With the recent release of Apple’s iOS 18, RCS texting is now available on iPhones. This long-awaited update means that Android device users can finally engage in rich messaging perks when texting with Apple users.
It also lays the groundwork for RCS business messaging, eventually allowing businesses to engage subscribers beyond the limitations of SMS and MMS text messaging.
But what exactly is RCS texting and what does it mean for your business texting strategy? In this blog, we’ll dive into the dynamic world of RCS texting, explain how it works, and explore what it can do for your business.
Jump right to:
- What is RCS texting?
- Key features of RCS texting
- 6 key benefits of RCS texting
- 5 common RCS use cases
- Tips to get started with RCS
<h2 id="What">What is RCS texting?</h2>
Rich Communication Service (RCS) is a messaging protocol intended to replace Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging. RCS delivers a more powerful and feature-filled messaging experience. For example, it allows users to share large multimedia files, send longer messages, and see read receipts and typing indicators.
SMS messaging has been the most extensively used texting technology since its first use in 1992. However, with the rise of smartphones and rich messaging apps like Apple’s iMessage and WhatsApp, users began searching for an alternative to SMS. That’s where RCS messaging comes into play.
Where SMS messages are sent over a mobile network, RCS messages (along with OTT messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger) utilize Wi-Fi or a customer’s data plan. RCS messages will be sent for free if a user is connected to Wi-Fi. However, users may incur a fee when RCS messages are sent using mobile data.
As of September 2024, RCS messaging is supported on both Android and Apple phones.
RCS vs. SMS vs. MMS
Before diving into the key differences between RCS and SMS, it’s important to highlight the main distinctions between MMS and SMS.
- SMS is a simple text-only message that most cell phone users are accustomed to. They can include clickable website links, but they’re limited to 160 characters.
- MMS allows senders to share limited-size multimedia content such as video, audio, GIFs, and emojis via text message. MMS also allows senders to use up to 1,600 characters. In turn, it’s more costly because of the increased data being shared.
Both SMS and MMS messages are sent through your carrier’s service, like voice calls. They don’t require a user to be connected to Wi-Fi or have a data network.
Alternatively, RCS requires data connectivity (5G or LTE) or an internet connection. RCS differs from SMS and MMS primarily in its ability to send rich, high-quality multimedia content. It also allows for a more interactive user experience and boosts security compared to SMS messages.
<h2 id="Features">Key features of RCS texting</h2>
To better understand all that RCS has to offer businesses, let’s take a look at key features that set RCS marketing apart from SMS marketing.
- Interactive features: RCS allows users to better interact with messages because it supports features like forms, carousels, quick replies, and buttons.
- Unlimited characters: RCS has no strict character limit.
- Verified senders: For businesses using RCS, verified badges are displayed, assuring recipients that the message is from a legitimate source.
- Sent via internet: Like iMessages, RCS texts are sent via cellular data or Wi-Fi.
- Rich content: Users have the ability to send batches of high-quality multimedia content such as video, audio, GIFs, JPGs, and PNGs to other users.
- Analytics: RCS messages can display read receipts and typing indicators for easier analytics and tracking.
<h2 id="Benefits">6 key benefits of RCS texting</h2>
RCS gives brands the ability to better engage with customers and ultimately drive them toward conversion. Here are six key benefits of incorporating RCS into your business texting strategy.
Enhanced security
One core benefit of RCS is that businesses can become verified senders. This allows brands to display their logo and name so users can see them at the top of the chat. This verified sender profile enables customers to see clear visual cues of brand legitimacy to increase trust and security.
Additionally, while RCS doesn’t currently provide end-to-end encryption, the organization responsible for developing the protocol (GSMA) is committed to making it happen.
Branding enhancements
The verified sender profiles are great for enhancing security and trust, but they also provide enhanced visual branding. RCS supports brands by adding their official brand colors and brand names to their vendor profiles. This can help you improve your brand image in text message conversations.
Additionally, RCS supports longer character messages, which gives brands more space to be creative with their language. This can add to the brand experience.
Improved customer engagement and experience
RCS supports the sending of high-resolution multimedia messages, which means businesses can share versatile and engaging graphics and videos, send forms, and embed website links. RCS also gives businesses the option to include a visual call-to-action in a button.
Overall, RCS features give businesses the option to send more interactive content to capture customer attention for longer periods of time. This improves the customer’s experience while also increasing the chances of conversion from your text marketing campaigns.
Better analytics
RCS makes it easy to see who receives, opens, and interacts with your messages. With the ability to track deliverability receipts, open rates, and read rates, you can get a comprehensive view of your message strategy performance.
Even further, utilizing data from RCS conversations informs your customer profiles, which helps your marketing team design more compelling materials.
Read more: 21 SMS marketing metrics to gauge success
Increasing adoption
As of 2023, Google reported over 1 billion monthly RCS-enabled users. With Apple’s recent adoption of the service, that number is rapidly growing. This increased adoption of RCS by consumers will be a significant positive for businesses as they can use feature-rich content to market to and engage with more mobile phone users. It’s important to note that not all mobile carriers support RCS messaging, but more are adding it.
Additionally, RCS offers an SMS fallback, which means your message will be delivered as a standard text message if a user doesn’t have RCS enabled.
Group messaging enhancements
RCS offers an enhanced group messaging experience. Group messaging is when you can see and respond to other people within the same text thread. With SMS, only 10 people could be included in a group message. With RCS, up to 100 people can be added. This feature could help businesses that want to include more than 10 people in a group message.
<h2 id="Common">5 common RCS use cases</h2>
Let’s dive into a few use cases of businesses leveraging RCS texting.
Product launches
RCS features like high-resolution images, carousels, and purchase buttons make it easy for businesses to promote and launch new products. Use an RCS text to give customers a visual purchasing experience in their message inbox.
The following use case is an example from Caps, a bespoke hat brand, using RCS to market its new line of baseball hats to customers.
Real-time updates
Make your brand accessible and increase customer satisfaction by engaging in real time service conversations with your customers. RCS enables businesses to schedule meetings, share appointment reminders, engage in live support, or provide shipping updates.
In the example below, the skincare brand Rewind engages with a customer using RCS to help identify their order number and get real-time tracking on their shipment.
Location-based services
Businesses looking to market to customers in a certain geographic area or time-zone can use RCS to share location-specific discounts or offers to entice customer engagement. While this is a feature RCS supports, users will need to turn on location sharing services first.
Notes & Nods is a wine shop that engages customers by sending monthly messages to invite subscribers into stores for free tasting nights. The business uses the interactive and location-specific features of RCS to target customers around certain locations, sharing enticing photos and encouraging interaction.
Collecting feedback
RCS allows businesses to send surveys and forms to customers to streamline the feedback process and improve customer satisfaction analytics. Features like suggested replies and two-way messaging help businesses dig deeper into understanding customer feedback.
GoDrive is a national car rental company that uses RCS messaging to collect feedback from customers after they’ve returned their rental.
Abandoned cart messages
Retailers looking to re-engage customers who haven’t yet made a purchase can use RCS to send abandoned cart texts. These messages could simply be reminders or provide discounts to incentivize a purchase. Businesses can add a button to send the customer directly to their cart, further streamlining the purchasing process.
In anticipation of their Black Friday sales, the outdoor clothing brand Poppy sent abandoned cart reminders to customers encouraging them to take advantage of the Black Friday discount and complete their purchase.
<h2 id="Tips">Tips to get started with RCS texting</h2>
The following steps will help you design and implement an RCS texting strategy.
- Research. To integrate RCS texting into your marketing communication strategy, performing market research is key to understanding how others in your industry are leveraging RCS. As RCS adoption grows, it’ll be advantageous for your business to have a head start.
- Choose a business texting platform. Business texting platforms allow you to make the most of your RCS strategy through multi-channel reach and scalability. They also ensure you’re meeting text compliance and offer automation features to optimize your text marketing efforts.
- Build and test your RCS strategies. Using customer data and use cases, build comprehensive RCS strategies and test them on small groups. Analyzing the data you receive from these tests will enable you to make crucial adjustments and streamline expansion.
- Keep improving. As RCS’ reach increases and its features grow, continue collecting customer data and improving strategies to deepen your experience and stay up-to-date on the latest technology.
Modernize customer communication with Textline
While RCS is clearly the enhanced future of business texting, SMS is still a reliable way to reach customers at scale. This is especially true for businesses who want to explore texting as a customer communication channel as it’s simple to set up and easy to use.
Textline is the most secure business texting platform on the market, offering a suite of powerful tools like MMS, templates, integrations, automations, group chats, and analytics. Textline provides all the tools customers need to engage and convert customers, deliver exceptional customer support, and increase revenue.
Try Textline free today or connect with our business texting experts.
