How to add a WhatsApp button to a WordPress site

There are three ways, from the simplest to the most useful. All of them work with Divi, Elementor, Bricks, Gutenberg and any theme.

1. A plain link (free, five minutes)

WhatsApp publishes a click-to-chat link format. Write your number in international format without the plus sign, and add the text you want pre-filled:

https://wa.me/447700900123?text=Hello%2C%20I%27m%20contacting%20you%20from%20your%20website

Put it on a button in your page builder, or in a widget area. On a phone it opens the WhatsApp app; on a desktop it opens WhatsApp Web or the desktop app.

What you get: a working button. What you do not get: a floating button on every page, any record of who clicked, or any questions answered before the chat starts.

2. A free plugin

Search the WordPress plugin directory for "WhatsApp chat". The popular free plugins add a floating button on every page, let you set the pre-filled message, and some add a small greeting bubble. Check three things before installing: when the plugin was last updated, whether it is tested with your WordPress version, and whether it loads extra scripts on every page (some do, which slows the site).

What you get: a floating button and a greeting. What you still do not get: the visitor's details before WhatsApp opens, or a list of enquiries.

3. Wapadesk (the button plus a chat funnel and a lead list)

1. In your Wapadesk dashboard, open Install and download the plugin zip.
2. In WordPress go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the zip and activate it.
3. Open Settings → Wapadesk, paste your account ID from the Install page and save.

That is the whole installation. The plugin adds one small script to the head of your pages and nothing else; it excludes itself from WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, Autoptimize and Perfmatters so caching does not break it.

If you prefer not to use a plugin, add this line to your theme's head instead (your own account ID replaces the placeholder):

<script src="https://cdn.wapadesk.com/w.js" data-clinic="YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID" async></script>

What you get: the floating button, a short chat that asks your questions before WhatsApp opens, every answer saved as a lead (even if the visitor never presses send), a dashboard with stages and follow-ups, and notifications when a lead waits too long. You can also embed the chat inside a contact page with one div.

Which one should you use?

• Just want a button: option 1 or 2.
• Get more than a handful of enquiries a week and want none of them lost: option 3.

Either way, keep the standard WhatsApp icon and green. People recognise it, and Meta's brand guidelines for click-to-chat buttons ask for the icon to be used unchanged.