Your AI Connector Docs

Short Links

Short links are one-tap URLs that route a new visitor straight into a WhatsApp conversation on one of your connected numbers. Instead of handing out a long wa.me/... URL, you share a short branded link. When someone clicks it, the platform picks one of your WhatsApp numbers, optionally pre-fills the first message for them, and opens WhatsApp.

Use short links anywhere you’d normally drop a WhatsApp URL: bios, ad creatives, QR codes, email signatures, websites, and printed materials.

Capability How it works
One-tap to chat Visitor taps the link, WhatsApp opens on their device with your number already selected.
Multi-number rotation Attach several WhatsApp numbers to one link. The platform automatically picks the number with the most daily-cap headroom, spreading traffic evenly across your connected numbers.
Sticky routing A returning visitor lands on the same number they were paired with the first time, so conversation history stays in one place.
Prefilled first message Optionally drop the visitor into the chat with the opening message already typed.
Daily-limit aware The routing engine watches each WhatsApp Web number’s daily message usage and avoids saturating any single number.
Disconnect aware If a number gets disconnected or banned, the link automatically skips it and routes to the remaining healthy numbers.

How to get there: Settings → Channels group → Short Links.

  1. Open Settings (gear icon in the left sidebar), then click Short Links under the Channels group.
  2. Click New link.
  3. Route to these numbers — pick one or more connected WhatsApp numbers as chips. Both WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp Business API numbers are eligible.
  4. Prefill message (optional) — the message typed into WhatsApp for the visitor. Leave it blank for an empty chat.
  5. Click Create link.

The platform generates a short slug automatically — you don’t pick the ending — and copies the finished link to your clipboard as soon as it’s created.

Short links are plain URLs, so they work anywhere a URL works:

  • Social media bios — Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, LinkedIn.
  • Ad creatives — Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Google Ads landing destinations.
  • QR codes — generate one from your short link for posters, flyers, packaging, table tents.
  • Email signatures and campaigns — a one-tap “chat with us on WhatsApp” link.
  • Website CTAs — sticky chat buttons, hero sections, contact pages.
  • Outbound campaigns sent from the platform — paste the short link into the message body or template.
  • WhatsApp templates — embed in a CTA button or message body where allowed.
  • AI agent handoffs — paste the link into an agent’s instructions so it can offer to continue a website chat on WhatsApp when the visitor is about to leave (recipe in Chat Widget).

Tip: short links work well as the destination of “Send to WhatsApp” ad CTAs, since Meta’s own lead-ad routing can be slower to optimize than a click-to-chat link you control.

How Routing Works

When a visitor clicks a short link:

  1. The platform looks up the link and checks it’s enabled.
  2. If sticky routing applies and the visitor has clicked this link before, they go to the same number as last time — as long as it’s still connected.
  3. Otherwise, the platform picks the WhatsApp Web number with the most daily-cap headroom (lowest usage today), so traffic spreads evenly.
  4. If every WhatsApp Web number is near its daily cap, the platform falls back to a WhatsApp Business API number if one is attached to the link.
  5. The visitor is redirected to WhatsApp with your number selected and any prefill message pre-typed.

Disconnected, banned, or non-routable numbers are skipped automatically. If every number on a link is unavailable, the visitor sees a “link not active” page instead of a broken chat.

Every link you’ve created is listed with its full URL, how many numbers it routes across, and its prefill message (if set). From this list you can:

  • Copy the link’s URL with one click.
  • Delete a link permanently — the URL stops working immediately, and this can’t be undone.

If a number attached to a link is later disconnected or banned, you’ll see that reflected in the link’s routing the next time it’s used — no live per-number status indicator is shown in the link list itself, so check Phone Numbers for the source of truth on a number’s connection state.

Click Activity and Health

Short links don’t currently expose a per-link click counter in the dashboard, but you can monitor health and traffic in other ways:

  • Conversations — every visitor who clicks and sends the prefill message becomes a contact on the receiving number. Filter your Chats inbox by that WhatsApp number to see conversations that came in through a specific link.
  • Per-number daily usage — the routing engine respects each WhatsApp Web number’s daily message cap; if a number nears its cap, traffic shifts to the others on the link.

If you need attribution-level click counts, route your short link through an external analytics tool (a UTM-tracked redirect or tracking platform) and have that tool redirect on to your short link.

Short-link codes are generated automatically and can’t be changed after creation. To get a different link, create a new one and delete the old one.

Short links don’t have a built-in expiry date. To take one out of service, delete it — the URL stops working immediately and this can’t be undone. If you need a link that “expires” on a specific date, delete it manually when the campaign ends.

Best Practices

  • Use one link per channel or campaign — a separate short link for Instagram, TikTok, a Q4 sale, and so on. The receiving WhatsApp number’s inbox then tells you where the lead came from.
  • Attach multiple numbers to high-volume links (ads, viral posts, paid traffic). A single number will hit its daily WhatsApp cap quickly.
  • Set a sensible prefill message like “Hi, I’m interested in [your offer]” — it helps the AI understand context immediately even though an empty prefill also works.
  • Generate QR codes of your short links for offline use — any free QR generator works, since short links are just regular URLs.
  • Audit your links periodically. Delete ones you no longer use.

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