How to add a WhatsApp chat button to WordPress - Step-by-step guide

Your website and blog may be the center of your brand. But if it’s not connected to your social chats, you’re missing out on a ton of potential leads and sales. In other words: You need a plan.

Whether you have a personal or business account, integrating WhatsApp with WordPress makes sense for everyone involved — both for the user and the company behind it. Here’s how integrating WhatsApp and WordPress can work wonders for both sides of the equation...

What Is WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is a mobile messaging and calling app. It’s so popular that it has over one billion active users worldwide, as well as in most countries in Europe and Latin America. What makes it so great? It’s simple: WhatsApp keeps your conversation with the people you care about private by encrypting your messages before they are sent, which means that only those people you choose can read them. That can be huge for business owners who work on the go and need an alternative to email or the phone for the important conversations happening between them and their team members.

Why Would You Want to Integrate WhatsApp and WordPress?

You have a blog or website that you want to make sure is receiving the attention it deserves. WhatsApp allows you to reach your audience wherever they are. You can also easily share content through the platform. WordPress is by far one of the most popular Content Management Systems on the market. It’s easy for people to use and it has plenty of integrations with other social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube. ...Integrating your blog or website with WhatsApp will help you reach people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to find their way there — especially if they’re not tech-savvy. It also makes sense for businesses looking for new leads and sales opportunities because creating an integrated strategy is the best way to do so.

How to add a WhatsApp chat to WordPress for free?

The first step is to sign up for a WhatsApp (Business) account. If you don’t have one, you can create one at https://www.whatsapp.com/business/. Next, install the WhatsApp app that will use your WhatsApp business number to send and receive messages.

Once the app is installed, the next step is to let your users know how they can find the button on your website and blog. You can opt for any of these methods:

There are two methods:

1. Integrate with WhatsApp using a link (simple)

2. Integrate with WhatsApp chats using Boei (simple)

1. Integrate WordPress and WhatsApp using a link

For this to work, you need to create a button on your website.

To open WhatsApp, you can use the following link format.

https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=<reference>

You can replace <reference> with your phone number.

2. Integrate WordPress and WhatsApp chat using Boei

Boei lets your customers chat with you via their favorite channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Slack, Telegram, and many other chat channels.

When you set up WhatsApp on Boei, it will look like this:

In Boei, you can create a new (so-called) helper for WhatsApp. Here you can fill in your WhatsApp or WhatsApp for business phone number.

This is how you create the helper in Boei:

Next to WhatsApp, you can also add many other channels (like Facebook Messenger chat or Telegram, see here). Or even an embedded contact form and newsletter subscription.

Boei is super easy to install, 👉 Boei plugin on WordPress.org.

Also, Boei is super lightweight and does not need to use a heavy Javascript library.

Conclusion

With the help of this article, you are now able to add WhatsApp to your WordPress website and benefit of more leads.