How to Integrate WhatsApp into Your WordPress Website

Last Updated on January 29, 2023 by 34 Comments

How to Integrate WhatsApp into Your WordPress Website
Blog / Tips & Tricks / How to Integrate WhatsApp into Your WordPress Website

In July of 2017, WhatsApp officially announced that over 1 billion people use WhatsApp every single day. Yes, that’s billion with a B. Those users also send over 55 billion messages…every day. With a WhatsApp WordPress integration, you can start making your website a part of those billions of messages.

Additionally, WhatsApp is no longer just for phones – there are now both Mac and Windows apps that have made WhatsApp officially multi-platform.

In this post, I’ll teach you a few different ways that you can integrate WhatsApp into WordPress. While there isn’t a huge variety of options, there are some ways that you can integrate WhatsApp that go beyond just social sharing.

Best of all, every single plugin or solution that I’ll outline is 100% free! Let’s dive in…

What Are The Ways That You Can Integrate WhatsApp Into WordPress?

There are a couple different ways that you can set up a WhatsApp WordPress integration.

First, you can implement a basic button that lets users share your posts via WhatsApp. I’ll show you two ways to implement this via:

  • A floating share bar
  • A dedicated WhatsApp button

In addition to these two methods, many full-service social media plugins also support WhatsApp. Because we’ve already written about social sharing plugins and such plugins aren’t specific to WhatsApp, I won’t show this method, though.

Beyond social sharing, though, you can also use WhatsApp to offer support to your visitors by letting them easily start a conversation with you via WhatsApp.

Obviously, this isn’t for every single website – but it is a neat solution for business-oriented websites because it allows you to continue the conversation even after someone leaves your site.

I’ll show you how to let visitors send you a WhatsApp message via:

  • A free plugin
  • The actual WhatsApp API

How to Add a Floating WhatsApp Share Button to Your Mobile Site

For this first option, you’ll learn how to add a floating WhatsApp share bar to the mobile version of your site.

I looked around for a few different plugins and stumbled on the free KN Mobile ShareBar plugin. In addition to WhatsApp, it also adds Facebook and Twitter buttons. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to disable that without digging into the plugin’s code.

Once you install and activate the plugin, your buttons are automatically live:

install and activate

When a visitor taps the WhatsApp button, they’ll be taken straight to share the post via the WhatsApp API, complete with a pre-filled message:

WhatsApp API

You can customize the pre-filled message via the plugin’s settings. To do that, head to Settings → KN Mobile Sharebar and edit the Whatsapp Text box:

Note that you can use the shortcodes to insert dynamic information for the post’s title and URL.

And that’s all there is to it! Just remember that these share buttons will only appear to mobile users. Additionally, if you’re already using a social sharing plugin, you should definitely test for any potential compatibility issues on the mobile version of your site.

How to Add a Dedicated WhatsApp Button to Mobile

If you want a solution that’s entirely dedicated to WhatsApp, you can use the free Share Post On WhatsApp plugin. Just be aware that you’ll lose that neat floating bar functionality from the previous plugin.

The plugin is super simple – once you install and activate it, all you need to do is go to Settings → Share Post on WhatsApp to enable the WhatsApp share button:

When a mobile user clicks on the button, they’ll be asked to open the actual WhatsApp app (verified to work on my iPhone 6).

The only downside is that the plugin will appear on both desktop and mobile versions of your site, despite the fact that the button only works on mobile:

To fix that, you can use CSS and media queries. I managed to hide it on the desktop version of my site by using something like:

@media screen and (min-width:667px) {
.share-to-whatsapp-wrapper {
display:none;
}
}

Another free plugin that automatically hides the button for desktop users is WhatsApp Share Button from Alex Moss. The plugin hasn’t been updated in three years, though, which makes me hesitant to recommend it. It did seem to work when I ran it through some basic tests, though.

How to Add WhatsApp Live Chat to WordPress

Beyond social sharing, another neat WhatsApp WordPress integration is to use WhatsApp to talk to your visitors via pseudo-live chat. This can be an easy alternative to using a live chat plugin.

I say “pseudo” because the live chat button only initiates the chat. Once the chat is started, you’ll need to continue it via the WhatsApp interface.

To add a WhatsApp chat button to WordPress, I like the free WhatsHelp Chat Button plugin.

Once you install and activate the plugin, you need to head to this external page to actually generate your button code:

On that page, make sure to select WhatsApp as your messaging app and fill out the rest of the information. You can view a live preview in the bottom right:

Once you’re finished, enter your email at the bottom and click Get Button Code. Then, paste that code into the WhatsHelp tab in your WordPress dashboard:

Once you save your changes, you should see your WhatsApp chat button on the live version of your site:

How to Create Your Own Solution With the WhatsApp API

If none of the above plugins are doing it for you, you can also create your own custom button using the WhatsApp API.

All you need to do is use your button to send traffic to this URL:

https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=PHONENUMBERHERE&text=ENCODEDTEXTHERE

For example, creating a Send Message button that links here:

https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=123456789&text=This%20is%20a%20message

Sends a WhatsApp chat message to “123456789” with the message “This is a message”:

If you’re struggling with how to encode text, you can use a tool like this one.

Because all you need to do is send people to a link with this method, you have a ton of flexibility in how you can implement it. You can even use it in a Divi module if you want.

Wrapping Things Up

WhatsApp is a massively popular tool – the numbers speak for themselves. With its expansion into web and mobile apps, WhatsApp is also multi-platform.

By integrating WhatsApp into WordPress, you can allow the service’s billions of users to connect with you and/or share your content via WhatsApp.

If you’re already using a social share button plugin, you may be able to add WhatsApp share buttons via that. Otherwise, you can use one of the two outlined solutions to add WhatsApp share buttons to WordPress.

Beyond sharing, though, you can also use WhatsHelp or the WhatsApp API to let your visitors send messages directly to your own WhatsApp number.

Now over to you – do you think WhatsApp chat buttons are a viable alternative/addition to live chat? Given WhatsApp’s popularity, it seems like an interesting option, depending on your specific demographic.

Article thumbnail image by x9626 / shutterstock.com

Divi

Want To Build Better WordPress Websites? Start Here! 👇

Take the first step towards a better website.

Get Started
Divi
Premade Layouts

Check Out These Related Posts

Splice Video Editor: An Overview and Review

Splice Video Editor: An Overview and Review

Updated on March 10, 2023 in Tips & Tricks

Video is a valuable form of content for social media. Unfortunately, creating quality videos is usually a long process that involves moving mobile footage to a desktop app for editing. However, mobile editing is on the rise. Apps such as Splice Video Editor make it possible to efficiently create...

View Full Post
How to Use Font Awesome On Your WordPress Website

How to Use Font Awesome On Your WordPress Website

Updated on September 16, 2022 in Tips & Tricks

When given the choice between using a vector icon or a static image, it’s a good idea to go with the vector. They’re small and fast to load, and they can scale to any size without a loss of resolution. Font Awesome is a superb library of vector icons that you can use on your websites,...

View Full Post

34 Comments

  1. Goood

  2. Can whatsapp chat be used on a website for 2 way communication between two registered users similar to live chat but instead of using whatapp API/Plugin.

  3. With the help of it you can easily connect your WhatsApp to the WordPress site
    Its very good and free plugin. Very Nice Inforamation…

  4. With the help of it you can easily connect your WhatsApp to the WordPress site
    its very helpful also now its easy to share. Its very good and free plugin.

  5. Hello!

    Is there any way to hide the WhatsApp Button on desktop using WhatsHelp?

    Best,
    Gabriela

  6. Thanks for a great article. We have so many WhatsApp groups in our area and WhatsApp is live and active. I want to be able to send a WhatsApp message from my phone to the community WordPress site. ie update a WordPress post from /with WhatsApp content.

    Any ideas / options
    Thanks
    Mark

  7. Hi friends,
    I installed WhatsHelp Chat Button plugin and I can see the whatsapp button chat but not greeting message.
    Could anyone help me ?

    Many thanks and congratulations for this amazing tutorial.

  8. Can you help me, how to integration whatsapp with woocomerce, to auto notif new order ?
    Thanks

  9. Jetpack has recently added whatsap feature to their plugin.

    Whatsap Help is my take home today 🙂

    Thanks for sharing.

  10. Nice post Brenda.
    Although I would be glad if you could check my own plugin for WhatsApp Chat.
    It’s a free plugin you can find in WordPress repository searching for WhatsApp Chat WP.
    It’s the very first floating button with automatically WhatsApp chat in WordPress.
    I’m happy to see a lot of options now, but I still believe WhatsApp Chat WP is a great option. That’s why:
    – fully integrate with analytics events (you can check how many clicks you had)
    – customizable button
    – create shortcode to include how many contact numbers you want
    – multilanguage option (just need to translate a few words)
    – forever and all free
    – 5 star rated plugin

    And as we use divi, I can garantee it’s work perfectly. =)

    Please let me know if you need any help.

    • Hey Alexandre, can u post a link to yr plugin pls? Tks =)

    • Hi Alexandre,
      An amazing plugin and it works perfectly
      I tested your plugin but I cannot find the way to hide whatsapp in desktop pc or laptop.
      And to display only in contact page?
      Any idea to change this option?
      Many thanks

  11. Great info.

    Where do you place that CSS to hide the dedicated WhatsApp button on the desktop version?

    Thanks.

  12. Hope Monarch can integrate whatsapp soon with all the features. Will wait for it though.

  13. Nice but also can be considered whatsapp for sign in and signup ,for verification of phone number can be done via sms but it creates extra cost .if it can be done by whatsapp,it would be perfect.

  14. Ok how about first integrate this functionality into Divi or Monarch and then write a blog post about how to use it 🙂

  15. As helpful and insightful as this post is, it might also be meant for a different blog.. I mean come on man, this is under “tips and tricks” which I would think would be how to manipulate or use Divi smarter and better, not how to integrate some third party plugin that kinda-works-but-not-exactly… don’t get me wrong, it’s a great idea but I think Divi should integrate this into the whole Divi experience and also reward bloggers such as yourself for thinking of or even just for finding and explaining better ways for us as devs and want-to-be-devs to make the users experience more pleasant and efficient, and also to build a kickass site.

  16. Thanks for this article, its so useful.

  17. The ultimate solution would be total integration with the Divi package. However, it cannot be ignored.

  18. This should be part of Monarch.

  19. Great post, thank you. Agreed about adding this as an option in Monarch as it has fallen so behind with features and more networks that it’s lost almost all purpose. Can Elegant Themes please confirm that they are still actively developing Monarch? If so, are you planning any further features and what are these?

    • Yes, I agree…

  20. Why not add to Monarch as an option? I think It would be a grate if add WhatsApp and facebook chat.

    • Yes and Monach also need Instagram as an integration it will be very useful !

  21. Dose monarch support this yet?

  22. Great post, i will add this future to WhatsApp today itself

  23. Nov. 5: How to not be annoying with social media buttons
    Nov. 5: How to add more social media buttons!
    :-/

    • ?

  24. Great article, time to start working on it.

  25. Great piece. Hopefully Monarch can support Whatsapp natively.

    • I agree
      we pray U_U

      • At least it would be very good to have the icon

        • Monarch & Bloom are great plugins, but they need an update.

Leave A Reply

Comments are reviewed and must adhere to our comments policy.

Get Started With Divi