Kakao said on July 27 it launched 'Promote Our Channel', a new product on its Easy Ads platform that lets anyone run ads easily.

Easy Ads is a marketing platform Kakao launched in June last year for small business owners. It is designed so businesses can run ads easily on their own without a specialist ad agency. Kakao expanded its product lineup by adding Promote Our Channel, which helps secure KakaoTalk channel friends and support ongoing customer communication, following its first product, Promote Our Store.

The key feature of Promote Our Channel is a cost-per-action (CPA) model in which advertisers pay ad fees only based on friend-addition results.

Advertisers can set the bid per friend addition to match their budgets. Kakao provides recommended bid data by industry to help first-time business owners set bids more easily. Ad creatives can be selected depending on objectives, including a basic type and a coupon type, and will be shown in the KakaoTalk Bizboard area.

Kakao also built data infrastructure so business owners can analyse ad results intuitively. Through performance reports, advertisers can check metrics that lead to actual sales, including friend-addition results, conversion to purchases at Tok Store and conversion to offline coupon use. Kakao plans to expand reporting functions so advertisers can track mid- to long-term results after ad exposure.

To mark the launch, Kakao will run a large-scale promotion aimed at lowering marketing burdens for small businesses. It will provide Biz coupons worth 30,000 won to businesses that create new ad accounts, and an additional 30,000 won coupon if they register an automatic payment card, for up to 60,000 won in ad spend support.

Kakao will also cover the full cost of providing 100 won in Kakao Shopping Points to general users who add KakaoTalk channels through the ads. That will allow small business advertisers to quickly secure channel friends while benefiting from the promotion effect without additional extra spending.

A Kakao official said the company has received positive feedback from businesses using Easy Ads that it helped store operations. The official said Promote Our Channel supports ongoing communication with customers beyond acquiring new customers, adding the company will continue strengthening services so small business owners can run ads more easily and effectively.