Removing the friction before an enquiry

The usual path to a WhatsApp enquiry is long: read the number, unlock the phone, open contacts, type eleven digits, save, switch to WhatsApp, find the new contact, think of an opening line. Every one of those steps loses people. A WhatsApp QR code collapses all of them into a single scan that lands the customer in an open chat window with a sensible first message already typed.

Write the pre-filled message carefully

The default text is doing two jobs. For the customer it lowers the awkwardness of starting a conversation with a business. For you it acts as a tracker: if the code on your van says "Hi, I saw your van and need a quote" and the one in the shop says "Hi, I'm in the shop and have a question", you can tell at a glance where your enquiries come from without any analytics at all. Keep it short, polite and specific.

Where it works best

Trades and service businesses put it on vans, invoices and quote sheets. Shops put it by the till for stock questions. Restaurants use it for bookings. Clinics use it for rescheduling. Market stalls use it because it is faster than writing a number on a paper bag. It also works on screen: in an email signature, on a product page, or in an Instagram bio image.

If you might change number, or you want real scan counts by day and country, make it a dynamic code. The printed square stays the same and you edit the chat link behind it, which is a great deal safer than a phone number printed on five hundred flyers.