How Can RCS Rich Cards & Carousels Help You Get More Sales

With RCS being a rapidly growing channel and brands all over the world adopting it for their messaging needs, it is critical to know about its capabilities to make the most of them. 

Among the multiple features of RCS, the ones that stand out more than the others are rich cards and carousels. The reason for that is they offer an engaging and interactive experience to better deliver a quality messaging experience. 

Having said that, this blog post will go over the benefits of rich cards and product carousels, how they work, and why they are key to getting more sales in this competitive market.

What are rich cards and carousels?

If you have run an outreach campaign over SMS, you know there are many limitations you have to go around. For example, text messages only support up to 160 characters, there is no way to attach multimedia content, and it lacks interactivity other than basic links to drive quick actions. 

In comparison to that, RCS messaging includes a variety of functionalities like HD media, read receipts, suggestive replies, interactive buttons, and integration compatibility with other apps. So, let’s take an in-depth look at rich cards and carousels. 

Rich card

Rich cards are visually engaging, multimedia messages that can include images, text, buttons, and even videos. As I said before, unlike plain SMS, which is limited to text, rich cards allow you to share information in a visually appealing format. 

These cards can act as mini ads, product showcases, or service announcements, complete with call-to-action (CTA) buttons for instant customer response, making them an excellent choice for sending highly engaging marketing messages. 

RCS carousels

Carousels can be considered the enhanced version of rich cards. With carousels, you can take your RCS marketing a step further by enabling multiple cards to be grouped together in a horizontal scrolling format. 

This feature is perfect for showcasing a range of products, services, or promotions. Customers can swipe through the carousel to explore different options, click buttons to learn more, or make a purchase directly.

Think of carousels as a virtual product shelf in a messaging app. They provide a seamless, interactive experience that encourages users to browse and engage with your brand.

What are the advantages of using rich cards and carousels to grow your sales?

Using rich cards and product carousels comes with numerous benefits on top of that enhancing engagement and compelling recipients to perform instant actions. Below are some of the reasons why using them can be a great addition to your conversations: 

Increased customer engagement

Rich cards and carousels combine visuals, interactivity, and convenience to create an engaging experience. Instead of receiving plain text messages, customers are presented with attractive product images, compelling descriptions, and clickable buttons. This heightened level of engagement captures attention and increases the likelihood of getting sales.

Optimized shopping experience

One of the biggest advantages of RCS is that it allows customers to complete transactions directly within the messaging app. For example, a rich card can feature a “Shop Now” button that links directly to a payment gateway or website. This removes friction from the buying process and reduces drop-offs caused by navigating between multiple platforms.

Personalized recommendations

RCS messages can be tailored based on customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history. By using carousels, you can deliver tailored product suggestions or promotions. For instance, if a customer has previously purchased running shoes, you can showcase matching apparel or accessories using a carousel.

Real-time interactivity

RCS carousels add an aspect of interactivity, making your customers engage better with your messages. Customers can swipe through options, click buttons for more details, or initiate chats with customer service directly from the carousel message.

This dynamic experience increases the likelihood of conversions compared to passive traditional channels where you have to send messages back and forth to move customers along the stages of the sales pipeline.

Improved ROI on marketing campaigns

By offering a richer, more engaging customer experience, RCS campaigns tend to have higher conversion rates compared to traditional SMS or email campaigns. Whether you are promoting a sale or sending abandoned cart reminders, cards, and carousels can help you maximize your return on investment.

How to use carousels and rich cards to drive more sales?

After learning about the benefits offered by the dynamic features of RCS, now is the time to check out how you can utilize these features to improve your bottom line. 

Showcase your offerings via a catalog

As I mentioned above, RCS carousels are a miniature version of your entire product catalog. These carousels need to be tailored based on the previous purchases of your customers to display a range of products or services that match their references for better sales engagement. 

Each card can feature a high-quality image, a brief description, and a CTA button. For example:

• An online apparel store can showcase different outfit options.
• A travel agency can display vacation packages.
• A restaurant can highlight menu items with “Order Now” buttons.

These are just a few examples of how to utilize the carousels for boosting not only interactions but also the probabilities of getting conversions. 

You might ask, how can you design these carousels for your brand? In order to do that, you need an RCS service provider that offers the required capabilities to craft RCS carousel messages. 

Zixflow is one such platform that comes with a powerful template builder to design robust carousel messages without requiring any programming skills. The template editor is part of Zixflow’s RCS messaging platform, where you just have to enter the necessary information and upload the images of your products.  

Offer personalized discounts

RCS rich cards can be used to deliver tailored messages that include specialized recommendations along with a discount code to encourage immediate purchases. 

 For example, if a customer frequently shops for mobile accessories for kids, you can send a rich card with an X% discount on headphones, complete with a “Shop Now” button. This is exactly what boAT did to promote its specialized heads for kids. 

Promote events or gatherings

Apart from sending marketing messages for products, you can also use rich cards to promote events and drive foot traffic. By sending important details like event date, time, and location, along with a “Register Now” or “Buy Tickets” button.

Simplify customer support

Although both rich cards and carousels are primarily used for marketing purposes, that doesn’t mean you cannot use them for delivering customer support. 

For instance, carousels can also be used to guide customers to helpful resources, such as FAQs, video tutorials, or chat support options. This reduces friction for customers seeking assistance and builds trust, which can ultimately lead to increased sales.

On the other hand, if you set up automated messaging, you can use rich cards to handle customer inquiries automatically and provide prompt resolution with media-rich messages. These messages can serve as a virtual manual, guiding customers through the steps of using a product correctly. 

Again, if you want to automate your RCS messaging and interact with your customers even when you are not physically present, you can leverage the AI-powered capabilities of Zixflow to create an RCS chatbot to handle customer support activities. 

It is super easy to set up your chatbot with Zixflow. The drag-and-drop automation editor allows you to intuitively design the next actions you want the chatbot to perform based on the responses sent by customers. You can choose between text, images, videos, documents, or audio files as the next message to streamline customer support activities via RCS.

Inform customers about their orders’ status

Since RCS natively supports the functionality of other apps present on the Android or iOS devices, like browsers, maps, and contacts, you can take advantage of this aspect to offer real-time updates about when customers can expect their orders to be delivered. 

On top of that, if you want, you can design your messages in a way that shows the location of the order on an actual map. This way, you can reduce the anticipation of waiting for an order and also notify customers when they should be available to receive their purchase, eliminating the possibility of the product being returned. 

Recover abandoned carts

If you are an e-commerce store, you can use RCS rich cards and carousels to send abandoned cart messages to compel users to finish the checkout process. For example, a rich card can remind customers of their incomplete purchase with an encouraging image of the product and a “Complete Your Order” button.

If a customer has multiple products in their cart, you can use the carousel for the same effect, displaying multiple items and compelling prospects to make a purchase for all of them. You can also provide a discount code in your abandoned cart messages, further enticing customers to get the product(s) at a cheaper price.

Leverage RCS rich cards and carousels to improve your revenue

When it comes to RCS marketing, rich cards, and carousels are game-changers if you are looking to elevate your outreach and sales strategies. 

By offering visually engaging, interactive, and actionable messaging, these features enable you to connect with customers on a deeper level and guide them seamlessly through the buyer’s journey. 

No matter if you are an enterprise or small business seeking to implement RCS, it is crucial for you to comprehend the capabilities of rich cards and carousels to enhance your marketing activities to the next level. 

So, are you ready to take your sales to the next level with RCS? Get started with Zixflow and enjoy a 7-day free trial to start implementing these media-rich capabilities today!