Rich Communication Services – It’s looking like evolution and not revolution

Our last RCS blog was titled Rich Communication Services (RCS) – Evolution or Revolution?

I think it’s fair to say the revolution has not happened just yet. However, the evolution of A2P SMS has very much started, and I’m confident it’s just a matter of time before we see the revolution take place. Why do I believe that, to begin with let’s look at the GSMA predicted market size and benefits to the value chain RCS will bring.

 Predicted Market Size Active Users  

 Jan 2018 – 159m rising to 1050m by Q1 2019

 Predicted Cumulative Operators Launched 

Jan 2018 – 50 rising to 200 by Q1 2019             

MNO’s – Need to find new profitable revenue streams to combat declining revenues from traditional products and services.

Aggregators – Will play an even more important role in developing their customers total communication needs. Which will include, SMS, RCS & RBM across both Android and iOS platforms.

Brands – Cannot ignore the extraordinary increase in engagement and conversion using RCS as a channel. There are a number of very positive case studies from IMI Mobile, OpenMarket, mGage and Sinch highlighting these statistics.

End Users – End users expect richer communication from the brands they interact with. SMS has been a good servant to date, however, expectations are higher, and it is this expectation that is fuelling the evolution of RCS as the default communication channel.

According to a recent Pulse Survey conducted by Harvard Business Review analytics survey team (sponsored by Google), the way customers interact with brands via ecommerce over the internet and mobile channels has fundamentally changed, with the exception of SMS.

Here are some of the key points from the survey;

56% of organizations say their mobile messaging apps (SMS/MMS or advanced mobile messaging apps) perform well for improving customer engagement, compared to 45% of organizations that say their other mobile apps perform well.

82% of organizations say better metrics and analytics data, including read receipts, are the most important capabilities of advanced messaging apps (which don’t include SMS/MMS apps).

68% of companies expect advanced mobile messaging apps to play a highly important role in online consumer marketing within five years.

So, what is it that brands and consumers love so much about Rich Communication Services. Below are just a few things that help drive the engagement.

Branding, Customised Replies, Images, Videos, GIFs, QR codes, Carousels, Embedded Maps, Calendars, URLs & Verified Senders.

I will be sharing more industry insights on a regular basis so please click the links to the left to follow Ryder Systems on LinkedIn or Twitter.

 

By Paul Haworth, Managing Director, Ryder Systems.

Ryder Systems powering Invoice Automation and Settlement for B2B RCS.

 

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