Guide · WhatsApp

Taking orders on WhatsApp: how it works, and how to do it well.

Most customers in Pakistan would rather send a WhatsApp message than fill in a form or install an app. A website can use that: the customer picks what they want, taps a button, and WhatsApp opens with the order already written. You reply, confirm and deliver.

One link does the work

Any WhatsApp chat can be opened with a link: wa.me/ followed by your number in international form, without the plus sign or the leading zero. A number written 03XX XXXXXXX becomes wa.me/923XXXXXXXXX. Add ?text= and a message, and the message arrives already typed.

That is all a website cart does. It builds the message from what the customer picked (dishes, sizes, quantities, total) and opens that link. The order reaches your ordinary WhatsApp. The customer needs no app, and you pay no commission.

Use the free WhatsApp Business app

• A business profile with your address, hours and a short description.
• A catalogue of your products or dishes, with photos and prices.
• Quick replies: save the answers you give every day, such as your delivery time and delivery charge, and send them with a shortcut.
• A greeting message for first-time customers, and an away message for when you are closed.
• Labels to mark chats as new order, paid or delivered.

It is free on Android and iPhone, and you can move the number your customers already have onto it.

Replying well

• Answer quickly. An order left waiting twenty minutes for a reply often goes somewhere else.
• Confirm the order back in one message: the items, the total including delivery, the address, and when it will arrive.
• Say how they can pay: cash on delivery, JazzCash, Easypaisa or a bank transfer.
• Put your prices on the website, so the first message is an order and not a question about prices.
• Keep one number for orders. Customers remember one number, and a second one splits the chats.

What it does not do

• There is no online payment or checkout. You take payment the way you do now.
• It does not track deliveries or stock.
• Somebody has to be on the phone during opening hours. The message waits until you reply.

Every restaurant site on Sitey takes orders this way; see restaurant websites.

Last checked: 10 September 2026 · All guides