By Cheryl Sanders, VP, Mobile Strategy, Listrak
One of the most powerful ways to connect with consumers is through the devices they hold in their hands.
According to recent data from Consumer Affairs, over 90 percent of adults ages 18 to 49 shop using their smartphones, with about half making online purchases with their phones at least weekly. What’s more, having a higher income increases smartphone shopping, as 81% of adults with high incomes make online purchases with smartphones.
The power of smartphone-shopping means that the launch of Rich Communication Services (RCS) is quickly becoming one of the most important developments in mobile marketing, because RCS transforms mobile messaging from a simple notification channel into an enhanced customer experience.
While much of the early conversation around RCS has focused on the technology itself, the bigger question for retailers is simple: What will brands actually do with it?
Here are key use cases that are already emerging as clear opportunities for adoption:
- Product Launches and New Arrivals
From new collections to seasonal arrivals, limited-edition drops to product collaborations, RCS creates more immersive launch experiences.
Traditional SMS often struggles to showcase products visually, with retailers typically relying on short text messages paired with a link that pushes the customer into a separate browsing experience.
RCS changes that dynamic. Instead of simply telling customers a product is available, brands can create interest through visually compelling creative content, offering glimpses of new products through rich cards, carousels, and imagery that compel the consumer to click through and learn more about the launch.
- Flash Sales and Promotional Campaigns
Urgency has always been one of the biggest strengths of mobile messaging.
RCS enhances that experience by making promotions feel more interactive and visually engaging.
Retailers can create richer promotional experiences featuring branded sale announcements, product previews and promotional imagery with multiple products featured in a single message.
The result is a campaign that feels less like a text alert and more like a curated mobile storefront.
Customizable suggested action buttons allow for great creativity in the CTAs that create urgency, while carousels can be used to create gift guides, personalized and delivered directly to customer’s mobile devices.
Consider the potential for high-volume retail moments like Black Friday/Cyber Monday, friends & family events, and limited-time sales, and it is clear that RCS has the potential to significantly modernize the customer experience.
- Loyalty and VIP Experiences
Mobile messaging plays a major role in loyalty engagement because it creates direct, immediate communication with customers.
RCS gives retailers the ability to elevate those interactions beyond basic point updates or discount alerts.
Brands can create more premium loyalty experiences around moments such as VIP early access, member-exclusive product launches, birthday rewards, tier status updates, and more.
Plus, RCS’s verified branding also adds an additional layer of trust and exclusivity that aligns naturally with loyalty marketing.
- Personalized Curated Content
With RCS, retailers can tailor mobile messaging communication to maximize impact.
Using suggested replies, brands are easily able to gather first-party data and insights about what types of communication or products consumers are interested in. This enables the brand to send tailored recommendations on products and categories the consumer most wants to hear about. RCS also provides useful tools for consumers with suggested actions such as a store location finder, creating a more streamlined and personalized experience for the consumer.
The combination of richer visual experiences and great personalization serve to help the consumer to feel more connected to the broader brand experience.
- Interactive Shopping Experiences
One of the most important long-term opportunities for RCS is interactive commerce.
Consumers increasingly expect digital shopping experiences to feel visual, intuitive, and immediate, however traditional SMS was never designed for that type of interaction.
RCS moves mobile messaging closer to the interactive experiences consumers already expect from ecommerce websites, mobile apps and social commerce
Features like product carousels, rich imagery, interactive buttons and expanded message formats help create a more seamless path between product discovery and engagement, with the message itself now becoming part of the shopping experience.
The key to RCS success
The key to success with RCS is to treat it like a new layer of the customer experience.
Brands have spent years optimizing websites, apps, social commerce, and paid media experiences while mobile messaging has largely remained static.
As consumer expectations continue to rise, RCS elevates the entire mobile messaging experience, making it more visual, trusted, interactive, branded and frictionless.
Like every emerging channel, the long-term winners will be the brands using RCS in ways that genuinely improve the customer experience.
And for retailers, the opportunity is enormous.
About the author
Cheryl Sanders is the VP of Mobile Strategy at Listrak, the leading cross-channel personalization platform. In her role, Sanders spearheads Listrak’s mobile messaging strategy, including RCS messaging, enhancing market presence and customer engagement, providing subject matter expertise in SMS compliance, and analyzing technology and market trends to drive innovative mobile solutions. Sanders has been named among Mobile Marketer’s Mobile Women to Watch.
