RCS

Conversational communication between businesses and customers

What is RCS?

Rich Communications Services (RCS) is a messaging service supporting enhanced, conversational experiences, without the need to download an app. A growing number of mobile carriers and phone manufacturers now support RCS, allowing businesses to offer an advanced level of chat functionality and interaction with customers.

It’s the opportunity for organisations to have more personalised, two-way, real-time conversations that are led by customers’ needs. Brands can use RCS as a way to be present on customer devices and support better ongoing interactions with varied content types.

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0800 955 5590

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Why choose RCS?

App-free engagement

Customers access RCS messaging through their native messaging app, so there’s no need for them to download another one.
All conversations with your brand can be found in one place so you remain at front of mind for customers.

Conversations, not notifications

Move beyond simple ‘reply x option for yes’ chats and let customers lead conversations, by requesting the information they actually need.
74% say RCS would make them want to communicate with a brand.

Increased brand awareness

Customers personally interact with your brand more frequently, leading to improved customer satisfaction and brand perception.
Align messaging with other channels, like online or in-app, to optimise investment.

Real impact on the bottom line

Customers who engage with your company via live chat are worth 4.5 times more than customers who don’t.
Purchases made after a chat are 10% more valuable than those that aren’t.

Understand the customer journey

Features like typing indicators, quick-response buttons and read receipts show how customers are engaging with communications.
Help to speed up brand engagement and reduce customer call times.

A growing market

By 2022, 70% of customer interactions will happen on mobile devices, up from 20% in 2018.
Identify the opportunity to interact with customers now to shape more engaging communication strategies.

See how RCS works

Your questions answered

Download the RCS Product sheet to learn more.

Download the RCS Product sheet here

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Where’s the value in RCS?

We’re all customers, and as customers we’re increasingly used to having what we want straight away, whether it’s a conversation with a friend, information or an answer to a question.

RCS is all about allowing customers to get the information they need as and when they need it most. The interactivity of RCS means that customers can have real-time conversations with your business, whether it’s ordering a product, finding out a delivery time or getting in touch with customer service.

Concerns and queries can be resolved faster, in a way that feels like the customer is in control, making them feel more valued, reducing frustration, and improving their perception of – and loyalty to – your brand. Interactive features all speed up brand engagement and reduce customers’ own call times.

Is it secure?

RCS Business Messaging is one of the most secure forms of digital communication available. If a company wants to send messages via RCS, they have to go through a brand verification process. This helps to combat spammers from abusing the channel and your customers, and makes sure your brand integrity isn’t put at risk.

Carrier-grade security makes it fully standards compliant, and it includes everything you’d expect for a secure channel, from encryption, restrictions and spam prevention.

Why should I invest in RCS now?

The market for RCS is growing, fast. By 2020, 86% of smartphones will be enabled for RCS, and customers will only become more expectant of having the same real-time interactions with businesses that they have with their peers.

The benefits of better interactions are obvious – reduced churn, increased loyalty and brand awareness, bigger revenues. But beyond that, as RCS is growing, we’re still waiting to see what people will create and what new use cases will be uncovered. So now is the time to invest in RCS, and challenge what it can do to find out where in your business it can make the biggest difference.

Working with RCS earlier also means you have longer to create a more joined-up channel strategy, so that investments you’ve already made in other channels are also optimised.

Do messages work in reality?

Yes. More diverse and engaging content means customers are more likely to open and interact with messages, making for more valuable conversations. Messaging is already a channel with a high read rate of 95%, is the fastest of any channel, and when you add in a better experience then you’re looking at a clear improvement.

Customers agree too – according to OpenMarket, “nearly 80% of consumers find RCS appealing and 74% say RCS would make them more likely to want to communicate with a brand”. Nor is it a channel that’s likely to decrease in importance, with Gartner finding that by 2022, 70% of customer interactions will happen on mobile devices, up from 20% in 2018.

What’s possible with RCS?

The uses cases we currently have for RCS Business Messaging are already varied, and naturally depend on the business challenge and context. By questioning what it could do for you, you can get ahead of the competition by innovating with the channel and achieving a lot more. Some of those existing use cases include:

Personalised promotions which can be aligned to specific contexts, like payday
Booking reviews, for example changing a train booking which a customer is due to miss
Customer advice, where the customer can accurately explain their issue and it can be resolved in real time
Reminders about other things, like update deadlines or key account information

Take a look at our complete FAQs document here