Why RCS messaging is the future of customer communication

SMS messaging is the original form of text communication. It is available on almost all mobile devices, including classic "brick" phones like the Nokia 3310. It allows users to send short, simple messages limited to 160 characters per send. Although limited to text, SMS can include website links, provided the device can connect to the Internet.

Because of its simplicity, SMS remains a go-to channel among marketers. It’s used as an informational channel for appointment reminders, service updates, and other automated notifications like 2FA. SMS is also effective for transactional and marketing messages, informing customers about upcoming events, new products, or special deals. Include a strategically placed link to drive traffic to your website. However, its limitation to text-only content and the character limit can restrict the depth of your communication.

Where SMS falls short, MMS offers a more engaging way to connect with your audience. MMS has transformed communication by allowing you to send videos, audio files up to 30 seconds, and multimedia files up to 500KB. Text limits also increase to 1,600 characters.

MMS allows you to send a wide range of multimedia content, such as videos, audio files, graphics, emojis, GIFs, and text and links. This flexibility enables marketers to send engaging and comprehensive messages that can more effectively capture and hold people's attention. MMS uses the same mobile networks as SMS and is delivered directly to the recipient's native text message inbox.

However, despite these enhancements, MMS often comes at an additional cost due to the higher data usage on carrier networks. This limitation highlights the need for a more advanced solution like RCS, which offers greater capabilities and cost-efficiency.

Enter RCS, or RCS chat, a communication protocol that significantly enhances traditional text messaging capabilities. Unlike SMS, RCS opens up a world of possibilities by allowing Google and Android device users to send and receive rich messages, including voice and video calls and high-resolution images, videos, and documents — all exchanged in real-time.

Although created over 15 years ago, RCS has only recently gained widespread traction, boasting over a billion monthly active users and support from network operators across numerous countries. Its surge in popularity is due to its advanced features, which far exceed the capabilities of SMS and MMS, offering a more engaging communication experience.

Smartphone users have become accustomed to the advanced messaging features they experience daily with over-the-top (OTT) apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage. These apps have set a new standard for communication, one that RCS meets and exceeds by integrating these features directly into Android device's native messaging without the need to download another app. RCS is especially powerful for businesses, enabling enhanced outbound customer communications such as notifications, automated messages, and interactive engagements.

RCS is transforming the landscape of mobile messaging. However, to fully harness its potential, you'll need a compatible device and carrier support. While most modern Android devices are RCS-ready, iOS devices still lack this technology. Apple has been historically reluctant to add RCS to iOS, viewing iMessage as a competitive differentiator for many years. However, there are signs that they have reconsidered and have planned support for RCS, recognizing its growing importance in the messaging ecosystem.

Leading telecom providers like EE, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, T-Mobile, AT&T, Virgin Media O2, and Sprint have already embraced RCS, making it their new standard for messaging. In phone manufacturing, brands such as Samsung, LG, Sony, and Huawei have integrated RCS into their native messaging apps.

Google has also embraced RCS by incorporating its features into its Messages platform, which is becoming the default messaging app on compatible Google-powered phones. This widespread adoption by major telecom providers and device manufacturers underscores RCS's growing significance as a powerful and versatile communication tool.

With the ability to operate over IP-based networks, including Wi-Fi, RCS ensures users can enjoy a seamless and enriched messaging experience anywhere. As RCS continues to gain momentum, it promises to revolutionize text communication, making every interaction richer and more engaging.

Apple's iMessage has long been the gold standard for iPhone users, offering a rich messaging experience with high-quality images, voice notes, typing indicators, read receipts, and emoji reactions. But there's a catch: these features only work when both parties use iPhones, marked by the iconic "blue bubbles." When an iPhone user texts an Android user — or vice versa — the bubbles turn "green," and all the enhanced features vanish, reverting to standard SMS or MMS.

Source: iMessage and SMS/MMS

This limitation often frustrates users needing a seamless messaging experience across different devices. However, this is about to change with the release of iOS 18. Apple is set to adopt RCS, replacing SMS and MMS texting and bringing a unified, feature-rich messaging experience to iOS users.

With iOS 18, iPhone users will enjoy many RCS features, including high-quality media sharing, real-time typing indicators, read receipts, and more. However, it's important to note that it is likely that the traditional green bubbles for non-iOS (Android) users will remain. While adopting RCS will enable encryption and rich media in iMessage, the visual distinction between iOS and Android users will likely persist.

This move by Apple elevates the user experience and marks a significant step towards industry-wide messaging standardization. Despite the ongoing blue and green bubble controversy, the adoption of RCS ensures that everyone can benefit from advanced messaging capabilities, no matter what device they use.

RCS brings many advanced features that dramatically enhance native text messaging capabilities. This technology can be the default messaging service at the operating system and device manufacturing levels, ensuring seamless interoperability across network providers and compliant devices.

A few important features of RCS for businesses are:

• Security and verification — RCS takes security to the next level with advanced protocols like encryption and authentication, safeguarding your messages from interception and eavesdropping. Verified sender IDs add another layer of trust, allowing businesses to confidently identify their communication partners and ensure secure interactions. However, it's worth noting that the implementation of these security measures can differ among network operators.

• Analytics for better campaigns — With comprehensive data on delivery receipts, open rates, and read rates, you can see precisely who engages with your messages and who doesn’t. This insight allows you to track the effectiveness of your communications and measure their impact. Armed with this data, you can dive into focused A/B testing to fine-tune your messaging strategies.

• Engage and connect with group chats — Group chats are powerful tools for businesses to engage with multiple contacts simultaneously, making them perfect for targeting specific customer segments.

• Rich media capabilities — RCS messages don't have a character limit. Businesses can send high-resolution files to their contacts in 1-to-1 or group chats. They can easily share images up to 2MB and videos up to 10MB. But why stop there? Capture your audience's attention with vibrant GIFs and engaging carousels to make your messages more appealing and memorable.

• Interactive messaging — Businesses can enhance messages with dynamic features like read receipts, typing indicators, and action buttons. "Rich cards" also enable businesses to send interactive messages with predefined suggested replies or calls-to-action (CTAs).

• Enriched calling — Businesses can significantly enhance customer interactions by leveraging RCS messaging before, during, and after a voice call.

• Cross-app connectivity: Businesses send messages that integrate with browsers, maps, and other applications, enhancing the user experience and streamlining interactions.

• Messaging as a platform (MaaP) and chatbots — With automated programs or chatbots, businesses can communicate naturally with customers in real-time, providing seamless assistance, answering queries, and performing various tasks.

• Guaranteed message delivery — No internet? No problem! If a contact doesn’t have internet access when an RCS message is sent, it can still be delivered through a fallback protocol or an alternative app like SMS, MMS, or WhatsApp. This way, your message reaches the intended recipient, ensuring reliable communication no matter what.

— Wendy Mikkelsen, Senior Product Marketing Director - Digital Contact Center

A successful RCS strategy leverages a dynamic customer engagement approach, weaving together advanced features to create a truly engaging and impactful communication experience. Strategically integrating multimedia content, interactive elements, and personalized messaging captivates your audience and drives meaningful interactions. This holistic approach enhances user experiences and ensures your messages stand out in a crowded digital landscape.

1. Investigate how industry leaders are leveraging RCS.

If your competitors have not yet adopted this channel, seize the opportunity to be a trailblazer; otherwise, learn how they are using it to identify ways in which you can differentiate.

2. Find an engagement solution that connects all of your channels

Integrating all your communication channels into a unified omnichannel system doesn't have to be daunting. With Khoros Service, you can effortlessly add new channels, embed automation, and scale as needed to ensure smooth customer communication across multiple channels.

3. Identify your goals and understand the problems you’re solving

Know exactly what you aim to achieve with your RCS messaging. Whether it’s enhancing customer service, increasing sales, or boosting engagement, having a clear goal will guide your strategy. Don’t just send RCS messages for the sake of it without having a specific purpose. You could start by segmenting by message type:

• Marketing or transactional messages are focused on increasing conversion, retention, and loyalty by following up on an abandoned basket or offering support with a purchase or return.

• Informational messages are intended to alert your customers to anything that provides information that was either requested or that they must be aware of, such as fraud alerts, 2FA messages, a new bill, or account balances.

4. Learn from the best and innovate

Analyze your previous successful campaigns to understand what worked well. Identify the elements that resonated with your audience and use these insights to shape your RCS strategy.

• Add new features and automation to attract interest and encourage engagement with your messages.

• Continuously improve by staying current with the latest RCS features and trends to keep your campaigns ahead of the curve.

5. Maximize personalization with data-driven insights

Use your customer data to create personalized messages that resonate with your audience. Leverage demographics, purchase history, and behavior patterns to tailor your communications. With this data, you can:

• Segment your audience based on specific criteria to send more targeted and relevant messages.

• Implement dynamic content that changes based on the recipient’s data.

6. Measure, analyze, and optimize

Monitor important metrics such as delivery rates, open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to assess the effectiveness of your RCS campaigns. Also consider:

• A/B test to determine which messages, media, and interactive elements perform best.

• Use customer feedback to refine your RCS strategy by understanding what your customers like and dislike.

RCS is revolutionizing business communication across various industries, transforming every customer interaction into a richer, more engaging, and highly effective experience. Enhancing communication, RCS not only boosts CSAT but also drives higher conversion rates, retention, and loyalty. These features offer a vibrant, interactive alternative to traditional SMS, setting a new standard for connecting and communicating over text.

Leveraging the advanced features of RCS, businesses can deliver personalized, multimedia-rich messages that resonate with their audience and foster deeper relationships. From retail to financial services, travel to telecommunications, RCS is reshaping the customer journey and making every touchpoint more impactful.

As RCS adoption grows, forward-thinking businesses should capitalize on this technology to stay ahead of the curve. Now is the time to integrate RCS into your communication strategy and unlock its full potential to engage your customers like never before.

Khoros Service is a solution that helps enterprise businesses scale their customer service operations quickly. It seamlessly blends synchronous and asynchronous modes of customer engagement. ​​

We are firm believers in the idea that every component, whether it is AI-powered bots or business applications, should work together to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of customer engagement strategies.

Our customer service software allows brands to serve customers on their digital channel of choice with unmatched operational insight to boost satisfaction and reduce costs. When you unify multiple channels in a single solution, you empower your agents with the ability to engage across all touchpoints, including but not limited to:

• Messaging apps like WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business, and Line

• Social networks like Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and WeChat

• Review sites, like Google Play Store, iOS App Store, Yelp, and Trustpilot

• Brand-owned channels, like web chat, in-app, Email, SMS, and Voice

• Owned communities, forums, and knowledge bases