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Short links and QR codes that open a WhatsApp chat with your number, message already typed: creating, drafts, addresses, what a link sends, how chats are recognised, dates, conversions, sharing, folders, limits and fixes.
A smart link is a short link, with its own QR code, that opens a WhatsApp chat with one of your numbers. The message is already typed in for the customer, so all they do is press Send. Put the link in a bio, an ad or an email, and the QR code on a poster, a menu or a parcel, and Avox counts every scan, every click and every chat it starts.
Open Smart links in the dashboard sidebar to see your links, make a new one, and see how each is doing.
Someone taps the link or scans the code
On a phone or tablet, WhatsApp opens straight away. On a computer, a short "Opening WhatsApp" page shows for about half a second, then WhatsApp Desktop or WhatsApp Web opens.
The chat opens with your message typed in
The chat is with the number you picked for the link, and the message box already holds the text you wrote, with a short reference at the end.
They press Send
The message arrives in your Inbox like any other. Avox matches it to the link, counts the chat, and does whatever the link is set to do next.
Every smart link opens a WhatsApp chat with your number. It never sends people to an outside website, so nobody can turn it into a trick link.
Click Create smart link on the Smart links page. You can also start one from a published Flow, an approved template or a table row: their pages have a Create a link or QR button that fills in what the link sends. The wizard has seven steps, and a preview of the link, its QR code and the WhatsApp chat sits beside them.
Name
Name is for you and your team only ("Shop window poster"). Pick the WhatsApp number it opens (with one connected number, it's picked for you) and, if you like, a Folder.
Address
What people type, tap or scan. Pick one of the three address forms. The full address is shown as you type, with a live check that it's free.
Sends
Just the chat, or the chat plus a Flow, a template or details from a table. See What a link can send.
Message
The message they start with, and optional campaign labels.
Extras
Optional start and end dates and conversion counting.
QR code
Design the QR code: a starting design, one of your team's saved designs or your brand kit, then anything you like. Downloads open on the link's QR code tab once the link is live. See QR codes.
Review
Check each part (Change jumps back to its step), then Save as draft or Create and go live. With a start date in the future, the button reads Create and schedule.
Straight after Create and go live, a window shows Your smart link is live with the QR code and the address, ready to use:
The same window opens when you Switch on a draft or Resume a paused link from its page. For a link with a start date in the future it reads Your smart link is scheduled and says when it goes live: you can download and share the QR code already, and it opens WhatsApp once the link is live.
You don't have to finish a link in one go. Once it has a name and a WhatsApp number, the wizard saves it as a draft as you type: the heading shows Saving..., then Saved as draft. If a save doesn't go through ("Not saved yet"), what you typed is kept in this browser and saves with your next change, or when you press Save as draft.
Every link gets a code: six random letters and numbers, picked when you save. The code never changes. Characters that are easy to mix up (0 and o, 1, l and i) are never used, so a code is easy to read off a poster. The address can take one of three forms:
An ending is 3 to 40 lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, starting and ending with a letter or
number, one hyphen at a time (AVX-3807). Every address is unique across
Avox, so a popular ending may already be taken (AVX-3805). A few words are
kept for Avox, like api, admin, help or whatsapp, and so is anything containing avox, so no
link can look like an official page (AVX-3806).
The addresses above show the link domain Avox uses. Your dashboard always shows the exact address of each link, with a copy button.
Every link opens the chat. Under What it does, you can also have Avox send something as soon as the chat starts:
Each chat on the Chats tab shows whether its follow-up was sent.
Message they start with is the text the customer's WhatsApp opens with, up to 500 characters. It starts as "Hi! I'd like to know more." and you can change it to anything. Avox adds a reference at the end so it knows which link, and which visit, a chat came from, whatever the address looks like and however the customer reached it.
Avox looks for these in order, and uses the first one it finds:
The visible reference
A short reference at the end of the message, like (ref AB3X9K), built from the link's code.
Avox finds it anywhere in the message, in upper or lower case, with or without the brackets or the
word "ref", so a changed greeting still counts.
A few invisible characters after the last letter of the message. They carry the link's code and a one-off number for that exact visit, so Avox also knows which click or scan led to the chat: how long they took to send it, whether they scanned or tapped, their device, country and campaign labels. The characters can't be seen, and Avox removes them before the message shows in your Inbox.
The message text
If no reference made it, Avox compares the message with your links' texts, ignoring case, spacing, punctuation and emoji. It counts only when exactly one of your links on that number has the same text and was opened in the 24 hours before the message. A chat found this way is a potential match.
On the Message step (and in Edit), How we recognise chats picks which references the message carries:
A hidden-only link with no text of its own starts with "Hi!", so the invisible characters have somewhere to sit. A few apps and keyboards may drop invisible characters. If a hidden-only link gets plenty of visits but no chats come back with its hidden reference, its page says so: switch it to Visible and hidden reference or Visible reference only.
A chat is a sure match when its message carries a reference and someone opened the link shortly before (within 7 days, or the exact visit for a hidden reference). It's a potential match when:
Potential matches are counted apart and tagged Potential on the Chats tab. By default they get no follow-up and don't start automations. Turn on Act on potential matches too (next to what the link sends) to treat them like sure ones.
If two links use the same message, Avox can't tell their chats apart by the text when a reference goes missing. While you type, Avox warns you when another link already uses the same text, or when the text is too short or common (like "Hi" or "Good morning") to be recognised on its own.
Write the message as the customer would say it, and name the offer or the place you shared it ("Hi, I'd like to book a table for Friday. I saw your poster at the station."). It tells you what they want before you've said a word, it's more likely to be sent unchanged, and it can still be recognised if the reference is lost.
Campaign labels (on the Message step, closed until you open it) are optional UTM values:
Source, Medium, Campaign, Term and Content, like instagram, poster or
summer-sale. Every visit gets them, so you can group visits by where you shared the link. Values are
saved in lowercase.
You can also put campaign values on the address itself wherever you share it. A visit through an
address that has its own utm_ values keeps those, and the link's labels fill in the rest:
https://chat.theavoxai.com/summer-sale?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=story
The values show on the link's Analytics tab,
travel with each chat it starts, and can be used in automations as {{link.utm_source}} and friends.
Under When it works on the Extras step, a link can have a Starts and an Ends date and time, in your own time zone. Leave them empty to start straight away and never end. The end has to be after the start (AVX-3823).
Before the start and after the end, the link shows a short, friendly page instead of opening WhatsApp.
Each link shows its state next to its name, and the list can be filtered by it.
Both stop the link opening WhatsApp, and both keep its numbers.
Printed QR codes keep pointing at their link for good. Ending or archiving a link stops every printed code for it opening WhatsApp, so think about where it's printed before you do.
A chat is only the start. Turn on Count conversions on the Extras step to count the chats that got where you wanted: pick a Tag, like Paid or Booked, and Within (days), 1 to 90 (30 to start with). A chat from this link counts as converted when its contact gets that tag within that many days of the chat, whether a teammate adds it in the Inbox or an automation does.
Conversions show on the link's Analytics tab and each converted chat is marked on the Chats tab. See Contacts for how tags work.
On a link's page, Edit opens every setting in a panel beside the page: name and number, address, what it does, first message and campaign labels, when it works, and conversions. Only what you change is saved. Changes to what it sends, the message or the dates apply to the next visit; the link's QR code keeps working, since it always points at the link.
The ... menu also has Duplicate, which makes a copy with a new code (the six-character form) and the same number, folder, message, sends, campaign labels, conversion rule and QR design. A draft copies as a draft, anything else as a live link. Dates aren't copied, and the copy counts towards your plan.
Changing the address of a link that's in use asks first. The old address keeps opening WhatsApp, but its visits stop counting, and printed QR codes and shared links still carry it. Print new codes and share the new link wherever the old one was.
Old addresses are listed under Old addresses on the Analytics tab, with when they changed and whether they still open WhatsApp. An old address opens WhatsApp only while the link is live. A draft's address can change freely.
The link's Share tab has everything for putting the link in front of people.
?q=1, which is how
scans are counted apart from clicks. Use it if you make a QR code somewhere else.QR code downloads open only while the link is Live, so nobody prints a code that shows a "not open" page. For a draft, scheduled, paused, ended or archived link, the button stays greyed out and says why. A link that isn't live or scheduled also shows a note at the top of the tab: people who use it see a friendly page instead of WhatsApp.
Website chat button makes a button for your own website that opens the smart link: pick the words, the colours (or your own) and an icon, check the preview on a light or dark page, and Copy code. See Website chat button.
Send in a chat puts the link into one of your WhatsApp conversations. Check or change the Text ("Chat with us on WhatsApp:" and the link, to start with), search for a conversation and pick it. The conversation opens in the Inbox with the text in the reply box.
Nothing is sent until you press Send there, and the usual Inbox rules apply, including WhatsApp's 24-hour reply window. Send in a chat needs the Reply in the Inbox permission.
Folders keep links for one campaign, shop or event together. The row above the list shows All, No folder and each folder with how many links it holds.
The list can also be searched by name or address and filtered by state.
Your plan sets how many smart links each Switchboard can have, and a plan can allow unlimited links. The Smart links page shows how many you've used ("Smart links used"), and so does Settings > Usage.
The full rules, extra link packs and links added by Avox: Smart link limits and extra links.
Admins and Managers have both smart link permissions by default. An Admin can change them per person: see Members and roles. Someone who can see links but not change them gets the QR code downloads, without the designer's controls.
The Avox team paused this link, for example after a report that it was misused. The reason is shown on
the link's page. Visitors see "This link is paused", and you can't switch it on again yourself
(AVX-3817). Email hello@theavoxai.com with the link's reference (like
LNK-000123, under its name).
The WhatsApp number the link opens isn't connected now (AVX-3810). Until it is, visitors see "This chat isn't available right now". Reconnect the number on Connections, or pick another number in Edit.
Check these, in order:
Smart links are paused across Avox for a short while. Visitors see "Smart links are taking a short break", and changes wait until they're back (AVX-4016). Your links and their counts are kept. The status page shows when smart links are back.
Hover the disabled button to see why. Usually it's a full plan (AVX-1170), no plan (AVX-1171), or a missing permission. If Save as draft is the one greyed out, you already have 5 drafts (AVX-3835): finish or delete one. If creating smart links was turned off for your account, the message says so (AVX-3819): contact hello@theavoxai.com.
Downloads open only while the link is Live. Hover the greyed-out button to see the link's state, then switch it on, resume it or wait for its start date. See The link and the QR code.
Open the link's Chats tab: each chat shows Follow-up sent, Follow-up failed or Follow-up skipped. A follow-up is skipped when the 24-hour window closed before it could go, the number was disconnected, the Switchboard was paused, or what it sends wasn't ready (see What a link can send).
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