Despite the high open rates, businesses often shy away from relying solely on SMS for communicating with their customers due to its branding limitations.
This is where RCS (Rich Communication Services) steps in. In this blog, we understand what RCS business messaging is and what sets it apart from traditional messaging methods.
We’ll also see how RCS, with its multimedia capabilities and interactive features, is becoming the preferred choice for businesses that want to improve their communication strategies and build richer connections with customers.
Let’s dive right in!
What Is RCS Business Messaging?
Rich Communication Services, also known as RCS Chat, is a technological leap in communication protocols, providing enhanced capabilities for messaging, voice, video, and file transfer.
Unlike traditional SMS, which is limited in features, RCS aims to shake up text messaging by delivering a more feature-rich experience that goes beyond both cellular and IP-based networks, including Wi-Fi.
As smartphone users increasingly demand robust communication applications, popular platforms like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Facebook Messenger have set a new standard with their rich feature sets.
RCS, positioned as a successor to SMS and MMS, emerges as a multimedia messaging platform allowing the real-time exchange of messages, voice, and video calls, as well as multimedia files such as images, videos, and documents. This addresses the status quo of how SMS currently drives a large volume of notifications today, but receives the lowest open rates in comparison to other channels.
Key Differences Between RCS Messaging and Traditional SMS?
As we are moving from traditional messaging to RCS, we’re significantly changing the ways we communicate. Here are some key differences between RCS services and traditional messaging.
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- Multimedia richness - RCS allows for multimedia elements like images, videos, and interactive buttons, providing a visually engaging experience. Traditional messaging, primarily SMS, lacks these features, limiting communication to plain text, which businesses are not a big fan of.
- Interactive features - Unlike traditional messaging, RCS introduces interactive elements such as suggested replies, carousels, and quick actions. It allows businesses to improve two-way communication, enhancing user engagement and experience.
- Branding opportunities - RCS allows businesses to brand their messages with logos and colors, creating a more visually appealing and recognizable experience. Traditional messaging lacks these branding opportunities, often resulting in generic and less impactful communication.
- Read receipts and typing indicators - RCS provides read receipts and typing indicators, offering businesses insights into customer engagement. In contrast, traditional messaging typically lacks these features, leaving senders in the dark about the recipient’s interaction with the message.
- Versatility in content sharing - RCS supports the easy sharing of high-quality content like location pins, contact cards, and live updates. Traditional messaging struggles with sharing such versatile content, limiting the richness of the user experience.
- More expensive than SMS but cheaper than WhatsApp - Traditional messaging, especially SMS, is often considered more cost-effective, as it operates on basic network infrastructure. But, RCS, relies on data networks and hence may incur additional costs for users with limited data plans. However, for businesses, it’s a better option than channels like WhatsApp considering the return they can generate from these messages.
- Multimedia richness - RCS allows for multimedia elements like images, videos, and interactive buttons, providing a visually engaging experience. Traditional messaging, primarily SMS, lacks these features, limiting communication to plain text, which businesses are not a big fan of.
Why RCS Messaging Is Important for Businesses
RCS messaging holds significant importance for businesses as it gives them more options to play with. The preference for text messaging is evident, with 67% of people favoring it over email and voice calls due to its speed and simplicity. Businesses are already leveraging text messaging for a variety of purposes, from initiating conversations and growing subscriber lists to generating leads and providing customer support.
RCS chat goes beyond traditional SMS, offering an upgraded and evolved conversational experience. It introduces features that allow consumers to interact seamlessly within their native messaging app, eliminating the need to send links and streamlining the user experience.
RCS business messaging brings a new dimension to business communication. It empowers businesses with advanced features to engage audiences effectively. By simplifying interactions, providing multimedia capabilities, and offering a more dynamic experience, RCS ensures that businesses meet the evolving needs of their customers.
We have also read surveys and studies that state 40% of all mobile devices will be RCS enabled in the next 5 years, thereby improving adoption.
4 Ways to Use RCS Messaging
RCS business messaging opens up a myriad of possibilities for businesses to connect with their audience in innovative and engaging ways. Here are five impactful ways you can leverage RCS messages:
Interactive promotions and offers
Businesses can use RCS to send interactive promotions and offers directly to customers’ devices. Instead of simple text, companies can show visually appealing images, videos, and carousels, creating a more immersive experience. Users can engage with promotions, view product details, and even make purchases without leaving the messaging app.
Appointment scheduling and reminders
RCS messages can streamline appointment scheduling and reminders. Businesses, especially those in service industries like healthcare or salons, can send RCS messages with interactive buttons for appointment confirmation, rescheduling, or cancellations. Moreover, automated reminders with rich media content can enhance customer engagement and reduce no-shows.
Order updates and tracking
E-commerce businesses can enhance the post-purchase experience by using RCS to provide real-time updates on order status and shipment tracking. With interactive elements, customers can easily track their orders, view delivery timelines, and even modify delivery preferences, creating a seamless and transparent shopping experience.
Customer surveys and feedback
RCS messages offer an effective channel for businesses to collect customer feedback and conduct surveys. By using interactive elements like rating scales or multiple-choice questions, companies can gather valuable insights in a user-friendly format. This not only enhances the customer feedback process but also encourages higher response rates.
Personalized Customer Support
RCS allows businesses to provide personalized and interactive customer support directly within the messaging app. Users can initiate support conversations, receive automated responses, and even interact with chatbots for quick issue resolution. The inclusion of rich media elements enhances the support experience, allowing businesses to visually guide users through troubleshooting processes.
Top Use Cases of RCS Business messaging
RCS business messaging is a way for businesses to provide more convenience to customers for more engagement. With a multimedia-rich experience, RCS enables brands to interact more meaningfully with their audience.
ADP – improving HR communication
ADP, a pioneer in human capital management solutions, uses RCS to transform HR communication. They use RCS chat to communicate important HR information to employees, including payroll updates, benefits enrollment, and policy changes. The enriched messaging experience ensures that employees stay informed and engaged.
Frank Villavicencio, VP of Product Development at ADP, affirms this RCS services potential, stating, “We see the potential for RCS to substantially increase convenience and security in our engagement with end users for high-value interactions.”
Subway – explosive response rates through RCS
Subway has leveraged RCS to deliver promotional campaigns with astounding success. Carissa Ganelli, Chief Digital Officer at Subway, expresses the impact, stating, “What we’ve been seeing with our RCS campaigns is blow-the-doors-off response rates within the native text messaging app.”
By incorporating vibrant images, promotions, and interactive elements, Subway engages customers seamlessly, achieving unprecedented response rates and elevating the customer experience.
In both cases, RCS business messaging offers a platform for enhanced convenience and serves as a catalyst for better customer engagement. These brands show how effective RCS is in delivering content-rich, interactive experiences that resonate with users, setting a new standard for customer communication.
Is RCS Business Messaging for you?
RCS Business Messaging is a versatile solution for businesses of all scales and across various industries. If your business goal is to improve customer engagement and drive higher conversions through your campaigns, RCS is for you.
This article was originally published on Interakt.
