Smart links and QR codes are here
A short link and a QR code for every poster, menu, bio and parcel. One tap or one scan opens a chat with you, and Avox shows you which one brought it.
Picture the poster in your shop window. It says "Message us on WhatsApp" and then a phone number. Someone walking past has to stop, open WhatsApp, start a new chat, type the number without a typo, think of something to say and send it. Most people get as far as "stop".
Smart links and QR codes fix that. A smart link is a short link, with its own QR code, that opens a WhatsApp chat with one of your numbers. The message is already typed in. All the customer does is press Send. Today they're in every Avox dashboard, under Smart links in the sidebar.
- NewSmart links: short links that open a WhatsApp chat with your number, message already typed
- NewA QR code for every link, with twenty starting designs, saved designs, a brand kit and a scan meter
- NewA "Your smart link is live" window with the QR code, ready to download, copy or share
- NewAnalytics for every link: QR scans, link clicks, chats started and conversions
- NewThe "Chat started from a link" automation trigger, with the link's details in every step
- NewA website chat button in your own colours, and "Send in a chat" from the Inbox
- NewDrafts that save as you go and reopen on the step where you stopped
How smart links and QR codes work
WhatsApp has had click-to-chat links for a long time: an address with a phone number and a message that opens a chat when you tap it. WhatsApp's own help page explains the format. They're useful, but they're long, they carry your full number, and nothing tells you whether anyone used them.
A smart link keeps the good part and adds the rest:
- You make a link in the dashboard: a name, the number it opens, an address and the message.
- Someone taps the link or scans its QR code. On a phone, WhatsApp opens straight away. On a computer, WhatsApp Desktop or WhatsApp Web opens after a short "Opening WhatsApp" page.
- The chat opens with your message typed in, with a short reference at the end, like
(ref AB3X9K). - They press Send. The message lands in your shared inbox like any other, and Avox matches it to the link.
That reference is the clever bit. It's how Avox knows which link a chat came from, whatever the address looks like and however the customer got there. People can change the greeting before they send it, and the chat still counts.
Making a link takes seven short steps
Create smart link opens a short wizard: name it, pick its address, choose what it does, write the first message, add dates or conversions if you like, design the QR code, then check and create. Beside every step sits the same preview: the QR code, the address, and a phone showing exactly what your customer will see when WhatsApp opens, message typed in and reference at the end.
You don't have to finish in one go. Once a link has a name and a number, it saves itself as a draft while you type, and a small line at the top says Saved as a draft. Open it again from the list and it carries on at the step where you stopped. A Switchboard can keep up to 5 smart link drafts at a time.
Three kinds of address
Every link gets a six-character code that never changes. The address can be just that code, the code with your own ending, or your ending alone:
chat.theavoxai.com/ab3x9k, short and random, so nobody can guess your other links;chat.theavoxai.com/ab3x9k-summer-sale, random with words people can read;chat.theavoxai.com/summer-sale, the easiest to say out loud, if nobody has taken it.
The codes skip characters that are easy to mix up, like 0 and o, or 1 and l. It's a small thing until you're reading one off a poster in the rain.
More than opening a chat
Every smart link opens WhatsApp with you. It never sends people to an outside website, so nobody can turn one of your links into a trick link. Inside WhatsApp, though, a link can do a little more as soon as the chat starts:
What a link can send
- Your chatThe message arrives in your Inbox and you, or your automations, take it from there.
- A FlowA booking form or an order, sent the moment the chat starts.
- A templateOne of your approved templates, buttons and all.
- Details from a tableChosen columns of one row, like a price list entry or opening hours.
These go out once, right after the customer's first message, inside the 24-hour reply window that message opens. They don't use automation credits. If you've already built a Flow, you can make a link for it straight from the Flow's page.
Live in one click
On the last step, Create and go live switches the link on straight away, or Create and schedule waits for its start date. When a link goes live, a window opens with the news, Your smart link is live, and everything you need to use it right then: the QR code, the address, Download QR code, Copy link and Share, which opens your device's own share options, or WhatsApp where there are none.
QR code downloads open only while a link is live. A draft, paused, ended or archived link keeps its Export button visible but switched off, with the reason beside it. That way nobody prints a code that opens a "this link isn't open" page.
Analytics for every link
Every link keeps its own numbers, from the first scan to the chat that came of it:
- QR scans and link clicks, counted apart, so you know the poster did its job and the bio link did its own;
- chats started, the visits that turned into a real message;
- conversions, the chats whose contact later got a tag you pick, like Paid or Booked;
- countries, devices, systems and campaign labels, for when one link is shared in several places.
We were careful about what gets counted. Smart links set no cookies and keep no IP addresses. Link previews, search engines and browser prefetches never count as visits. A chat counts when its message carries the link's reference and someone visited the link in the seven days before. The smart link analytics guide has the full rules.
The QR code designer
Every link comes with a QR code, and the designer is the part we had the most fun building. Twenty starting designs, twelve frames with a call to action, your own logo in the middle, saved designs and a brand kit for your whole team, and a scan meter that tells you, in plain words, whether the code will scan. When it's right, download it as a PNG in four sizes, an SVG or a PDF.
There's a whole post about it: Twenty QR designs, and a meter that tells you if it'll scan.
Let the link start the conversation, too
There's a new automation trigger: Chat started from a link. Pick one link or any link, and every step can use the link's details, like {{link.name}}, {{link.kind}} (scan or click) or {{link.utm_campaign}}. Tag everyone who came from the spring poster, send a welcome offer to people who scanned the menu, or hand the chat to the right person. If you already use premade automations, this slots in next to them. The triggers guide lists every value.
Sharing, folders and limits
A link's Share tab has the link, the QR code, a Website chat button and Send in a chat, which opens one of your conversations in the Inbox with the link ready in the reply box. Nothing is sent until you press Send.
The website chat button is a small piece of plain HTML with no script, for any site builder. Pick its words, one of seven icons (or none), a ready-made look or your own colours, see it on a light and a dark page, then press Copy code. There's a post about that too: A WhatsApp chat button for your website.
Folders keep a campaign's links together. Your plan sets how many links a Switchboard can have, and some plans have no limit. Paused and draft links count towards it; archived links don't, so archiving a link you've finished with frees its place. If you need more, Buy more links on the Smart links page adds extra links with one payment, and they stay with that Switchboard for good. The details are on the pricing page and in the smart links guide.
Questions people ask
Does it work with the WhatsApp Business app?
Yes. The chat starts with your number as usual, so it shows up in Avox and in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, like any other message.
What if someone deletes the reference before sending?
The chat still reaches you. It just isn't counted for the link, so "chats started" can be a little lower than the chats a link really brought.
Can I change a link after I've printed its QR code?
Yes. The code always points at the link, so you can change the message, what it sends or the design, and printed codes keep working. Changing the address itself is the one thing to think twice about: the old address still opens WhatsApp, but stops counting.
Why can't I download the QR code yet?
Downloads open once the link is live. Switch it on (or wait for its start date), and the Export button wakes up.
Do I need a connected number?
Yes, smart links open a chat with one of your connected WhatsApp numbers.
Make your first link this week, print one code, and put it somewhere people already stop and wait. Then check its numbers on Friday.
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Smart links and QR codes open a WhatsApp chat with your number, message already typed, and count every scan, click and chat. Here's how they work.
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