Turning WhatsApp chats into orders: checkout links vs in-chat checkout

Short answer: a customer who fills a cart in WhatsApp can finish the order two ways. The checkout link opens their cart on your own CartWhizz store, where they pay with any of your payment methods. Ordering in the chat, which you can switch on, lets customers place the order without leaving WhatsApp. Cash on delivery and bank transfer orders are confirmed right there with your payment instructions; for card and other online payments, a Pay now button opens your store's own secure payment page, so no card details ever pass through the chat. Most stores will use both.

Both are part of WhatsApp Shop. The shopping bot guide has every setting.

The chat cart is a real cart

Before either kind of checkout, it helps to know what the bot builds. When a customer taps Add to cart on a product card and picks a quantity, the item goes into a normal store cart. Stock limits, quantity rules and cart totals work exactly as on your website. The cart summary in the chat is labelled an estimate, because the final price comes from your checkout: on the checkout page, or in the review of an order placed in the chat.

Option 1: the checkout link

When the customer taps Checkout, the bot sends a message with a Complete your order button. The message says that prices and shipping are confirmed on the page. Tapping it opens a page on your store that brings the chat cart over:

• It adds the chat's items to the customer's own cart: their account cart when they are signed in, otherwise a guest cart. Anything already in that cart stays, and an item in both is topped up to the chat's quantity.
• It then opens the cart page, and from there it is your normal checkout: sign in or check out as a guest, choose shipping and pay with your store's payment methods.
• If your store asks shoppers to sign in before using a cart, the page asks them to sign in first.
• If nothing could be added, for example because everything sold out, the page says so.

A link works for 72 hours by default; you can set anything from 1 to 720 hours. After that it says the link has expired and the customer taps Checkout again for a new one.

The order is recorded as a WhatsApp order. It counts on the Metrics page, the conversation in your inbox shows Order #1001 placed, and the chat cart is emptied so the customer's next cart starts fresh.

Option 2: ordering in the chat

Switch on Take orders in the chat in WhatsApp Shop settings (it is off by default). Customers then place the order without leaving WhatsApp, paying by an offline method or online. When they tap Checkout, the bot asks, one message at a time:

1. Name and email. The email is required, because the order confirmation goes there. A customer whose WhatsApp number is linked to their store account sees the name and email from that account, and the order goes on their account at their customer group's prices.
2. The address. Only the fields your checkout requires, one at a time. A linked customer can use their saved address with one tap.
3. A delivery option, with the prices your checkout charges for that address.
4. A payment method: the payment methods you have switched on that fit the order, exactly as your checkout lists them: offline ones such as cash on delivery and bank transfer, and online ones through your payment gateways.
5. The summary: items, subtotal, discount, shipping, tax, any payment fee and the total your checkout calculates. Confirm order places it, Edit changes any part (including applying a coupon or a gift card) and Cancel keeps the answers for later.

The total the customer confirms is exactly what the order costs. If anything changes the total between the summary and Confirm order, such as a delivery price, nothing is placed: the bot shows the new total and asks again. Tapping Confirm order twice places one order.

What comes next depends on the payment method. With an offline method, the customer gets the order summary and what to do next: for cash on delivery, the amount to have ready; for bank transfer, the amount, the order number to use as the payment reference and the payment instructions you wrote on that method. With an online method, the order is placed with its payment pending and the summary comes with a Pay now button that opens the order's own payment page on your store. Once the payment goes through, the chat says Payment received; if it fails, the customer gets Pay now again. After paying, a Back to WhatsApp button on your confirmation page takes them back to the chat. Your usual order confirmation goes out as for any other order.

When the bot sends the link anyway

Even with in-chat ordering on, the bot keeps sending the checkout link when:

• guest checkout is off and the customer is not linked to an account;
• no payment method the chat can offer is switched on;
• your store needs the order finished on the website, for example when it asks customers to verify their email before checkout.

Native forms make the address step faster

With native WhatsApp forms set up, the in-chat checkout sends one form for the contact details and one for the delivery address instead of asking field by field. The address form asks for what your checkout asks for, and a linked customer sees their saved details already filled in. Forms are optional, need the Flows part of your plan and your WhatsApp Business Account ID, and a customer who prefers to type can still answer one question at a time.

Which should you use?

• Want the simplest start? The checkout link is on from the start and works with every payment method on your store.
• Want customers to stay in WhatsApp? Switch on ordering in the chat. Customers paying on delivery or by bank transfer never leave WhatsApp, and online payers only step out to your payment page and come straight back.
• Not sure? Walk through both in the Bot simulator. It runs every step, and Confirm order there shows a note instead of placing an order.

See what turns into orders

The Metrics page counts checkout links sent, opened and turned into orders, plus WhatsApp orders and revenue, leaving out cancelled, refunded and failed orders. Entry links and click-to-WhatsApp ads get their own rows, so you can see which flyer, QR code or ad brought orders.

For an order that is waiting for an online payment, your team can send a Pay now button from the inbox. It opens your store's own payment page for that order; no new way of paying is created.

Frequently asked questions

Can customers pay by card in WhatsApp?

The customer chooses card or another online method in the chat, and a Pay now button opens your store's own secure payment page to pay it. No card or payment details are ever typed into WhatsApp.

Do discounts and stock rules still apply?

Yes. The chat cart is a normal cart and in-chat orders go through the same checkout, so stock, prices, discounts, tax and payment rules match your website.

Can I try in-chat ordering without placing a real order?

Yes. The bot simulator walks through every step and never places an order.

Read more on the WhatsApp Shop page, or start your store.