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How to Grow LINE Official Account Friends with QR Codes

Last updated: 2 min read

Creating a LINE Friend-Add QR Code

You can create a friend-add QR code for free from the LINE Official Account Manager. Select QR code from the "Gain Friends" menu and download it as a PNG image.

The downloaded QR code can be used directly in print materials. If resolution is insufficient, export in SVG format or use a QR code generator with the LINE friend-add URL to create a high-resolution version. For the basics of how friend-add QR codes work, see the glossary entry "LINE Friend Add QR Code".

Effective Placement Locations

Place friend-add QR codes where customers can easily see them and have motivation to scan:

  • Near the register: Customers scan while waiting to pay. Add incentives like "10% off next visit for adding as friend."
  • On tables: Restaurant guests scan while waiting for food. Combine with menus or coupons.
  • Shop cards: Customers take them home, enabling later scanning.
  • Product packaging: Customers scan at home after purchase. Effective for encouraging repeat purchases.

Prepare Friend-Add Incentives

Simply placing a QR code won't increase friend additions. Presenting clear benefits for scanning is essential:

  • Distribute an immediately usable coupon upon friend addition
  • Preview friends-only sale information
  • Offer point card functionality via LINE's shop card

Instead of just "Add us as a friend," specifying concrete benefits like "Get a 500 yen coupon for adding as friend" significantly improves addition rates.

Design and visibility of the QR code

It is important to make the friend-adding QR code a design that is reliably scannable. Be sure to secure enough margin (a quiet zone) around the code. Without margin, scanning tends to fail. It is also important to make the contrast with the background clear and not to add so much decoration that the code pattern is broken. Assuming the distance from which it will be scanned at its location, print it at a sufficient size. Adding a short note such as hold up your camera to add as a friend lets customers act without hesitation.

Online routes for adding friends

The route to increase friend additions is not only the physical QR code placed in the store. Putting an adding link or QR code on your website, blog, and the profile sections of various social media lets you prompt friend additions even from customers before they visit. Printing it small on receipts, shop cards, and email signatures is also effective. By preparing routes both online and offline, the number of touchpoints increases and you are less likely to miss chances for friend additions. It is good to think of every place customers see as an opportunity to add.

Operation after adding is crucial

Increasing friends is not the goal but the starting point. Only by continuing to deliver valuable information to customers who added you does it lead to visits and purchases. However, if you send too many messages, they feel bothersome and you get blocked. The balance of delivery frequency and content is crucial. Deliver coupons, useful information, and notices that prompt a visit at appropriate intervals. Dividing the delivered content according to your customer segments makes it resonate more easily. Careful operation after adding is what turns the number of friends into results.

Operating across multiple stores or a chain

When operating LINE official accounts across multiple stores or a chain, it is good to decide in advance whether to separate accounts per store or unify them into one. If you want to deliver locally rooted information, per-store suits you; if you want consistent messaging across the whole brand, unifying suits you. With either policy, keeping the QR code placement, the wording of guidance, and the content of offers consistent across stores keeps customers from getting confused. Deciding operational rules at the start is the foundation for not falling into confusion even as stores increase.

Measuring and Improving Results

The LINE Official Account Manager shows friend addition trends in graphs. Track changes starting from the date QR codes were placed.

For multiple locations, set different tracking parameters for each to analyze which locations generate the most additions. Review placement methods and incentives for low-performing locations, and add more prominent displays at high-performing ones.