅ Contact full name
WhatsApp Click to Chat Links with a pre-filled Message
A WhatsApp Click to chat link with a pre-filled message is helpful when you want to know from which landing page a potential lead is contacting you. It will help your business by providing vital information to the sales or service team about the lead’s intentions, enhancing the efficiency of their communication process.
Same as before, all the user has to do is follow the link and open the app with just two clicks:
1st 👆: The user opens the WhatsApp app with a pre-filled message
2nd 👆: The user sends you a pre-filled message
Once a lead hits the send button, the following data is sent to you:
✅ Contact phone number
✅ Contact full name
✅ Pre-filled message
📚 Recommended reading: How to Create a WhatsApp Chatbot in CRM
How to Create a WhatsApp Link
By this time, you have already realized how great WhatsApp links are 🤩
But now, the question is how to create one? 🤔
To generate WhatsApp link and place it on your website, you can choose one of the following methods:
1️⃣ Create WhatsApp click-to-chat link manually
2️⃣ Generate link via WhatsApp Link Generators
Let’s take a look for more details 👇
How to create WhatsApp Click to Chat link manually
Your Whatsapp link can be short or long.
The primary distinction between them is that the long link contains the pre-filled message, whereas the short link does not.
WhatsApp Click to Chat long link – https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=
WhatsApp Click to Chat short link –https://wa.me/
Here’s the simplest way to create a short link:
- Copy the the main whatsapp link: https://wa.me/
- Put your phone number after the slash in the international format
- For example, https://wa.me/19119111234
Please note ☝️ To determine from which product page a potential customer contacted you, you must include a pre-filled message.
To do that, utilize the text parameter within the WhatsApp URL, and enter the pre-filled message text.
The text within the URL must be encoded using ASCII characters and the percent 20 characters in place of spaces.
Too complicated for you? 🤯
Keep calm 😉
Here is an example of a sample pre-filled message and how to encode it to your WhatsApp:
“Hello, how can I create an account? Thanks”
Done! 🙌 Any website visitor can now click the Start Chat button by following the link without wasting their time creating a new contact.
Another option is to copy the WhatsApp profile link on the iPhone. Specifically, to distribute a contact QR code, similar to a business card. Here’s how to proceed:
- Click on the Settings gear in the bottom right corner
- Next to your name, you will see the QR code icon – click on it to open the QR code and share it
- Once the QR code is scanned, you will automatically appear in their chat list
If you use the WhatsApp Business App, here’s another way to create a short link:
- Open the WhatsApp Business App
- Go to Settings > Business Tools > Short Link.
- Tap Short Link to view the link.
- Copy the link
- Paste it into a message, social media post, or add it to another website.
- Click the share icon to send the link directly to your customers
WhatsApp link generator
If you are not as tech-savvy and coding is too advanced for you, you can always look into specialized online services that will help you generate a WhatsApp link.
Luckily, in Kommo you can generate a WhatsApp link in just one click.
Here’s what you will have to do:
- Go to the Kommo WhatsApp link generator
- Type your whatsapp number that you want to be contacted on, and don’t forget to include your country code.
- Then, add a custom text that users will send you as a pre-filled message.
- Finally, click on “Generate my WhatsApp Link”, copy it, and Voila! Now you can use it anywhere you want!
Ways of using a WhatsApp link
🔗 WhatsApp link is the most crucial element of WhatsApp lead generation. People are the key element of every business. And if you want to get more people reaching out to your business, you have to put more effort into making it visible 🙋♀️
🥳 Luckily, WhatsApp links are incredibly versatile and can be used in different types of marketing campaigns and communication channels, helping businesses enhance WhatsApp lead generation.
Here’s how:
- Advertising campaigns through WhatsApp Ads
- Using widgets, subscription forms, or website buttons
- Adding QR codes on products or booklets
- Inserving the link in the description fields on social media channels
- Adding to email signatures
WhatsApp lead generation means focusing on prospective customers by utilizing WhatsApp messenger as the primary means of communication. The WhatsApp app can be used for marketing, sales, and support communications, allowing you to share valuable information with leads and guide them through the customer’s journey.
📚 Recommended reading: Contact Capture: WhatsApp QR Code
Using WhatsApp Link with Kommo
Messaging can get overwhelming 😬
With hundreds of new leads coming through your WhatsApp, it will be easy to forget to reply or follow-up 😰 This can really affect your sales performance 👎
👉 To avoid this, Kommo -a powerful CRM for messengers- can fully automate your lead capture and lead management process.
Kommo is a communication hub for all your valuable business conversations, helping you to convert potential leads into loyal customers. Every potential lead that will reach out to you, will automatically get a full-featured profile in Kommo from which any of your sales representatives can contact them at any time and follow up using their favorite channel: WhatsApp.Kommo can help you structure and optimize your whole Whatsapp sales process, as well as save you time and money 👍 So no more stress for you 😌
Here are a few stories how Kommo + WhatsApp integration helped our clients achieve their business goals.
And now let’s see how this can be achieved:
☝️ First, our team created a pre-filled WhatsApp link and used it in the WhatsApp ads campaign on Instagram.
✌️ Second, your target user will see the campaign with the WhatsApp link attached on their instagram feed. If the user gets interested, they can click a Learn more button on the ad.
Finally, the user will be asked to get redirected to WhatsApp. In the chat, they will already see a pre-filled message which will give a command to your sales representative (or a chatbot) to provide the user with requested information 📋
Speaking of chatbot 🤖 Another great feature of Kommo is that it automates conversations with your potential leads with the help of salesbot or premade templates to streamline your communication process.
As soon as the user clicks the send button, conversation in WhatsApp will start within the Kommo platform, capturing the lead’s digital footprint and creating a lead card to ensure all their information is safely stored within the system for future reference. Such as:
- Full name
- Phone number
- Pre-filled message
At the end of the conversation, the sales team representative responsible for this chat can summarize the main points in the notes and add a task for the next day to follow up with the lead.
All the details and events will be stored in the lead card, so even if someone else picks up the conversation, they will already be in the loop 😉This means there is no need to worry about missing any information! 😌
Here are some more ways how Kommo can help you manage all your WhatsApp leads:
👯♀️ Sharing WhatsApp access with the whole sales team
🚨 Getting follow-up reminders via email and CRM’s mobile app
📦 Storing WhatsApp chat history inside your CRM
🤖 Creating personalized WhatsApp templates and chatbots
How can our team help?
Optimizing your lead generation process via WhatsApp can be very challenging 😫
The great news is that we are here to help you every step of the way 🥳
If you still have questions about how to create a WhatsApp link or how to automate your sales process with WhatsApp, our team is happy to answer all of your questions 🤓
💬 Chat with us here on the website or within your account
🤓 Book a free demo session with our team
🤝 Find a partner to do it all for you so that you can relax
💭 Tell us what you think about the article!
