Supercharge Your Omnichannel Strategy with RCS Messaging

Image yourself as a business owner and a customer signs up to your platform, how will you engage them and keep them interested in your brand? You can use traditional channels like email and SMS or go for modern alternatives like WhatsApp. 

Although having a range of channels available to you for outreach is a great option, integrating them together and expanding on them is crucial for streamlined sales engagement. And with mobile devices being a critical part of everyday lives, you have to focus more on mobile marketing. 

With that said, a channel that is quickly gaining popularity within the mobile communications space is RCS. It is a better version of SMS with advanced conversational functionalities to help you interact with customers and drive conversions. 

So, to help you understand how to incorporate RCS in your omnichannel strategy, in this blog post, I’ll go over the RCS as a channel and how you can use it to create a complete omnichannel sales engagement strategy. 

What is RCS Business messaging?

RCS Business Messaging, or RBM for short, refers to using RCS as a communication channel for having two-way business communications with your customers. 

Since RCS supports robust communication similar to WhatsApp or other messaging apps, you can use it to send various kinds of messages, ranging from promotional, transactional, or customer support. 

The aspect that makes it better than traditional SMS or MMS is the ability to incorporate highly interactive elements into your messages, including images, videos, GIFs, suggested replies, CTA buttons, and documents for enhanced customer engagement. 

Why should you use RCS for your omnichannel marketing?

Having an omnichannel outreach strategy is a complex process as you have to keep track of each channel and ensure consistency across all of them. You also have to make sure when you shift customers from one channel to another, you don’t lose the previous conversation history. 

Having said that, here are some of the key reasons to employ RCS in your communication framework:

Better customer engagement

One of the biggest advantages of RCS messaging is the ability to deliver rich content and interactive experiences directly to a customer’s inbox. With its multimedia capabilities, you can deliver eye-catching visuals, personalized offers, or product demos in ways SMS simply cannot match. 

This visual richness increases engagement and helps move customers smoothly along the stages of the sales pipeline.

Real-time communication

RCS messaging supports real-time communication, including read receipts and typing indicators. This is particularly valuable in customer service and sales, where timely responses can make or break a sale. 

RCS chat interface is very similar to WhatsApp in the sense that you can easily access your past messages, and your messages appear as a reply rather than a separate message altogether. This real-time aspect which is missing from SMS, allows for a better communication experience. 

On top of that, with the added capability of chatbot integration, you can provide 24/7 assistance to your customers any time they run into an issue. For example, chatbots can point them toward helpful content, share tutorial videos, and send links to articles related to their problems.  

Improved personalization

With omnichannel marketing, personalization is key to making customers feel valued. RCS messaging supports personalization at scale by allowing you to customize messages based on customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history. 

For instance, you can send tailored promotions or product recommendations in a rich media format, providing a far more personalized experience than SMS.

Higher engagement & conversion rates

When combined with interactive features, personalized content, and rich media, RCS messaging can significantly boost engagement rates, resulting in an increased number of closed deals. 

The reason for that is, it lets your customers engage and take actions directly from the message. This way, there are reduced friction points between each step and improve the overall sales performance.

How to integrate RCS into your omnichannel marketing strategy?

RCS is an amazing channel and is slowly becoming a must-have for businesses if your audience majorly uses mobile devices for reaching out to you. So, let’s dive into the steps for incorporating RCS within your promotional 

Understanding RCS capabilities

Before integrating RCS into your marketing strategy, it is important to understand its unique features and how they differ from SMS and other messaging platforms. Below are some of its functionalities:

• Rich media: Send images, videos, GIFs, and product carousels to engage with customers effectively.
• Interactive elements: Include buttons for quick actions such as “Buy Now” or “Learn More” to drive actions from their end. 
• Automation: RCS supports chatbots, which allow automated responses and personalized conversations. 

So, prior to considering RCS as a communication channel, you need to understand how it assists you in driving engagement and generating maximum ROI. Also, think about how well it integrates with your existing avenues.

Analyze your audience

Knowing the capabilities of RCS is the first of implementing it into your infrastructure. But knowing how your contacts use their mobile devices and when they are most active can significantly improve your efficiency. 

To learn how your contacts use their phones, you need to ask these questions:

• What devices do they use? RCS is supported on Android devices and is adopted by Apple in its iOS 18 updates launched very recently. 
• What is their preferred communication channel? If a significant portion of your customers already interact with your brand via SMS, then upgrading to RCS may be a logical step. However, if you primarily engage them via email or some other channel, then making them switch to RCS can be a challenge (in the beginning at least.)

Conducting audience analysis ensures that RCS will target the right segments, ensuring you maximize the impact of this integration.

Have a clear idea of how to use RCS

RCS supports numerous types of messages, allowing you to engage customers in various kinds of situations. However, knowing when to use RCS and which message will be the best for that specific scenario, can streamline your marketing strategies. 

So, identify specific ways RCS can enhance your omnichannel strategy. Consider aligning your use cases with your overall business objectives. 

For example, if you are running promotional campaigns, then you can leverage the media-rich cards to send highly engaging and interactive messages to encourage customers to buy your offerings directly from the app. 

Furthermore, if you want to use RCS as a customer support channel, then you can build chatbots for handling common customer inquiries. In case an issue is too much for the bot to handle, then it can be escalated to the next level, where your support agent can intervene on time. 

These are only a few of many scenarios where RCS can help you interact with your customers and optimize your customer engagement to drive conversions. 

Choose the correct RCS service provider

Till now, I have talked about steps that have to be taken before sending out messages, but in order to be able to use RCS, you will need an RCS service provider. 

However, there are many providers that offer RCS messaging capabilities to help you get started with the channel. So, pick the right provider that matches your needs and offers relevant tools to help you achieve your marketing goals. 

When selecting a provider, ensure that you consider: 

• Carrier compatibility: Making sure that the provider supports RCS messaging across multiple carriers and devices, especially if your audience is global.
• Integration with CRM: The provider should integrate seamlessly with your CRM system to allow for customer data personalization and tracking.
• Analytics capabilities: Choose a provider that offers robust analytics tools for tracking message open rates, clicks, and conversions.

That being said, some of the popular RCS service providers include Zixflow, Twilio, Sinch, and Infobip, each offering a wide range of functionalities suited for your every communication needs.

Ensure compliance

As with any communication channel, ensure that your RCS campaigns comply with data privacy regulations and local regulations where you operate, such as GDPR, CCPA, and other local laws. 

On top of that, you have to obtain customer consent before sending messages and provide clear options to unsubscribe or opt-out. This way, you can effectively manage consent and keep track of customer status and preferences. 

Additionally, provide clear information on how data is used and stored within your RCS campaigns. Failure to comply with regulations can result in fines or damage to your brand reputation. So, prioritize data security and privacy from the start.

Continuous monitoring & optimization

Constant monitoring of how well your RCS campaigns are performing in the overall omnichannel strategy will let you identify potential areas of improvement and better streamline your conversations. 

By tracking key performance and engagement metrics like open, click-through, conversion, and interaction rates, you can see how your customers are responding to your messages. 

You can also perform A/B testing to determine which messages, content, or media elements are most effective to help you continuously enhance your outreach based on these insights. 

Take your omnichannel marketing to the next level with RCS

By following these steps, you can successfully integrate RCS messaging into your omnichannel marketing strategy, resulting in enhanced customer engagement and boosting conversions. 

With its rich media support and personalization capabilities, RCS offers a powerful way to deliver a more engaging customer experience.

So, if you are still wondering whether you should include RCS in your outbound sales and marketing strategy, now is the time to take the required actions to make it happen.