RCS Mobile Messaging: Richer Messages with Better Results

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We recently announced our acquisition of a proven SMS and mobile messaging solution, Textplode, bringing more advanced infrastructure, best-in-market pricing, and a new generation of messaging capability directly into our offering. 

With this acquisition marks the arrival of something exciting to our mobile messaging offering: Rich Communication Services (RCS). So, what is RCS, how does it work in practice, and why does it represent such a significant step forward for businesses looking to drive growth through mobile messaging?

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The Natural Next Step

SMS has earned its place as one of the most dependable channels in business communications. Its high open rates, instant read speeds, and reliable response rates speak for themselves. But there’s always been a limit to what plain text can do when you compare it to the rich media available across other channels.

RCS is the industry’s upgrade to the strong foundation of SMS. Delivered via the same channel, the result feels instantly recognisable to customers, yet has the richness and interactivity of a modern digital experience.

Business are now equipped with a significantly more powerful set of tools to communicate, engage, and convert, and the performance uplift is significant. RCS messages are 35 times more likely to be read than email, according to Google and the Mobile Ecosystem Forum. They can also deliver up to 7 times more click-throughs than SMS, based on Sinch benchmarks.

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What Makes an RCS Message Different

Where an SMS arrives as a line of plain text, an RCS message arrives as a fully branded experience, directly in the same native messaging app your customers already use and are almost guaranteed to check.

Here’s what that experience can include:

Verified sender identity:

Your brand name and logo appear alongside every message, verified so customers know with certainty who they’re hearing from. In an era of growing scrutiny around mobile communications, that visible trust signal has never mattered more. 

Rich media, natively delivered:  

Previously, you would have had to link to any media format you wanted your audience to see, but now images, videos, and GIFs can be embedded directly within the message, present in the conversation itself, creating a richer, more immersive customer experience that drives engagement without friction. 

Interactive buttons and carousels:  

RCS transforms every message into a CTA. Buttons drive any action, triggering a call, opening a URL, confirming a booking. 

Carousels take it further, turning the message thread into a browsing experience where users swipe through products, offers, or services without ever leaving. This swipeable, visual format is discoverable, engaging, and removes every step between interest and action. 

Read receipts and delivery confirmation:

RCS gives you a clearer picture of how your messages are performing. You can see when a message has been delivered and when it has been read, insight that SMS doesn’t offer, and that makes a real difference to how you measure and optimise campaigns. 

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How It Works For You and Your Customers

For your customers, the experience is seamless. A message arrives in their usual messaging app, looking and feeling like a branded, interactive communication rather than a plain text. There’s nothing new to learn and nothing new to install. 

For your business, getting started is equally straightforward. MBA Group manages the technical onboarding, brand verification and campaign delivery from end to end. You don’t need to navigate complex integrations or build new platform relationships, just focus on the message you want to say, and we handle how it gets there. 

RCS isn’t here to replace SMS. The two channels serve different purposes and work best together. SMS remains unmatched in reach, reliability and simplicity, and RCS is the layer you add when the situation calls for something richer. That could be a product launch, a customer onboarding journey, or a high-value promotional campaign where interaction and brand experience are essential to the message. 

This is why RCS sits so naturally within MBA Group’s offering of wider multichannel communications. Rather than managing separate providers for separate channels, our clients have access to both through a single trusted partner. 

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Find Out More

RCS adoption is growing fast in the communications industry. As the channel matures, it’s becoming an essential part of the mobile messaging toolkit. Deliver elevated, app-style experiences to your existing audience, without the usual barriers, and with results you can measure. 

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If you’d like to understand how RCS could work for your business’ communications,

Get in touch here. 

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Our acquisition of Textplode was featured in PrintWeek — read the full story here.