How do I use deep links in WhatsApp or email campaigns?

WhatsApp is a channel, not a special integration

WhatsApp sends people to whatever HTTPS URL you put in the message. There is no extra Deeplink product surface for WhatsApp templates, the WhatsApp Business API, or click-to-chat widgets in this codebase. If you need those, they belong to your messaging tool. The part Deeplink owns is the URL itself: where it is hosted, how it routes, and the clicks and installs recorded against it.

That is still enough for a campaign. Write the message, put the link on the call to action, and send it. People who have the app and a verified domain association can land in the app. People who do not have the app follow the fallback. If deferred deep linking is integrated, the first open after install can still reach the path you put in the link.

Email and SMS work the same way. A button href and a texted URL are both just the link. Some email clients open links in an in-app browser. Universal Links and App Links can still take over when the association is valid, but a client that rewrites or wraps the URL can break that handoff. Send a test to the same clients your audience uses, on iOS and Android.

Label the campaign with UTMs

The dashboard lets you store UTM parameters on a link. Use them to name the source, medium, and campaign, for example a WhatsApp broadcast versus an email. Analytics can then show clicks and installs for that link instead of one undifferentiated total. Do not create a different routing path only to measure a channel. Keep the destination stable and change the UTM values, or create a second link that shares the destination and carries different UTMs, if you need the numbers split.

The click-to-install conversion rate is installs divided by clicks for the data the dashboard already aggregates. It is not an email open rate and it is not a WhatsApp read receipt. Those metrics stay in the tool that sent the message. Deeplink sees the tap that hit the link host.

TODO: [fact needed] whether UTM values are echoed into the in-app destination automatically, or only stored for analytics. The dashboard collects them on the link. This page does not claim they appear inside the app screen unless the path or query string you chose already includes them.

What to put in the message

Use the full HTTPS URL of the link host, not the homepage of www.deeplink.in and not a custom scheme, if you want the message to look like a normal link and to fall back on the web. A chottu.link subdomain or a verified custom domain are the hosts this product configures. A custom domain is easier to read in a chat. Verification of that domain is required before you should trust it as the campaign host.

Say what will open. “Track your order” is a true statement only if the path you created maps to that order screen and the app handles a logged-out visitor. The link cannot collect a WhatsApp phone number by itself. If you need the phone number, your own form or the messaging platform has to ask for it.

QR codes are the same URL in another wrapper. If the WhatsApp campaign and a printed code should be measured separately, give them different UTM parameters or different links. The routing rules do not have to change.

Steps

1. Create the link with a fallback. Set the in-app path and a web fallback that makes sense if the app does not open. Add utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign for this send.
2. Paste the HTTPS URL into the message. In WhatsApp, email, or SMS, use that URL as the only destination. Do not point the button at the store if you still want deferred routing.
3. Send a device test. Tap it with the app installed and with the app deleted. On the deleted-app pass, install and confirm the first open if you rely on deferred deep linking.
4. Read clicks and installs. Check the link in analytics after the send. Compare channels by the UTM values, not by guessing from the message text.

Where the link goes in a message

Example

A restock note says “Your size is back” and links to https://shop.example.com/product/42?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=message&utm_campaign=restock. shop.example.com is a verified custom domain on the Deeplink app. The fallback URL is the same product on the website. Recipients with the app open the product screen. Others get the website or the store, and installs that come back to the link show up beside the clicks.

Frequently asked questions