For a lot of South African customers, WhatsApp is the most natural way to contact a business. They will happily send a voice note asking for a price, and never get round to filling in a contact form. If your website does not make WhatsApp easy, you are losing enquiries you never knew existed.
The simplest version: a click-to-chat button
WhatsApp has a free, official link format: wa.me/ followed by your number in international format, without the plus sign, spaces or the leading zero. A South African number such as 082 123 4567 becomes wa.me/27821234567. Tapping it on a phone opens a chat with you; on a computer it opens WhatsApp Web or the desktop app.
You can also pre-fill the first message, so a customer on a product page starts the chat with "Hi, I'd like a quote for the blue three-seater couch." You immediately know what they are looking at, without having to ask.
Where to place it:
- A floating button in the corner of every page on mobile, so it is always one tap away.
- On product and service pages, with a pre-filled message naming the item.
- On the contact page, alongside your phone number and form, not instead of them.
Click-to-chat links are free. They cost nothing beyond the time it takes to answer.
WhatsApp Business app vs WhatsApp Business API
This is where people get confused. There are two different products:
The WhatsApp Business app
The free app on your phone. It adds a business profile, opening hours, a product catalogue, quick replies, labels and an automatic away message. For a sole trader or small team that answers from one phone, it is usually enough.
Its limits appear as you grow. One number lives on one main phone with a few linked devices. There is no proper way to assign chats to staff or see who answered what, and if the phone is lost or the staff member leaves, so does the history.
The WhatsApp Business API
The platform version, used through a provider. It lets a whole team work from one business number in a shared inbox, assign conversations, use chatbots for common questions, connect to your CRM or order system, and send approved notifications such as order updates and appointment reminders.
The trade-off is cost. Meta charges for many types of messages sent through the API, with rates set per country and updated regularly, plus whatever the platform provider charges. Marketing messages cost the most. Replies to customers who messaged you first are treated more generously. Check current pricing before you commit, because Meta's model has changed several times recently.
When to move to a shared inbox
The free app is enough until one of these starts happening:
- More than one person needs to answer customers from the same number.
- Chats are being missed or answered twice.
- You need the history to survive a staff member leaving.
- You are answering the same five questions dozens of times a day.
- You want order or booking notifications to go out automatically.
At that point a shared team inbox built on the API, such as ChatWorks, pays for itself in missed enquiries alone.
WhatsApp and POPIA
A customer messaging you about an enquiry is fine. Sending them promotions afterwards is direct marketing, and under POPIA that generally needs their consent. Keep a record of who opted in to marketing messages, make it easy to opt out, and never add people to broadcast lists just because they once asked a question. We cover this in more detail in our POPIA website checklist.
Do not remove the form
WhatsApp should sit alongside your other contact options, not replace them. Some customers, particularly businesses and larger buyers, still prefer email and a paper trail. A good website offers WhatsApp first on mobile, keeps a short form and an email address for everyone else, and makes the phone number tappable.
The short version
Add a click-to-chat button to every page, with pre-filled messages on product pages. Use the free WhatsApp Business app while one person answers. Move to a shared API inbox when a team needs to share the number, or when chats start slipping through the cracks.