WhatsApp chat button for website
Tap once.The chat opens.
A WhatsApp chat button is a link: https://wa.me/ followed by your number in international format, with an optional ?text= message already typed in.
Put it behind any button on your site and a tap opens a chat with you in WhatsApp, on a phone or on WhatsApp Web. The builder below makes the link, a button and HTML to paste. The rest covers three ways to add it, what visitors see, and what a link button can’t do.
By the Builderify team
An example, made up for this page
How does a WhatsApp chat button work?
It’s one link.
A WhatsApp chat button is an ordinary link to wa.me with your number in it. The button, image or line of text you put it behind decides how it looks. WhatsApp decides what happens on the tap: its click to chat feature opens a chat with that number, on a phone or on WhatsApp Web, without the visitor saving your number first.
The number is where most links go wrong. WhatsApp wants it in full international format: country code first, then the number, with no plus sign, zeros, brackets or dashes. A UK mobile written 07700 900123 becomes 447700900123. The builder below does that for you.
-
01
Chat
https://wa.me/447700900123
Opens a chat with your number.
Plain contact button
-
02
Chat and message
https://wa.me/447700900123?text=Hi%2C%20I%20have%20a%20question
The text appears in the message box. The visitor can read it, change it and press Send.
Best for most sites
-
03
Message only
https://wa.me/?text=Hi%2C%20I%20have%20a%20question
WhatsApp shows the visitor a list of contacts to send it to. That is a share link, not a way to reach you.
Not a contact button
From WhatsApp’s Help Center page How to use click to chat, read on 1 November 2026. Its own example: use https://wa.me/1XXXXXXXXXX, not https://wa.me/+001-(XXX)XXXXXXX.
Build your WhatsApp link.
Number in, button out.
Type your number the way you dial it, add the message you want typed in, and the builder makes the link, a button preview and HTML you can paste. It starts on a made-up UK number; change anything. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Your link
- 447700900123 is 12 digits, country code +44 (United Kingdom).
- Dropped the leading zero and added 44, the code for United Kingdom.
- The message is URL-encoded, so spaces, commas and apostrophes can’t break the link. The visitor sees it in the message box and presses Send.
Preview
Paste-ready HTML
<a href="https://wa.me/447700900123?text=Hi%2C%20I%27d%20like%20a%20quote.%20Here%27s%20what%20I%20need%3A%20" target="_blank" rel="noopener"
style="display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:8px;padding:12px 20px;border-radius:9999px;background:#0e7a6b;color:#fff;font:600 15px/1.2 system-ui,sans-serif;text-decoration:none">
<svg width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1.8" aria-hidden="true"><path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" d="M4 5h16a1 1 0 0 1 1 1v10a1 1 0 0 1-1 1H9l-4 4v-4H4a1 1 0 0 1-1-1V6a1 1 0 0 1 1-1z"/></svg>
Chat on WhatsApp
</a>Paste it into a custom HTML or code block. A floating button stays in the corner of every page the block loads on.
If it opens the wrong chat
Check the number first: country code, then digits only, with no zero after the code. Some countries add a digit for mobile numbers, so compare the result with how your number appears in WhatsApp.
Keep the message short
It’s a starting line, not a script. Say what the visitor wants and leave a gap for the detail, like “I need a quote for…”. They can change every word.
WhatsApp’s own button
WhatsApp’s Help Center offers an official Chat on WhatsApp button, in English only, and asks that you use it as it is. This builder makes a plain button of your own; to use theirs, put your link behind their image.
The link format and the official button are from WhatsApp’s click to chat page; the 15-digit limit is from ITU-T E.164. Both read on 1 November 2026.
How do you add a WhatsApp chat button to a website?
Three ways, by effort.
Put the link behind a button, add Builderify’s WhatsApp block, or paste the HTML. The first works in every site builder, the second floats in the corner without any code, and the third gives you a one-tap floating button wherever a builder allows custom HTML.
-
01Every builder
Behind a button you already have
Add a button, an image or a line of text, set its address to your wa.me link and have it open in a new tab. It’s an ordinary link, so any site builder, theme or page builder can do it.
A contact page, or the end of a service page.
-
02Floating, no code
Builderify’s WhatsApp block
Add the Builderify script tag once, open the live editor, pick WhatsApp in the Contact group and swap your link in for the example. It sits in the bubble’s panel, with rules for which pages and devices see it.
A site that also wants chat, forms or a cookie banner from one tag.
-
03Floating, with code
Paste the HTML
Paste the builder’s HTML into a custom HTML or code block, or into your builder’s site-wide code area. A floating button stays in the corner of every page it loads on.
A plain site, or a builder with a header and footer code area.
Some builders show an HTML block inside an iframe, where a button can’t float over the page. If yours does, use the first route or the second.
Before you publish
Open it from another phone
Use a phone that isn’t signed in to your number. It should open a chat with your business, with the message typed in.
Open it on a computer
WhatsApp says click to chat works on WhatsApp Web as well as on phones, so look at the desktop version too.
Look for clashes
A floating button can sit on top of a cookie banner or another chat bubble. Move it to the other corner, or give it an offset.
Press it with a thumb
A button should be easy to hit on a small screen. The floating one is 56 pixels across; keep it about that size if you restyle it.
Is a WhatsApp link button enough?
It starts the chat, then steps aside.
A link button gets visitors into a WhatsApp chat with you and does nothing after that. For many small businesses that is enough. These are the gaps worth knowing before you rely on it.
-
01
The chat lives in WhatsApp
Replies happen in WhatsApp, on your phone or on WhatsApp Web, not on your site. Builderify’s Inbox, Leads and Activity don’t receive them.
-
02
A tap isn’t a message
The text is typed in for the visitor, but nothing reaches you until they press Send, and they can change it first. Count messages received, not taps, to see what the button earns.
-
03
You won’t know the page
A link can’t carry the page it was tapped on. Put the context in the message, or use a different message on each page. In Builderify you can add the block more than once, each with its own page rule.
-
04
Visitors need WhatsApp
People without it can’t use the button. Keep a phone or email button beside it; the Contact group in the bubble has both.
-
05
Replies depend on you
The WhatsApp Business app adds a greeting message, away messages for outside your hours and up to 50 quick replies. Nothing on your site answers in WhatsApp for you.
-
06
It runs on WhatsApp’s terms
WhatsApp carries the conversation, and the visitor’s number comes to you. Mention that in your privacy notice.
The Business app details are from WhatsApp’s greeting messages, quick replies and Business app features pages, read on 1 November 2026.
Count the taps
A WhatsApp button you put on the page is a click to another site, which User Journey records on its own, per page. To count it as a goal, add a Clicks an element goal with the selector a[href*="wa.me"]; the button click tracking guide shows how. It counts taps, not messages: only your WhatsApp tells you how many people pressed Send.
Builderify’s WhatsApp block:
a link button in the bubble.
The floating bubble has a WhatsApp block in its Contact group: a link button that starts as https://wa.me/your_phone_number and says Chat on WhatsApp. Replace the example with the link from the builder above, change the label if you like, and publish. It is the same wa.me link, so everything above about the number and the message still applies.
A ready-made link button
The Contact group has WhatsApp, Phone Call, Email, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Viber, Discord and WeChat. Each is a link button with its own icon and starting address.
Rules for who sees it
Every block has its own rules: pages, desktop or mobile, new or returning visitors, where they came from, and a date range. Show WhatsApp only on mobile, or only on your pricing and contact pages.
More than one message
Link blocks can be added more than once, so a pricing page and a service page can each have their own typed-in message, with a page rule apiece.
Out of the way
Put the bubble in any corner, with offsets of your own so it doesn’t cover a cookie banner, and choose its button label and icon.
No charge per tap.
A tap on a link button isn’t on the rate card. What the widget uses is page loads, at 10 credits per 1,000, so the 250 free credits every account gets each month cover 25,000 of them, with no monthly fee. See the pricing page for the whole rate card.
250 free
credits every month, with no monthly fee
10 credits
per 1,000 page loads with the widget on them
From $9
for a one-time pack of credits that never expire
When it isn’t the right fit
Builderify doesn’t receive or answer WhatsApp conversations: the block only opens WhatsApp. For chat that stays on your own page, use Live Chat or the AI Chatbot; the free live chat plans compared covers the other tools. Messenger works the same way with an m.me link, and the Messenger chat plugin guide builds one. A block also lives in the bubble’s panel, so a visitor opens the bubble before they see it. For a one-tap floating button, paste the builder’s HTML instead.
Build the link above, then add the WhatsApp block in the live editor. The bubble can carry your forms, popups and cookie banner on the same tag.
Start freeWhatsApp buttons, answered.
Make a link of the form https://wa.me/ followed by your phone number in international format, put it behind a button, an image or a line of text, and set it to open in a new tab. The builder on this page makes the link, a button and the HTML to paste, and the Builderify bubble has a ready-made WhatsApp block. The conversation itself stays in WhatsApp; it does not reach Builderify's Inbox.
Country code first, then the number, digits only: no plus sign, zeros, brackets or dashes. A UK mobile written 07700 900123 becomes 447700900123, so the link is https://wa.me/447700900123. WhatsApp's own example is wa.me/1XXXXXXXXXX, not wa.me/+001-(XXX)XXXXXXX.
Yes. Add ?text= and the message with its spaces and symbols URL-encoded, for example https://wa.me/447700900123?text=Hi%2C%20I%20have%20a%20question. The text appears in the message box and the visitor still presses Send, so they can change it first.
Yes. A wa.me link costs nothing and needs no plugin. In Builderify a tap on the WhatsApp block isn't on the rate card: page loads with the widget on them cost 10 credits per 1,000, every account gets 250 free credits a month and there is no monthly fee.
Yes. WhatsApp says click to chat works on phones and on WhatsApp Web. Test it on a computer as well as a phone, because what the visitor sees after the tap is WhatsApp's own screens, not your site's.
Sources
The WhatsApp and ITU pages were read on 1 November 2026. WhatsApp changes its help pages and features from time to time, so check its click to chat page before you rely on a detail. The Builderify details come from the product and its module pages. The business, the number and the message in the pictures are made up.
Stop losing the visitors
you already paid for.
More leads from the traffic you already have, and follow-up that sends itself. Free to start. No card, no monthly fee.