What’s new in the world of RCS?

The new features and enhancements announced at Google’s latest developer conference included hardware and software updates that aim to increase the business and consumer appeal of its RCS (Rich Communication Service.)

What is RCS?

Supporting brand and consumer engagement that’s more visual, aural, interactive, and frictionless, RCS (Rich Communication Service) allows businesses and brands to use features more commonly associated with OTT (over the internet) apps and apply them to SMS through Android’s native messaging app.

Producing on-brand communication with customers, clients, and staff, across every medium, has got to be every marketing team’s dream. And whether you’re searching for an accurate colour palette, or more lifelike photos and videos, RCS lets you personalise and tailor your message to showcase your brand. Rich information, including e-commerce orders, offers, promotions or digital receipts can also be sent, without the need for downloads. As well as being able to capitalise on the 95% open rate of SMS, brands can also gain ‘verified sender’ status, which reassures customers that they are interacting with a trustworthy provider.

The app already supports end-to-end encryption for one-to-one conversations automatically, and support for encrypted group chats, according to Google, will be rolled out later this year.

The android-user landscape

For the first time ever, Google shared the number of Android phone activations, which in 2021 exceeded 1 billion devices. According to Sameer Samat, vice president of product management for Android and Google Play, there are also more than 3 billion active Android devices monthly.

These statistics, when combined with things like Samsung offering four years of major Android OS updates, puts Google in a unique position as it needs to support a diverse array of old and new phones as well as tablets and foldables. Google also noted that its RCS-powered Messages app – the default texting app on many Android phones – already has half a billion monthly active users on Android phones. 

Beyond simple messaging

Rich communication can make it easier for you to send customised campaigns and improve customer experience with:

·        Rich, verified messages

·        A larger 8,000-character limit

·        With video from within messages

·        Group messages

·        Read receipts

·        Cross-platform messages

·        Messages sent via Wi-Fi vs. cell networks and,

·        Analytics

If you’d like to tap into the additional benefits of RCS to deliver a richer and more targeted customer communication experience, talk to one of our expert team today.