Australia’s long-standing connection with SMS has endured significant evolution in the mobile landscape, through increasing smartphone penetration, the rise of Over-the-top (OTT) messaging, mobile payments and expanding digital commerce industries.
Few other communication tools have as much reach as SMS. While we might only sporadically check emails and instant messages from our WhatsApp groups and other channels, the simplicity and universal nature of SMS means it has a wide array of use cases for businesses.
While SMS remains popular with very high open rates (94%) among Australians, the limitations to businesses are glaring. SMS is still resolutely text-oriented and held back by various restrictions and a 160-character limit – hence the name ‘short messaging service’. The technology offers little scope for the sophistication demanded by marketers today to offer messages to consumers that are useful, personalised and engaging. Businesses today need a communication tool that will enhance brand interactions with customers. Enter Rich Communication Services (RCS).
RCS: Marketing’s next powerful wave
As a powerful communication tool with an already established audience base, RCS is expected to reshape the current SMS marketing landscape once it hits our shores. By using RCS, Australian brands can boost engagement, efficiency, and trust, while offering a more dynamic experience that truly leaves an impression on customers. And in a landscape filled with plenty of competing digital noise, RCS represents an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
Since 2008, RCS has been offering an advanced format of messaging which is rich with additional features, building on the original SMS format. The adoption to date has been limited but that is about to change, as main mobile platforms wake up to it.
Apple adopted RCS in Messages with iOS 18 in 2024, while Google supports the technology via Android, even if a user’s phone carrier doesn’t. Australian telcos are set to follow suit, with a potential local rollout of RCS with Google as soon as this year. These efforts could align Australia with our neighbour Singapore, the first Asian country to implement RCS. Singtel recently announced their partnership with Twilio for RCS messaging, which will help them bridge the gap between the traditional and interactive experiences offered by over-the-top channels.
Brands in Australia can no longer afford to sleep on RCS, especially given its advanced capabilities and the need for businesses to deliver dynamic, secure communications to their customers.
What differentiates RCS from SMS
The overarching differentiator is RCS’s ability to deliver more visually compelling content, compared to SMS. For example, the Rich Card Carousel feature allows businesses to send a horizontally scrolling list of carousel cards embedded with rich content. Each card can contain media, text, call-to-action and quick reply buttons, providing customers with a seamless browsing experience. This low-friction and highly rich feature is ideal for showcasing a selection of services, products, or options and enables consumers to explore and engage with the business effortlessly.
RCS messaging also supports dynamic features like options for suggested replies and call-to-action (CTA) buttons that streamline customer interactions. This creates a seamless, shoppable experience where purchases can be made from within the message, significantly improving customer interaction and conversions. One example of a paint brand that moved one of their SMS campaigns to RCS saw their revenue increase by 115%, while their clickthrough rate rose from less than 3% with SMS, to 21% with RCS.
Security and trust
The National Anti-Scam Centre’s report showed that there was an 18.5% increase in scam reports in 2023 from the previous year, with Australians losing $2.7 billion. With scams rife, consumers are understandably sceptical of texts from random numbers that prompt them to click unfamiliar links.
With changing regulations to address and reduce spam at our doorstep, the uncertainty and perceived risk becomes a thing of the past with RCS, thanks to branded messaging – such as attaching logos and taglines – and verified sender IDs. Twilio’s 2024 Consumer Preferences report found that nearly 74% Australian consumers will trust a brand’s communication more if it includes a verification badge, while almost 65% report that receiving a branded text message will make a brand more trustworthy.
Alongside consumers being able to verify the legitimacy of a message’s sender, RCS is also backed by encryption between sender and recipient. By establishing such high security and privacy standards, brands can create a trusted relationship and form of communication with customers, while enhancing brand credibility. This in turn leads to greater response rates and improved customer engagement.
Communicate with Certainty
With RCS, there are no barriers to entry. Unlike many other forms of digital communication, users don’t need to download a new app or set up a new account; they can receive an RCS message just as they would any other text message. Even if a user’s device doesn’t support RCS, the message will automatically be sent as an SMS.
This allows businesses to upgrade their messaging, refreshing a pre-existing, ubiquitous communication channel, but with the reassurance they can still reach the exact same audience.
In markets where RCS have been adopted, the format has been proven to improve deliverability compared to SMS. The latter is sent on a lower priority compared to other types of traffic which have much lower tolerances for latency – like voice and data – by mobile carriers. RCS, on the other hand, can be sent over any Internet connection, which means far lower chances of missed deliveries and delays between messages being sent and them being opened by users.
RCS puts marketers in the driving seat, providing businesses with detailed delivery and read receipts alongside other analytics. This means brands can stay agile, allowing them to track and analyse message effectiveness and optimise communication strategies. It also represents another touchpoint – and opportunity – for brands to better understand their customers and their preferences, leveraging first-party data consensually shared by customers.
The appetite for more interactive and engaging experiences is clearly growing among customers, so the next move belongs to Australian businesses ready to embrace the future of messaging to increase engagement, streamline operations, and build greater trust.
