LINE Marketing: How to Reach 170 Million Users in Japan and Thailand

In Japan and Thailand, LINE isn’t just another messaging app – it’s the internet for hundreds of millions of people. A brand that launches in Bangkok with WhatsApp campaigns and email drip sequences and wonders why response rates are dismal isn’t unlucky. It targeted the wrong channel entirely.

85.4% of Thai internet users are on LINE. In Japan, the platform reaches 97 million monthly active users – 78% of the entire population. Any LINE marketing strategy that ignores this reality isn’t a strategy. It’s noise.

What Makes LINE Different From Every Other Channel

LINE holds a position in Japan and Thailand that no single app matches in Western markets. In Japan alone, the platform has 97 million monthly active users, covering 78% of the population. Thailand tells a similar story. LINE has 51 million monthly active users there, and Thai users spend an average of 67 minutes per day inside the app.

The reason LINE marketing outperforms other channels in these markets isn’t user count alone. It’s the depth of daily integration. Users don’t just message friends on LINE – they browse LINE VOOM for content, manage payments through LINE Pay, order food, and message businesses through Official Accounts.

That level of daily engagement creates a structural opportunity for brands. Discovery, payment, support, and repeat business all happen in one place. A single LINE presence can touch the entire customer journey instead of fighting for attention across scattered apps.

For companies in Japan and Thailand, LINE isn’t one channel among many. It’s the primary digital touchpoint where customers expect to find, message, and buy from you.

Key LINE Marketing Features for Businesses

LINE Official Accounts let you run your entire customer relationship – from first discovery to repeat purchase – from a single chat interface. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Few messaging platforms close the loop from awareness to purchase to retention. LINE does, and it does it inside one app your customers are already using every day.

LINE Marketing in Japan vs. Thailand: Tailor Your Strategy

LINE may be the same platform in both markets, but the playbook is different. Getting the tone wrong in one market can undermine campaigns that perform perfectly in the other.

Japan: Precision and Professionalism

Japanese consumers expect polished, information-dense interactions. What works:

• Detailed product specifications and structured pricing
• Formal, restrained tone
• Loyalty programs with clear rules and transparent rewards
• Content that respects the audience’s time and intelligence

Thailand: Warmth, Creativity, and Connection

Thai consumers respond to energy and playfulness. What works:

• Celebrity stickers and branded character mascots
• Casual, conversational copy with visual flair
• Humor-driven campaigns and seasonal creative
• Influencer tie-ins and community-building content

LINE in a Multi-Channel Strategy

LINE dominates in Japan and Thailand, but businesses rarely operate in just one or two countries. A company active across APAC might use WhatsApp in Indonesia, Viber in the Philippines, and SMS everywhere else.

Managing each channel through separate dashboards creates operational silos. Agents juggle multiple tools, customer histories fragment across platforms, and campaign reporting stays disconnected.

The better approach: connect LINE and all your other channels through one set of APIs, so you add a channel without adding another dashboard to manage. Marketing teams get consistent campaign tools. Support agents get a complete view of every conversation, regardless of which channel started it.

Read More: Enhancing Engagement: Your Omnichannel Messaging Guide

How 8×8 Simplifies LINE for Business Deployment

8×8 offers LINE for Business as part of its CPaaS platform, enabling enterprises to integrate LINE messaging through APIs without building custom infrastructure.

What you get:

• End-to-end campaign tools – broadcast messaging, conversational support, and automated responses, all in one workflow
• No platform-switching – the same system handles LINE, WhatsApp, Viber, and SMS from a single integration
• Unified agent workspace – 8×8 Converse brings LINE conversations into one panel alongside voice, SMS, email, and web chat

Inside 8×8 Converse, agents see each customer’s full history, VIP tags, and notes. They receive AI-suggested responses and intent prediction, and route conversations by skill or priority. Supervisors track SLAs and response times from the same dashboard – no separate LINE tools, nothing lost when a chat moves between channels.

For businesses expanding into Japan and Thailand, this means:

• No custom integration to build
• No platform specialists to hire
• No separate vendor contracts to manage

The network behind those messages matters, too. 8×8 runs a direct carrier network reaching 160+ mobile operators across 190+ countries, with local infrastructure in every major APAC market. Messages to Japan and Thailand route over local connections – not a chain of third-party aggregators. In these markets, that’s the difference between on-time delivery and the patchy performance that erodes customer trust.

Read more: Flash Sales and Promotions on LINE That Convert

Start LINE Marketing in Japan and Thailand

In Japan and Thailand, the brands that win are the ones customers can reach without leaving the app they live in. LINE is that app.

For businesses ready to make LINE marketing a core channel – without the operational overhead of a standalone integration – 8×8 provides the infrastructure, the unified workspace, and the APAC carrier network to make it real.

Share which markets you’re entering, and 8×8 will map LINE for Business to the rest of your messaging. Talk to 8×8 to get started.