WhatsApp link vs Business catalog vs QR code — which one do you actually need?
Three ways to get customers into a WhatsApp chat, what each is good at, and a simple rule for picking.
People ask this a lot, usually phrased as "should I use a link or a QR code?" — as if it is either/or. It is not. They solve different problems, and most small businesses end up using two of the three. Here is what each one is for.
The click-to-chat link
This is the wa.me/yournumber URL, ideally shortened and with a pre-filled message. It is for anywhere someone can tap: Instagram bio, website button, email, Facebook post, a message you send.
Strengths: works on any phone, no app needed beyond WhatsApp itself, and you can pre-fill the opening message so you know why they are messaging. If you use a link tool you also get click counts.
Weakness: useless on paper. Nobody types a URL off a flyer.
If you are only going to set up one thing, it is this. Make one here — the pre-filled message and QR come with it. We wrote a longer guide to getting the message right.
The QR code
A QR code is just a click-to-chat link in a shape a camera can read. Same destination, different delivery.
It is for anywhere someone can see but not tap: the shop counter, the menu, a flyer, the back of a delivery bag, a banner at an event, a business card. Someone points their camera, taps the popup, and they are in a chat with you.
Two things people get wrong. First, printing the QR without a short line of text next to it — "Scan to order on WhatsApp" — so people know what it does. Second, making it too small. Anything under about 2cm is a gamble on a phone camera from arm's length.
Because it is the same link underneath, a QR generated from a 1lnk WhatsApp link shows up in the same click stats. So you can tell whether the sign in the window is doing anything.
The WhatsApp Business catalog
This one is different in kind. The catalog is a feature inside the WhatsApp Business app: a list of your products or services with photos and prices, viewable from your business profile and shareable in chats.
It is for showing what you sell inside WhatsApp. Someone is already talking to you and asks what you have — you send the catalog, or a specific item from it. It replaces sending eight photos one at a time.
It is not a way to reach people. Nobody finds your catalog on their own; they see it after they are already in the chat. So it complements a link or QR, it does not replace them.
If you have more than a handful of products and answer "what do you have?" several times a day, set it up. If you sell one service, skip it.
The simple rule
- Someone can tap → link.
- Someone can only look → QR code (which is the link, printed).
- Someone is already chatting and wants to see products → catalog.
Most shops end up with a link in the bio and website, the same link as a QR on the counter, and a catalog for the conversation. Cafés and clinics usually skip the catalog. Boutiques and home bakers use all three.
One number or several?
Whichever you pick, everything above points at a single WhatsApp number. If two or three people share the inquiries, that number becomes a bottleneck — the person holding the phone gets everything, the others get nothing.
The fix is multi-agent routing: one link (and one QR), several numbers behind it, each new tap goes to the next person in rotation. It is a paid feature on 1lnk, aimed at exactly the moment a one-person shop becomes a three-person shop. Same public link, no reprinting anything.
Do you need a link tool at all?
Honestly, no — the raw wa.me link works, and WhatsApp Business will generate a QR for you. Use a tool when you want any of: a short readable link, click statistics, one link that routes to several people, or a page with a lead form instead of a straight jump into chat. If none of that applies yet, the free wa.me link is fine, and you can upgrade to a tracked one when it starts to matter.