The Case for RCS
Earlier this month, Cymba was asked to speak at a Google-hosted aimm event, alongside Virgin Media O2’s Partner Business Manager and Google’s Business Development Manager, on the future of RCS as a tool for payment and engagement. The event, entitled ‘RCS and Payments - engaging and delighting your audience’, highlighted why and how RCS, as a channel, is set to become ubiquitous amongst organisations. We caught up with Rich Mullens, Cymba Director, after the event to hear his takeaways and thoughts on the future of RCS.
Interviewer: Why do you think RCS is being called the next big step in business communication?
RM: Google’s Business Development Manager, Tim Atkinson, opened the event by charting the evolution of marketing and advertising over the years, plotting key ‘firsts’ such as radio advertising (1922), TV advertising (1941), email marketing (1996), and, of course, SMS marketing (2003).
When SMS was launched, it was revolutionary. And it’s continued to underpin our work with some of the world’s most recognised brands for its ability to boost engagement, build trust, and deliver high conversion rates.
However, a couple of key things have happened over recent years.
Firstly, the general public expects more than just words and links; they want richer content such as images, video, and quick action buttons that make taking action – whether that’s engaging, buying or donating – far more frictionless. Secondly, trust has become a critical factor in how people interact with organisations. In fact, 88 per cent of consumers cite that trust is important when dealing with a brand.
With RCS, which comes with the all-important ‘verified’ stamp, recipients of RCS messages can not only engage with brands in a way that’s more in keeping with the technology of today, but also in the knowledge that they’re dealing with the actual organisation that claims to be sending the message.
It’s also important to point out that RCS currently reaches around 50 million users in the UK, covering roughly 74-75 per cent of mobile users. This is a significant portion of the UK, which has grown as a result of Apple’s recent decision to support RCS on iPhone. Now, RCS is supported on both Android and Apple platforms, which suggests that RCS is only going one way.
Interviewer: SMS is generally used as a one-way communications channel between organisations and their audience. What makes RCS different from SMS?
RM: RCS is a natural evolution of SMS. It’s simple to deploy, but it looks and feels very different from SMS. SMS, for example, is one-way, text-driven, and lacks visuals. RCS is interactive, to the point where you can have conversations with individuals in a much more engaging way using video, imagery, and all the things that platforms built on RCS, such as WhatsApp, allow you to do.
With SMS, there is no verified sender functionality, which, taking into account my earlier point around trust, is becoming increasingly important. RCS provides that reassurance through verified messaging and branded content.
More importantly, the days of sending blanket messages to everyone are arguably coming to an end. Things are changing. People don’t want to think of themselves as names and numbers on a database; they want to be communicated with in a real and meaningful way. Whether it’s through personalised videos, quick action buttons that allow you to take action in response to something you’ve seen in the click of a button, or carefully crafted animation, RCS facilitates that.
Pia Dincer, Global Creative Strategy Manager at Google Creative Works, spoke at the event, during which she referenced a quote by Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, who once said “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion who are motivated by pride and prejudice”. She also discussed how 95 per cent of decisions are made with the emotional side of the brain, compared with only 5 per cent that are handled by the rational side. Given these two important points, it makes sense that a channel that allows organisations to speak to humans’ emotional side will thrive.
Interviewer: Can you share an example of RCS in action and the impact it’s having?
RM: We’ve been using RCS with several high-profile organisations over recent months, two of which are RSPCA and RSPB. A recent campaign we launched for RSPB was in support of their Big Garden Birdwatch campaign. The charity wanted to engage with its base in a more meaningful way, so, using RCS, we helped them encourage their supporters to take part. As a result, we had 120,000 requests for birdwatch packs. Aggregated results show that this was a 54 per cent uplift compared with SMS.
Interviewer: Final thoughts on RCS, then. What are the three things that you’d like to get across to organisations thinking of incorporating this technology as part of their communications strategy?
RM: In addition to the list of benefits I’ve already covered, I think it’s important to get across that this isn’t a case of brands having to invest heavily in rolling out a new channel. It’s about getting more people to engage with the great content they’ve already produced. It’s also important to make clear that it’s not an all or nothing option. When we manage an RCS broadcast, we ensure that SMS is in place as a fallback so that recipients not set up to receive RCS messages will still receive SMS messages. Our platform automatically detects this and reverts to traditional SMS in order to guarantee the broadest reach. Finally, RCS messages cut neatly through the digital clutter, getting straight to the hand of the recipient in a visually appealing, safe, and secure way.
As RCS continues to evolve, Cymba’s focus is on helping UK organisations connect with their audiences through trusted, verified, and measurable communication. In a world in which organisations are increasingly competing for people’s attention, that can only be a good thing.
In partnership with leading messaging platforms, Cymba has created an RCS service for organisations that boosts engagement and increases conversions. Contact our team today to find out how we can help your organisation.
