To send PDF quotes on WhatsApp with Mercately, you put together the quote with products, prices, and terms, share it in the conversation with your customer, and once they accept, you create the order and send a payment link in the same chat. Payment is confirmed automatically and your team sees the whole process in the contact’s history. In this tutorial you will see the full flow (quote, order, payment, and confirmation), best practices for quoting over chat, and a follow-up template you can adapt.
Why quote on WhatsApp instead of email
If your customer reached out on WhatsApp, sending them to email to get the quote adds a step where a lot of deals go cold. Quoting in the same chat has clear advantages:
- Faster response: the customer sees the PDF where they are already talking to you.
- Full context: questions, the quote, and the negotiation stay in one thread.
- Less friction to close: from acceptance to payment is one message, not an email plus a separate bank transfer.
- Organized follow-up: with a CRM, every quote is tied to a contact, a stage, and an owner.
If your reps still sell from their own phones, start by understanding how a WhatsApp CRM works.
The full flow: quote, order, payment, and confirmation
| Step | What happens | What Mercately handles |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Inquiry | The customer asks about products or services | Shared inbox, product cards, and catalog in the chat |
| 2. Quote | You send the proposal as a PDF | PDF quotes |
| 3. Negotiation | You adjust quantities or terms | History and deal stage in the CRM |
| 4. Order | The customer accepts and you log the purchase | Order creation in the conversation |
| 5. Payment | The customer pays without leaving the chat | Payment links with gateway integrations |
| 6. Confirmation | Payment is verified and you notify the customer | Automatic payment confirmation and tracking |
Step by step: sending a PDF quote on WhatsApp
- Understand the need before you quote. Ask about quantity, use, when they need it, and a rough budget. A quote that answers the wrong question gets ignored.
- Share product cards if the customer is still comparing. With your catalog synced in Mercately (products, variants, prices, and stock), you can send product cards in the chat to confirm what they want before quoting.
- Prepare the quote. Include the products or services, quantities, prices, taxes if they apply, the total, payment and delivery terms, and an expiration date.
- Send the PDF in the conversation. Add a short message that sums up the total and says what happens next. Nobody wants to open a PDF just to find out what is expected of them.
- Move the deal to the next stage. Log in the CRM that the quote was sent and who owns it. That way you know how many proposals are open and which need follow-up.
- Revise if the customer asks. If they change quantities or terms, send a new version with a name that sets it apart from the previous one to avoid confusion.
- Create the order once the customer accepts. The order records what will be charged and delivered.
- Send the payment link. The customer pays from the chat through the gateway you have integrated, with no transfer screenshots.
- Confirm and share the next step. Once payment is confirmed, tell the customer what comes next: delivery date, tracking number, or service details.
Best practices for quoting over chat
- Reply fast, even if it is just to ask for details. A quick “I’ll have your quote ready in 30 minutes” keeps the conversation alive.
- A clear PDF beats a long one. One page, with the total easy to spot and the terms summarized.
- Add an expiration date. It protects your prices and gives you a legitimate reason to follow up.
- Name files well. Something like “Quote 0142, Lopez Hardware” is easier to find than “final document 2”.
- Offer options. Two or three tiers (basic, recommended, complete) make it easier to say yes.
- Make the next step obvious. “If this works for you, I’ll send the payment link” closes better than “let me know”.
- Follow up with judgment. One helpful, well-timed reminder works; five messages in a row do not. See our guidelines on WhatsApp customer follow-up.
These habits line up with the principles of personal selling: listen first, propose second, and stay with the customer until the close.
Quote follow-up message template
If fewer than 24 hours have passed since the customer’s last message, you can write to them in free text. Once that window closes, you need a Meta-approved WhatsApp message template. Here is one to adapt:
Hi {{1}}, I’m following up on quote {{2}} we sent you on {{3}}. It’s valid until {{4}}. Can I help with any questions, or would you like me to send the payment link to confirm your order?
A few tips:
- Use variables for the name, quote number, and dates so one template works for every case.
- Add quick-reply buttons, for example “I have questions” and “I want to confirm”.
- Meta assigns the template category when it reviews it, and the category sets the cost. If the message includes discounts or promotions, expect it to be classified as marketing.
- Since July 1, 2025, Meta charges for each delivered template based on category and country. Estimate the cost with the WhatsApp API pricing calculator.
Mistakes that lose deals quoted over chat
- Quoting without understanding the need, which forces you to redo the proposal.
- Sending the PDF with no message, leaving the customer without a clear next step.
- Not logging the quote, so nobody knows which ones are still open.
- Asking for a bank transfer and waiting for a screenshot, an extra step that delays confirmation.
- Following up outside the window without a template, so the message never gets delivered.
Many of these tasks can be automated. To go beyond quotes, read our guide to sales automation.
How Mercately helps you quote and get paid on WhatsApp
Mercately brings everything between the inquiry and the payment into the same conversation:
- PDF quotes and order management, included in the plans listed on the pricing page.
- Catalog and product cards in the chat, with products, variants, prices, and stock synced, plus order creation from the conversation. Learn more on the WhatsApp CRM page.
- Payment links, tracking, and automatic payment confirmation with digital payments, so customers never have to send screenshots.
- Payment integrations such as Stripe, Nequi, Daviplata, Bre-B, and Payphone, as well as PayPal, Mercado Pago, and Kushki.
- A CRM with funnels and deals, so you know which quotes are open, at what stage, and who owns them, in the Mercately CRM.
- Inactivity reminders and MIA, to restart conversations and answer product questions at any hour with the AI agent.
