Payment link
A payment link is a single-use checkout page you can send to a customer in a message, so they can pay without going through your store’s normal checkout.
What it means in practice
A normal checkout works when the customer knows exactly what they want and it already has a price on your site. Plenty of real sales don’t look like that.
- A caterer quoting 45 sets with two dietary swaps and a delivery slot.
- A clinic taking a deposit to hold an appointment.
- A store selling the last unit of something that isn’t listed.
- A supplier invoicing a trade price that isn’t public.
- A customer who has been chatting with you on Instagram for ten minutes and is ready now.
In each case the price was agreed in the conversation. Sending the customer to a website to find and set up the same order adds steps where they can drop off.
The checkout friction a link skips
Baymard’s survey of US online shoppers lists why people leave a checkout. Several reasons don’t apply when a link arrives in the chat with the agreed price already on it:
| Reason for abandoning checkout | Share of US shoppers |
|---|---|
| Site required an account | 18% |
| Checkout too long or complicated | 17% |
| Couldn’t see or work out the total cost up front | 12% |
| Not enough payment methods | 9% |
Source: Baymard Institute, updated 22 September 2025. Excludes shoppers who were “just browsing”. Shoppers could give more than one reason. The average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22%.
Deposits for appointments
For appointment businesses, the link also turns a yes into a commitment. A customer who has paid a US$20 deposit to hold Friday at 3pm has more reason to turn up than one who wrote “yes Friday sounds good”. The deposit is mainly about reducing no-shows, with cash flow as a side benefit.
Four things to check
- Who holds the money. Payments should settle in your own account with your payment provider. With AeroChat and Airwallex, AeroChat never sees card numbers and never holds your funds. Money settles directly into your Airwallex balance.
- How payment is confirmed. Confirmation should reach your systems without relying on the customer. AeroChat confirms every payment twice: once when Airwallex’s webhook fires, and again when the customer lands on the confirmation page.
- What happens after payment. If a paid link doesn’t create an order, notify whoever fulfils it or book delivery, the work has only moved.
- Expiry. A link that never expires will eventually be paid twice or shared.
A payment link takes money. For the whole sale to happen in the chat, you also need a catalogue to choose from and a delivery step. See conversational commerce. In AeroChat, payment links come with the Growth plan and above.
Related terms
Read next
- Get paid without leaving the conversation: Airwallex in AeroChat
- How a chat sale completes: catalogues, payment links and delivery
Related guides
- Automate Payment Links in Chat
- WhatsApp payment reminder templates
- WhatsApp Payment Links That Confirm the Order When Paid
Send a payment link from the chat
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed. Connect Airwallex and AeroChat can send the link on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, email or web chat once the price is agreed, then confirm the payment in the same thread.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.