LINE OA for Shops: From Zero to Loyal Customers

A LINE Official Account guide for small shops: sign up, set up a Rich Menu, gain friends, broadcast without getting blocked, and turn buyers into regulars.

A regular customer messages your personal LINE at 10 pm asking about a promotion. You answer between bites of dinner, and the next day you cannot find that chat because it is buried under the family group. If this sounds familiar, it is time to give your shop its own LINE Official Account (LINE OA), a business account that lets you talk to customers in an organised way, send news to many customers at once, and gradually build your own base of regulars.

What is LINE OA, and how is it different from personal LINE?

LINE OA is a LINE account in your shop's name. Customers add it as a friend like any account, but the shop side has extra tools:

• Chats separate from your personal life, with several admins able to reply
• Broadcast: send messages or promotion images to all your shop's friends at once
• Rich Menu: an image menu below the chat for products, promotions or contact options
• Greeting and auto-reply messages for outside business hours
• Basic statistics, such as number of friends and message opens

The starter plan is free, but the number of broadcast messages per month is limited, and plans can change according to LINE's announcements. Check the latest details on the LINE for Business website before planning your messages.

Step 1: sign up and set the basics

1. Download the LINE Official Account app and sign up with your LINE account.
2. Choose a shop name customers can easily search for, and use your logo as the profile picture.
3. Write a greeting that says clearly what you sell, when you reply to chats, and any perk for new friends.
4. Set an out of hours reply, for example: "Thank you for your message. We reply to chats from 9:00 to 20:00 and will get back to you first thing tomorrow."

Step 2: build a Rich Menu so customers do not have to ask

Look at what customers ask most often and turn those into buttons, such as:

• View the full menu or product list
• This month's promotions
• How to order and shipping fees
• Shop map and opening hours

You can design the Rich Menu image easily in Canva. See the course making a LINE OA Rich Menu with Canva.

Step 3: gain friends for the shop

Physical shops

• Put QR codes on the counter, tables and receipts
• Have staff invite customers at checkout and explain the benefit, such as hearing about new items first

Online shops

• Add the link to your Facebook, Instagram and TikTok bios
• Put a QR code card in every parcel with a discount for the next order

Step 4: broadcast without getting blocked

• Send less, but make it worth it: only when customers truly benefit, such as new products, special offers or holiday closures
• Short with an image: one message, one topic, one button
• Send when customers are free: test different times and check open statistics
• Segment when you can: customers who buy different product types may want different offers

Read more LINE OA marketing techniques in using LINE OA for marketing so customers stay and do not block you.

LINE OA is not a billboard. It is how you keep the relationship with customers who already know your shop.

Example: a coffee shop near offices

A small coffee shop puts a QR code on the counter and invites customers to add it in exchange for one free size upgrade. It then uses LINE OA's reward card and sends a broadcast only on Monday mornings when there is a new menu item. Office workers learn that every message is useful, so they do not block the shop, and they come back to collect points.

Common mistakes

• Broadcasting every day until customers get annoyed
• Setting auto-replies and never following up for real
• No one responsible for chats, so messages wait for days
• Not checking statistics, so you never learn which messages work

Start this week

1. Sign up for LINE OA and set your profile, greeting and out of hours reply.
2. Build a Rich Menu from customers' 4 most common questions.
3. Put QR codes everywhere customers look, and give a reason to add.
4. Plan a few broadcasts a month, and check statistics at month end.
5. Keep learning with partner courses creating LINE OA on your phone for new sellers and getting started with LINE OA for business.

Once you have more regulars, the next step is organising customer data. Read what CRM is and why SMEs need it, and find more online marketing courses in partner courses on Plants.work.