LINE business account: how to create one and how much does it cost?

With over 2.2 billion monthly active users worldwide as of 2023, WhatsApp, the widely used instant messaging software, has always been the dominant player in the field. Most businesses have chosen WhatsApp to be the primary tool to communicate with customers. However, if you want to further expand your business in specific countries such as Taiwan or Thailand, LINE will be an essential communication tool.

First launched in Japan, LINE is currently a dominant player in Taiwan and Thailand, with more than 90% of web users. In Taiwan, there is a total of 23 million population and the number of LINE active users takes up 90.7% of its social media users. This shows that LINE has been widely used by the public in Taiwan.

What is a LINE business account?

A LINE business account enables users to deliver bulk messages more quickly. Corporate users can separate their business accounts from private accounts to protect their privacy and separate their work and life. In addition, the LINE business account also provides support for cross-platform, multi-person synchronization, and other functions. You can also link your LINE business account to Messaging API to enhance your customer services.

Even if you are not a LINE user, you probably know their cartoon characters or have seen their lively stickers. If you're feeling confused by the differences between their products such as LINE Official Account, LINE Marketplace, LINE Account Connect, and LINE Customer Connect, you can first focus on the main feature, which is LINE Official Accounts.

In 2019, LINE decided to integrate its business services and created a new LINE business account in March 2020. All LINE users can now create a LINE business account to contact customers and conduct marketing campaigns. It allows corporates, small and medium-sized enterprises, or even independent freelancers to promote their brand on LINE in a more effective way.

Currently, many enterprises are using LINE business accounts to promote their activities and interact with customers.

The 3 types of LINE Official Accounts 

There are three types of LINE official accounts, including:

• unverified accounts (grey shield)

• verified accounts (blue shield)

• premium accounts (green shield)

It is clarified that shield identification has no correlation with the scope or level of services provided by LINE. The basic features of these accounts are the same. A distinct difference between the shields is that the account will receive an account badge after the LINE review process, which will appear in searches within the LINE App:

LINE for Business: Basic ID vs Premium ID

An account ID composes a string of numbers and letters that will be generated randomly by the LINE system after you created an account. The ID may look like some garbled text, but in fact, you can generate your own ID and choose the content by yourself.

Not only does a Premium ID make your account get searched and identified easier, but also reinforces brand certification and professionalism. For instance, customers are more willing to join the stores with a Premium ID when they are searching for shops of the same nature. This may also provide more chances for enterprises to contact their potential customers. An important note is that you must purchase a Premium ID if you want to upgrade your LINE account to a verified or premium account. The followings are the charge details for the Premium ID:

*Premium ID is not available in the USA, Singapore, EU

Pricing: is LINE for business free?

Creating a new LINE business account is free. However, if you want to send thousands of messages per month, you may consider subscribing to one of the available plans. In addition to the different prices, the number of messages limited to each plan is also different. The following are the charges of each plan:

*Light plan and Standard plan are not available in the USA, Singapore, EU

(Refer to the subscription plan price list of the LINE business account, the price may change over time so it is recommended to check the updated prices of your region on LINE.)

You may choose the plan flexibly based on your needs or the performance of your company and this may help you to control your marketing budget accurately and effectively. As the manager of the enterprise, you must spend the money in the right place and make budgets and choices wisely.

How do I create a LINE account for my business?

Step 1:

Go to the LINE business account page, and click “Create a LINE Official Account for free”.

Step 2: 

Choose “Log in with LINE account”.

If you do not have a LINE account or your enterprise would like to use a new account to apply for the LINE business account, you should click “Create an account”, and register with your email.

Step 3:

After logging in with the general account, you should click “Back to services” and you will be sent to the login page of the LINE Business account. You may fill in the application form with the personal information required.

Step 4:

After filling in your information, click “Confirm”.

Step 5: 

You will be transferred to the confirmation page and you may check whether the information you filled in is correct. If yes, click “Confirm” again. You will see the layout below showing that your LINE official account application is successful.

How to change my subscription plan?

1. Go to the LINE business account login page.

2. Click “Setting”, and choose “Promotional Plan” in “Accounting part”.

3. After “Logging in to the payment method”, you may switch your original chosen plan to another.

What you need to know about creating a LINE business account

Please note that one telephone number is only for creating one account. The old version of the LINE account can be registered through a Facebook account so that you can use either a telephone number or an email address to create a LINE account easily. However, LINE stopped allowing users to register the registration with a Facebook account in March 2021, and the LINE PC accounts registered with telephone numbers were also terminated from service. In other words, a telephone number is essential for creating a LINE account on mobile devices while you just need an email to register for it on a computer.

LINE X SleekFlow: key features

Auto-reply on LINE for business

The customer base of the enterprise will be wider when its business scale becomes larger. How can an enterprise handle thousands of customer inquiries with limited human resources? You may turn on the automatic response function on your LINE business account and it will help you respond to customers 24/7. The automatic response function answers customers correctly by identifying the keywords in the question and the customers’ context.

Besides, you can switch between the AI and the real person in LINE's dialogue box freely. For simple and direct questions, you can leave it to AI to reply to customers automatically. Nevertheless, if you find some complex or personalized questions, you can switch to manual chat for instant response.

Send messages to broadcast lists

When the number of your friends exceeds 100, you can set up friend filter conditions and build audience groups to classify your customers. You can select or exclude the broadcast lists when sending mass messages. Rather than sending messages randomly, this function helps you provide information to the interested group accurately and improve marketing effectiveness.

Check out how people use the broadcast lists function on other platforms!

If you link LINE to SleekFlow, you may manage your LINE business account systematically by adding tags in accordance with customer names, birthdays, ages, and other criteria. It may help you by classifying customers into different broadcast lists and sending them marketing messages regularly.

Multiple logins for one account

It would be a plight if only one person handles all customers’ inquiries. The LINE business account allows multiple logins for one account and so multiple persons can manage conversations and respond to customers’ inquiries at the same time. It also helps avoid “missing reply” to customers during peak times and enables enterprises to utilize human resources effectively.

After linking with SleekFlow, your team members may log in to the LINE business account by SleekFlow at the same time. The manager can assign different positions and jobs to each employee to achieve a better division of labor and provide better customer service.

Check out how the multiple login function can help your business on other platforms!

Graphic message

The graphic message is a unique message format of LINE. You can create a large image to draw customers’ attention with simple settings. All the offers, products, and details of the activities can be presented in one message and it will increase the click rate.

Multi-page message

The multi-page message, similar to the Facebook Carousel Ads, is a sliding message format that can contain up to 9 images each time. Each image can be attached with a corresponding link to direct customers to the website page. It helps increase sales and solves the problem of overwhelming customers with too much information.

Successful cases of using LINE business account

Skyscanner uses LINE’s signature function to provide graphic messages of lucky draw and offers to customers randomly from the 1st to the 10th of each month. This promotion method makes customers look forward to Skyscanner’s messages every month and retain customers successfully.

Color C'ode, a well-known chain dessert shop, has used the LINE auto-reply function to retain its customers. Miss Kelly became the most important virtual customer service officer of the enterprise by using the LINE auto-reply function to handle common customer inquiries such as product information, reservations, and delivery progress 24/7. 

Connect LINE to SleekFlow

It is understood that enterprises are spending most of their time handling WhatsApp messages. However, you should also be alert to other communication software. How can you ensure not miss any customer inquiries on LINE? If you link LINE to SleekFlow, you can switch between different communication software in one platform and handle both WhatsApp and LINE messages!