Rich communication services (RCS) is continuing its exponential growth worldwide as advertisers embrace the technology’s rich features.
Andre Odendaal, Senior Sales engineer at Sinch, says: “We predicted last year that RCS would become a key tool for business, and our forecasts were right.” The global RCS market was estimated to be worth US $8.37 billion in 2023 and is expected to top $19.48 billion by 2028.
"During 2024, Apple announced support for both person-to-person (P2P) and application-to-person (A2P) RCS messaging. This fuels adoption, as users can access RCS directly in their native messaging app – no downloads needed. RCS is found in users' native messaging apps on mobile devices.”
Sinch successfully delivered more than 1 billion RCS business messages for businesses worldwide last year. Sinch partners with Google and mobile operators worldwide, enabling businesses to send RCS messages in available markets, connecting with customers through engaging, personalised communications directly within their mobile messaging inbox.
Sinch research indicates that RCS offers a big opportunity for brands: in a 2024 survey of nearly 1 200 consumers, 51.2% of consumers said they would likely engage with this type of interactive mobile messages. RCS offers high engagement rates, with 90% of rich media messages opened within 15 minutes, and customers engaging with RCS content for up to 45 seconds. Sinch also finds that people are 35 times more likely to read an RCS message than an e-mail.
RCS differs from SMS in that it has verified sender capability and can incorporate multimedia such as high-resolution images, gifs, carousels, audio, video and calendar and scheduling integrations. Marketers can send RCS messages that include suggested actions opening the browser, map locations or other applications, and where SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, RCS allows users to send up to 250 000 characters at once.
With rising spam and fraud, sender verification reassures consumers that messages are legitimate. The verified sender feature visually confirms that a business is authorised to use its name and logo and that the message is coming from a recognised source. This serves as a stamp of approval from a specialised entity like mobile network operators (MNOs) and reassures customers that messages are legitimate
RCS can be harnessed alongside other channels to enhance marketing and engagement strategies. “RCS will excel for some goals, while SMS might be better for others,” Odendaal says. “For example, RCS messaging is particularly effective with clients aged 35-55; and RCS offers better metrics and analytics than SMS. Choosing RCS isn’t about replacing other channels – it’s about using it strategically, so your messages have maximum impact.”
RCS allows marketers to send interactive messages that achieve higher open rates than other messaging channels and can include calls to action (CTAs) or suggested actions, such as redirecting people to a web store, physical store or call centre. RCS can also enable easy payments within the messaging app, so users can buy plane tickets or use loyalty cards linked to their digital wallets.
Sinch clients have harnessed RCS to successfully drive website traffic, promote new apps, send personalised offers, streamline the purchase process, digitise product catalogues and reduce churn, among others. For example, Clarins, one of the leading skincare brands in Europe, increased their engagement rates by 2.5x with RCS.
Sinch offers multiple ways for businesses to leverage RCS, including its Conversation API, RCS Upscale solution and turnkey software applications. RCS Upscale enables businesses to seamlessly transition from SMS to RCS with minimal changes to systems and processes. Conversation API enhances flexibility, adds features and supports additional messaging channels like WhatsApp for a unified and comprehensive customer communication strategy. Businesses can also integrate RCS through Sinch's ecosystem partnerships, simplifying adoption and scalability.
For more information on how Sinch's RCS solutions can transform your business communications, feel free to contact us at https://sinch.com/contact-us/.
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