LINE for Business has paved the road to success for modern SMEs at BOOTCAMP DAY 2024, identifying the keys to business success in today’s digital world. LINE recognises that it is no longer just about generating sales. Today, developing sustainable business growth is essential, achieved by creating a great experience. This is at the heart of retaining existing and attracting new customers.
Sakulrat Tanyongsiri, SME Business Director at LINE Thailand, states that businesses have entered a new era of customer experience provision. Businesses no longer compete solely on market factors, products, prices, promotions or sales channels. Now, it is also about creating an appealing shopping experience, because today’s customers are willing to pay for that ‘good experience’. Thai SMEs must understand, adapt and develop accordingly. LINE, as a companion for Thai SMEs, recognises this new imperative and supports Thai SMEs in reaching their sustainable business goals, under the 4P strategy, which includes:
PLATFORM power
LINE, as a primary and preferred platform on which Thai SMEs conduct business, uniquely responds to the familiar and favoured chat-based buying and selling behaviours of Thai people. LINE has developed a variety of features and tools under LINE Commerce Solution, enabling Thai SMEs to build a comprehensive business on LINE with LINE Official Account (LINE OA), the online storefront through which to create a customer base, LINE Ads for finding the right customers and LINE SHOPPING for easier store management and sales closure. There are also other enhancement tools that elevate the customer experience to the next level.
This has distinguished LINE as a key platform for driving sustainable business growth in three important ways:
- Supporting Every Business, Serving Every Consumer group: Currently, there are over 6 million LINE OA user accounts, with the popular ‘Broadcast feature’ available in 10 formats, growing in popularity by an average of 91% per year from 2021 to the present. The three most popular formats are rich messages, text messages and rich video messages. At the same time, LINE Commerce Solution meets every consumer groups’ needs effectively, with heart-winning features in LINE OA, such as ‘1:1 chat’,with customer-to-store messaging increasing 11.8 fold compared to 2019 and the total number of messages received by stores through chat in 2023 reaching 7.28 billion.
Moreover, connecting ‘LINE OA with LINE SHOPPING’ is another element in meeting Thai consumers’ needs, allowing them to chat or shop as they desire, with a successful sales closure rate as high as 97%. Other enhancement technologies, like ‘chatbots’, created through the LINE Messaging API, support a fast chat response experience, with usage growth from last year of 20%. The use of ‘LIFF’ technologyconnected with LINE OA smooths the display of various store systems, such as the membership and queue booking systems, with a usage growth from last year hitting 100%. These metrics demonstrate the diversity of features and technologies on LINE, helping stores of any business group to create a seamless and engaging shopping and service experiences.
- Unrestricted Interconnectivity, for a Better Experience: Stores can freely connect their LINE OA to other channels or platforms. For example, creating a button in the Rich Menu feature of LINE OA linked to social media has seen a 27% increase in connection rates from last year, links to e-commerce platforms increased by 22% and links to LINE SHOPPING increased by 17%. This creates a personalised experience, allowing customers to choose their purchasing channels at will. Furthermore, broadcasting messagesduring significant occasions, like Double Day, by linking to e-commerce platforms to stimulate sales, has seen an increase of 473% compared to normal periods.
- A Treasure Trove of Customer Data for Profit Growth: With LINE OA and other enhancement tools, stores can collect customer data to study and develop winning marketing strategies. The Reward Card feature on LINE OA is another technique that helps SMEs to retain existing and attract new customers. This is evidenced by its growing popularity among SMEs, with a 23% increase in usage and a notable 38% rise in customer engagement.
Moreover, LINE has recently developed and expanded additional solutions, to enhance even further Thai SMEs’ ability to manage customer relationships through LINE, with MyCustomer I CRM, an instant online membership system. This enables SME stores to manage member data and allocate points easily. It does not limit the number of members, branches or employees using it. With this system, LINE is able to raise the maintenance of an SME’s customer base to another level.
PARTNER diversity
LINE is further diversifying its network of partners, with both the public and private sectors, such as the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP), the Department of Business Development (DBD), Thailand Post and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB). This is to provide broad support for Thai SMEs in knowledge sharing, to develop their capabilities and expand market opportunities. Moving forward, LINE will work with LINE Certified Coach, a team of experts on using LINE for business, to deliver knowledge and provide consultancy to Thai SMEs on maximizing their business potential on the LINE platform.
PROGRAMS, enhancing the knowledge and skills of SMEs across Thailand
To boost the knowledge and business operations of Thai SMEs to achieve sustainable growth, LINE is developing content and will promote knowledge-enhancing activities in both marketing and technology. These will enable Thai SMEs to fully harness the potential of modern marketing. These include programs such as the “Coach Chuan Kui” streaming program and BOOTCAMP classrooms, covering both basic and advanced knowledge. Additionally, there’s a focus on developing channels for the dissemination of content and various activities with partner networks, to spread knowledge to SME business operators throughout Thailand, making it easily accessible, convenient and comprehensive.
PRIVILEGE – Exclusive benefits to increase knowledge, profit and well-being
Through the LINE Family Club, an extensive collection of benefits selected and compiled by LINE, working with various partners, further aims to enhance knowledge, increase profits and boost prosperity for Thai SME businesses. In addition to businesses using LINE Official Account, LINE has recently opened opportunities for those using LINE Ads to become members of the LINE Family Club. This includes the launch of the SME Success Story project, a significant opportunity for all Thai SMEs, who are members of the LINE Family Club, to share their business stories and brand-building efforts and become model SMEs in Thailand. Not only does this allow for the sharing of skills, but it also serves as an important opportunity to boost recognition of their business name.
“LINE is extremely proud to support Thai SMEs in overcoming crises, adapting to changes and continuing to grow to this day. We are, however, entering a new business environment, in which creating greater customer experiences becomes key. LINE will continue to support Thai SMEs, developing tools and technologies to address every diversity and accompanying Thai SMEs in creating excellent experiences to capture the hearts of Thai consumers for sustainable business growth,” Sakulrat concluded.
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