Apple’s iOS 18 update is here, and maybe lost amongst the corporate’s flashy unveilings was its much-antipicated adoption of the Rich (*5*) Services (RCS) messaging standard.
RCS, also known as a more robust version of SMS, is supported by major phone carriers including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. The standard allows for greater media-sharing capabilities and stronger communication functionality. However, because Apple for years had rejected the usual to as an alternative promote iMessage, an RCS message sent to an iPhone would previously default to SMS format and be displayed with a green text bubble.
With iOS 18, RCS is now supported for person-to-person messaging between iPhone and Android users (though those green text bubbles aren’t going anywhere). Apple’s decision to support the usual, a move announced in November, also presents a possibility for marketers seeking to send more robust and personalized messages.
“Marketing happens to be, at this stage, the most important use case of RCS, and a giant success story for RCS,” said Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO of Dotgo, an organization that bills itself because the world’s largest RCS business messaging hub.
RCS for business messaging, a protocol generally known as RBM, allows marketers to access much of the identical functionality that makes RCS stronger than SMS. However, RBM will not be yet supported amongst major U.S. carriers right now including AT&T and T-Mobile, though that is anticipated to vary in the approaching months, in response to Alex Campbell, co-founder and chief innovation officer at mobile engagement platform Vibes.
For brands seeking to make the switch from SMS to RCS, Marketing Dive has compiled five key insights that marketers should know based on information shared by Mumick and Campbell, including key considerations around use cases, testing and the present messaging landscape.
Apple didn’t flip the ‘on’ switch for RBM
Though Apple’s support of RCS is recent, the potential itself is over a decade old. The RCS standard was chosen for adoption by the GSM Association (GSMA) in 2008 and intended to interchange SMS. Google has provided major support for the usual, offering it through Google Messages while pressuring Apple to adopt RCS through cheeky campaigns.
Apple’s adoption of RCS will allow for smoother communication between Android and iPhone devices, provided that the usual is already supported by major phone carriers. However, the power for marketers to leverage RBM can also be depending on the carriers. Some smaller players like Spectrum and Xfinity already support RBM, in response to Mumick.
Major carriers are currently working along with Google around their support for RBM to find out details like pricing and “how all of the plumbing goes to work,” Campbell said. From working with the carriers, the exec expects RBM adoption will roll out carrier by carrier across the Q1 to Q2 2025 timeframe.
Notably, while Verizon was also amongst those that hadn’t yet adopted RBM, Vibes’ internal testing indicated the carrier recently enabled the functionality, though its scope is unclear. Marketing Dive reached out to Verizon to substantiate whether it is currently offering RBM and had not received a response as of press time.
“It’s not unexpected, we’ve all been talking about RBM being available in the approaching months,” said Campbell in a follow-up interview surrounding the Verizon news.
Early RBM results show promise
While RCS commands a smaller market within the U.S., the potential is outstanding in areas including India, Mexico and Brazil, Mumick said. Support by select smaller carriers for RBM within the U.S. has also offered marketers a possibility to check how key analytics compare to SMS messages.
In marketing use cases spanning multiple markets, including traffic from the U.S., RCS has proven advantageous over SMS, Mumick explained. Among totals, the usual has seen a mean delivery rate of around 99%. Additionally, RCS messages have seen average read rates of around 50% — or 30%-40% in emerging markets — and a response rate of around 6%-9% on average.
Android currently commands a much larger share of the worldwide mobile market than iOS, though iPhones hold the larger market share within the U.S., which could help explain why the market has been slower to adopt RBM. However, this has been changing since Apple’s announcement, Mumick said.
“With the 50-60% iPhone share, everybody [in the U.S.] was on the fence with just Android supporting RCS,” the exec said. “Now … we’re seeing lots of the big guys, lots of the brands, testing in order that they’ve an understanding.”
Verified IDs could get consumers to open texts
One key to RBM is the power for marketers to acquire verified sender identification, which might allow a brand to display a verified checkmark to assist consumers distinguish against fraudulent activity.
The strategy of verification for marketers begins with registering for what is named an “agent,” or the messaging application that uses the RCS protocol to send messages on the brand’s behalf, explained Vibes’ Campbell, whose company can be helping brands register.
By becoming verified, brands can offer consumers a priceless layer of trust as they make the choice to have interaction with a message. With RBM, the “cryptic” 10 or 5-digit short-code marking an incoming message would also get replaced with the brand’s name and logo, Mumick said, which could make a difference in consumer response rates.
“Instead of getting a 2-3% — sometimes in some markets [a] half percent — response to the SMS, you get a 5%-10% response rate,” Mumick said.
RBM could shorten the trail to buy
Several features of RBM have the potential to shorten the trail to buy and will help fill gaps left by other channels. For example, with RBM, consumers involved in placing an order at a restaurant could assemble their entire order through the message chain as an alternative of getting to download an app, Campbell explained.
“If you confer with marketers, the nice/lucky ones, 10-15% of their customers have downloaded their app, and that’s so much,” Campbell said. “The app doesn’t necessarily reach loads of your audience, and that’s where something like SMS is available in, where we now have customers where the SMS database might be 70% of their customers.”
Other benefits for brands involve the power to send follow-up messages to those that read an initial message, insert image carousels, deploy generative AI and send localized responses with no need to enter a ZIP code, Mumick said.
‘Just since you can does not imply you must’
For marketers seeking to use RBM, Campbell recommends using the primary half of 2025 to experiment, test and learn. However, as marketers often must remember every time a shiny recent tool arises, “simply because you can doesn’t mean you must,” the exec said. While RCS offers marketers quite a few ways to personalize messages to consumers, the goal of simplifying the shopping journey should remain front of mind.
“We at all times say that your phone is a mission-driven device, and so things that get in the way in which of the mission are bad,” Campbell said. “If I say here’s your abandoned cart, and listed here are 17 other shirts that match that … No, I just wish to buy what’s in my cart.”
Marketers also needs to remember there’s a lag time within the adoption of Apple’s software updates, with only around 70% of consumers having updated their phones by six months out, per the exec. While marketers shouldn’t feel hesitant about RCS, in addition they shouldn’t forget in regards to the people who find themselves still getting a normal text message.
“In the tip, SMS will eat RCS up just due to the functionality,” Campbell said. “But at the identical time, we talk in regards to the big three, but we’re connected to 68 carriers within the U.S., so there’s so much more on the market… the hybrid world of RCS and SMS goes to be around for years.”
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