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The link that leads to the catalog, not the one that leads to a chat
You come away with the catalog link placed on the website, Instagram, and ads in place of the chat link, and a rule for when a real chat conversation is still needed.
By Yodai · Published September 6, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026
Someone sees your Instagram profile, visits your website, or clicks an ad you paid for, and types the question everyone asks: "what do you have." Your WhatsApp catalog is already set up, with the photos in the order you chose and the same prices as on your website. It's one tap away from that person.
But if the link you gave them only opens a blank chat, that person doesn't see anything yet: they type, and they wait. If you don't answer right away, you're eating, you're with another customer, it's Sunday afternoon, the question goes unanswered for hours. A lot of people don't stick around: they close the conversation and keep looking at another account, one that showed them something without making them wait for someone to sit down and type.
The catalog isn't the problem. The problem is the link that hides it behind an empty conversation.
A link, not a conversation
WhatsApp Business gives you two different links for the same number, and they don't do the same job. One opens a chat: with a blank window, or with your own text already typed in, but a chat, waiting for someone to answer it. The other opens the catalog directly: the person taps, and sees the same photos and prices you'd show them by hand, without you lifting a finger.
These are two links with different jobs, even though they both end up at the same phone number. The catalog link is for someone who's still browsing and wants to see options without typing a word. The chat link is for when there's already something specific to sort out between two people. Mixing the two up is what has you answering "we have this, and this, and this" every afternoon, by hand, with the catalog already set up and not being used.
The difference shows up with a barber who advertises a men's haircut for $15: if the ad's link opens a chat, his first reply of the day is typing out the same price that's already in the catalog. If the link opens the catalog, that answer is already given before he even picks up the phone.
- Opens directly to the photos and prices
- Doesn't need you to answer right away
- Works for someone who's still deciding what they want
- Opens a conversation, either blank or with your own text already in it
- Needs someone to answer it
- Works for what the catalog can't answer on its own
Which one do I pick: Put the catalog link where someone is still browsing: your website, your Instagram bio, a general brand ad. Put the chat link where they already know what they want and just need to settle something specific: a reservation, an exception, a complaint. Both can live on the same page, each with its own button, without merging them into one.
- 1Get the catalog link
Open WhatsApp Business, go to Business Tools, and open Catalog. At the top, the share icon generates a link that opens the catalog directly, not a chat. Save it in a separate document from your regular number link: from here on, they're two different things with two different uses. - 2Changing it on your website
Wherever you have a button meant for someone to ask what you sell, it usually says "contact" or "message us," put that link there, and change the button text to "View catalog." The button stops opening a question and starts opening an answer. - 3Changing it on Instagram and Facebook
The link in your bio is the first thing someone taps right after discovering you, before they even know if they're interested. On Instagram you change it from Edit profile, in the link field; on Facebook, from the page's info section. That's where the catalog link goes, not the generic one that opens an empty chat. - 4Choose the link for each ad
If the ad is promoting a specific product, the link shouldn't go to the catalog's front page, it should go to that product's listing. If the ad is for the brand in general, without pointing to a specific product, then the front page is the right choice. A school advertising its evening English course links to that course's listing; the same school advertising itself with no specific course links to the front page.
The chat doesn't disappear; its job changes
Not everything goes through the catalog. Booking a specific time, asking about something the listing doesn't say, a size that isn't listed, whether there's an opening on Thursday, or filing a complaint: that still needs a real person on the other end. That's where the chat link is still the right one, and it will keep being the right one even if the catalog is perfect.
A restaurant can have its catalog full of dishes with photos and prices, and still need the chat for Saturday's table of eight, because no listing can handle that. The catalog shows the menu; the chat books the table. Each one with its own link, each one with its own button.
The decision isn't catalog yes, chat no. It's which question each button answers. That's why a website works better with the two kept separate, "View catalog" and "Message us," than with just one that sometimes opens one thing and sometimes the other, with whoever clicks not knowing which one they'll get. The same rule applies to what you post on your WhatsApp status or put in your bio: if it invites browsing, link to the catalog; if it invites solving something, link to the chat.
Next is deciding when to update the catalog, not every time someone asks.
- The link that opens the catalog directly, pulled from WhatsApp Business and saved separately from the chat link
- That link placed on your website and in your Instagram bio, where a "message us" used to be
- In ads for a specific product, the link to that product's listing, not the catalog's front page
- The chat button, saved for a reservation, an exception, or a complaint, with its own text kept separate from "View catalog"
Test yourself
Answer before opening each one. If one gives you trouble, go back to the section that explains it.
1. You run a clothing store and just paid for an Instagram ad for a specific coat. Where should the ad's link lead?
To that coat's page inside the catalog, not the homepage. Whoever clicks is coming to find that item; if they have to search for it through the sections, there's a good chance they'll close it and not come back.
2. A customer messages you on WhatsApp asking if you have an opening Thursday at seven for a haircut. Do you send them to the catalog or answer by chat?
By chat. The catalog shows services and prices, not Thursday's schedule: only a person looking at the real openings can sort that out.
3. You're changing your business's WhatsApp Business number next week. Besides letting your regular customers know, what else do you need to check?
The three links that point to the old number: the button on your website, your Instagram bio, and any active ads. If you don't update them, the link stays broken and nobody tells you.
With the links pointing to the catalog instead of the chat, all that's left is deciding when you'll come back and update it, so a customer's question isn't what forces you to improvise a review.
In Yodai the WhatsApp bot answers with your prices and your hours, and hands the chat over when someone asks for a person. See how the WhatsApp bot for your business works.
NextWhen to update the catalog, not every time someone asks