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Doing business with Japan

LINE Official Account for Japan: How Overseas Businesses Can Use It

By the Hanabuddies team · · 3 min read

LINE is the main messaging app in Japan, used daily by most of the population, and a LINE Official Account (LINE公式アカウント) lets a business message customers directly there. For an overseas company selling to Japan, it can work like email marketing and customer chat in one: customers add you as a friend, then receive your updates, coupons and replies inside the app they already use. To do it well you need natural Japanese for your profile, greeting message, menus and every broadcast, and a plan for answering customer messages in Japanese.

Why LINE matters in Japan

In many countries, businesses reach customers through email, WhatsApp or social media DMs. In Japan, LINE fills much of that role. Many Japanese customers are more likely to open a LINE message than a marketing email, and they often expect to be able to ask questions by chat. Shops, restaurants, schools, clinics and online brands all use official accounts. If you are entering the Japanese market, see entering the Japanese market and marketing to Japanese customers for the bigger picture.

What an official account can do

  • Broadcast messages to everyone who has added you, or to segments. Plans usually limit how many messages you can send each month, so check the current pricing.
  • A greeting message that is sent automatically when someone adds you.
  • A rich menu: a tappable menu at the bottom of the chat linking to your shop, booking page, FAQ or contact form.
  • One-to-one chat with customers, with automatic replies for common questions.
  • Coupons, stamp cards and surveys.
  • Verified accounts (認証済アカウント), which go through a review and get a badge and better visibility in search.

Writing for LINE in Japanese

  • Polite but friendly. LINE messages from brands are usually lighter than email, using です・ます with a warm tone, short lines and the occasional emoji. Overly stiff keigo feels out of place, but too casual feels unprofessional.
  • Short and scannable. Customers read on phones. Lead with the point, use line breaks, and keep one call to action per message.
  • Seasonal touches. Messages that mention the season or events, such as cherry blossom season or the year-end, feel natural to Japanese readers. See Japanese seasons and festivals.
  • Don’t over-send. Too many broadcasts lead people to block the account. Quality beats frequency.
  • Translate the whole journey. If the menu links to an English-only page, you lose the customer. Your website, booking page and support need to be in Japanese too. See a website for Japanese customers.

Handling customer chats

Customers will reply in Japanese and expect a reasonably quick answer. Prepare template replies for common questions, set expectations about response times in your greeting message, and decide who will answer. If nobody on your team writes Japanese, plan for translation support before you launch. Our guide to customer support for Japanese customers covers tone and expectations.

How Hanabuddies can help

We write and translate Japanese content for LINE: your profile, greeting message, rich menu labels, broadcast messages, coupons and template replies, in a natural tone for Japanese customers. We can also translate the pages your messages link to. Tell us about your product and audience, and we’ll suggest where to start.