The festive season is like a mood lifter for all of us. It is like the whole world celebrates and is in a full mode of perfection everywhere. By perfection, I mean a whole new decor and lights, rangoli colours, new curtains, and pooja ki thali, who will forget… Right? Customers are hooked on their shopping apps, and brands just need that one creative message that can straightaway bring all the attention to their business. And, how can you do all the sparkly descriptions of your product along with a feel like they are a mini-app version of your brand? Well, have you heard of this new upcoming player called RCS?
Yes! RCS, which means Rich Communication Service, is like a whole new version of SMS in a more creative way, and is now leading the troop. To explain this better about why this is the GOAT for the festive season, TrustSignal brings another read for you on the types of RCS templates that can help you have the best rich communication this festive season!
What are RCS Templates?
RCS templates are basically pre-designed message components that can be customized and reused over time by a brand whenever needed. As per Dalom Technologies Pvt. Ltd., RCS has 500 million active Indian users, with 70% online population. This proves it to be an ideal channel for brands to connect better on a more dynamic and engaging level. In simpler terms, RCS templates are just a level up from the SMS messages that are the Short Message Service and only consist of text.
RCS, on the other hand, is like a hand-in-hand tool that supports both texts and creative inputs like images, videos, links, brochures, buttons, brand logo for authenticity, and many others that create among users a tendency to act. As the context of our discussion here is based on the festive season, we’ll take an example of a festive RCS message a user received from a FINTECH company:
This is one example of how an RCS message looks. Just like this, there are numerous RCS templates that a business uses to converse with its customers. All your brand needs is an incredible RCS service provider that will help shape your brand’s authenticity on another level, creativity, and a boost of vibrancy. With us, your RCS templates are top-notch with on-time delivery and the highest customer interaction.
The Types of RCS Templates
1. Simple Text Message Templates
There are simple text message templates as well in an RCS template type, which are just like a SMS message but serve features like read receipts and delivery, and many more. Their basic use cases support promotional messages, where no visual media like images or videos are required.
RCS will be properly enabled on IOS devices as well, which will make sending OTPs, alerts, and reminders just like SMS and WhatsApp easier.
Example: Hi Riya! The Big Diwali Sale starts today! Shop now to get an 80% discount on all your purchases.
2. Rich Card Message Templates
These types of RCS templates support images, videos, and other interactive features like four action buttons that create an action for a user to click on to reach the brand’s page and make each message look visually appealing for the users. They are the best to promote your brand and products, with any visual media content that represents your brand.
3. Carousel Message Templates
These types allow the inclusion of multiple cards that consist of a bunch of visual media that a user can scroll through the entire message, and it’s like a whole description of whatever service the user had opted for, and this collection of visual media showcases multiple products and services all from a single message and enhance user engagement that can easily explain everything in one go, without having to send multiple messages.
4. Conversational Message Templates
These RCS templates are like a two-way chat message formats, which allow users to engage in conversation with suggested buttons, browse carousels, and take actions without leaving the conversation. They are ideal for customer support, booking systems, and interactive message guides, including steps.
5. Text with Media Attachments
By its title, we can guess that this type of RCS template consists of texts along with images, videos, or PDFs, which allow your content to have a much richer delivery. They are like a diagram in a notebook, giving a creative explanation to your message.
To achieve the most of RCS messaging, a robust and trustworthy RCS service provider will make your work easier by personalizing and tweaking each message according to the voice of your brand and according to the voice of your audience.
What are the Specialities of RCS Templates?
1. It Brings your Brand a Higher ROI
RCS brings a 3-4X higher ROI as compared to other communication services. The richness of content that it enables brands to use and the higher engagement from customers on this channel have resulted in better returns to the brands’ investments.
2. AI-Driven Customer Journeys
With AI bots automating follow-up questions and feedback for your brand’s services and products, along with providing recommendations that resonate with the choice and need of the customers, this encourages higher conversion rates and engagement.
3. Easy and Engaging Interactions
RCS enables customers to tap on buttons to browse products and services, book appointments, or make purchases directly within the message window. This makes everything easy and smooth for both the customer, as they get a better idea of what the brand offers, also the action features like buttons and links create a two-way chat.
4. Richer Media and More Visual Appeal
Unlike wordy texts, RCS includes images, videos, GIFs, and product carousels in its messages. This helps businesses capture the attention of their customers, increasing the visual appeal of their messages.
5. Doesn’t Require Installing an Extra App
These messages alone serve as a mini-app for a business, featuring creatives such as the brand logo and the colour, which easily reflect the authenticity of the brand. A person who has enabled this service on their devices (mobile phones) can easily receive RCS messages.
Conclusion
At TrustSignal, we are always abreast with what can help brands shine the brightest during times like festive seasons. We always try to understand the market’s needs and how we can give reliable answers for our readers when it comes to customer communication. And as we come to the end of this blog, we can say that RCS is indeed the MVP in customer communication. You can do the math! With its availability on Apple devices in the USA and Germany, and an expectation of a massive rollout in India by this festive season, RCS is the ultimate communication channel that brands can use to reflect their brand and skyrocket their sales this festive season. And all your brand is missing is a robust Omnichannel like us, an excellent RCS service provider that brings you a messenger that is a storefront, service desk, and conversation – all in one tap.
