How do WhatsApp QR codes work for a business?
A WhatsApp QR code is a click-to-chat link in printable form. Scanning it opens a conversation with your number, optionally with a message pre-filled. It contains no data beyond that link, which is why any QR generator can make one from a wa.me URL.
What is actually in the code
A URL, normally a wa.me link. Nothing else — no account credentials, nothing personal, nothing that expires.
This means a code you generate yourself from a wa.me link and a code generated inside WhatsApp do the same thing.
When a code beats a link
Anywhere physical: a table card, a shop window, packaging, a vehicle, an exhibition stand.
The advantage is the same as a link — no saving a contact first — applied where a URL cannot be clicked.
Practical mistakes
Printing it too small, or on a curved or reflective surface. A code that will not scan first time is worse than a printed number.
No caption. A bare code tells nobody what happens if they scan it. "Scan to message us about bookings" doubles the scan rate for the cost of five words.
Never testing it in print. Screens are forgiving; a laser-printed code on textured stock is not.
Tracking which code produced an enquiry
Use a different pre-filled message per placement — one for the table card, another for the window.
The first inbound message then tells you where it came from, which is the only tracking these codes support.
A scan starts an ordinary WhatsApp conversation, so it arrives wherever your number is answered. In PingPlug that is a shared inbox, and a per-placement pre-filled message can drive an automation that tags the contact by where they scanned.