SMS Landing Pages vs RCS Messaging: understanding the differences

Topic: Marketing

SMS Landing Pages and RCS messaging offer smart, cost-effective and intuitive tools that allow businesses to connect with customers in far smarter ways than they’ve ever been able to before. But how do these two channels differ and when should you use one rather than the other?

We’ve highlighted the use cases of both, so you can decide which one suits you best.

Armed with both options, you’ll never lose an opportunity to deliver the most effective and engaging SMS marketing or RCS messaging to your customers.    

What are SMS Landing Pages?

SMS Landing Pages allow you to send customers to a fully personalised mobile landing page from within a text message. They consist of a mobile-first, fully branded and personalised page delivered directly to your customers’ mobile that deliver striking open and click-through rates without you paying hosting fees or needing developer skills. They’re also a really engaging way to connect with customers through targeted SMS marketing, gather 1st party data, or maximise conversions through product or promotional campaigns.

Ways to use SMS Landing Pages: promotional marketing, event management, appointment reminders, service disruption, upcoming payments

Businesses that boost their click-through rates with SMS Landing Pages:  retail, travel/hospitality, finance, real estate, healthcare, utilities.

Features at a glance: bulk sending, personalisation, scheduling, reporting and analytics, delivery receipts, short trackable links, customisable CTA buttons, save templates.

Case study: Find out how British Airways Holidays uses SMS Landing Pages to send more engaging and informative service disruption communications to its customers.

What is Rich Communication Services (RCS)?

RCS stands for Rich Communication Services, which are SMS messages with upgraded features provided by Google

RCS makes it fast and easy to send more information in a message. This means richer text features, higher-resolution images, videos, and more. Think of RCS like a supercharged SMS message and you’re beginning to get the picture! RCS shares the ease and universality of SMS and its bulk sending capability, but lets you deliver conversational messaging thanks to its bigger bag of tricks.

Ways to use RCS Messaging: customer service, securely share documents, appointment reminders and confirmations, ,reservations/bookings, retargeting

Businesses that boost their click-through rates with RCS Messaging:  retail, healthcare, utilities

Features at a glance: branded logos/icons/colour palette, location sharing/maps integration, calendar and scheduling, embedded rich cards, read receipts, high definition images and videos, verified business addresses and end-to-end encryption. Suggested actions and quick reply buttons are also available via chatbot. Case study: read how Vaillant is using RCS messaging for sales follow-up, engineer appointment confirmations and general Q&As.

Case study: read how Vaillant is using RCS messaging for sales follow-up, engineer appointment confirmations and general Q&As.

Author Avatar
Mary Henry

Mary has extensive experience in communication, PR and journalism - most recently across SaaS businesses. A keen researcher and storyteller, Mary is highly skilled in making complex concepts accessible, and in putting customers at the heart of her communication. She has supported all kinds of businesses to tell their brand, product and people stories - from global multinationals to start-ups across retail, travel/leisure, banking/finance, government and educational institutions.