SMS has been a valuable customer communications channel for brands for over 30 years now, and while it remains an important channel, its features are limited. For brands seeking to elevate their customer messaging experience, one of the most efficient and effortless options is opting to uplift existing SMS traffic to RCS messaging by partnering with a CPaaS provider. Enter BT's RCS Branded Message offer.
RCS Branded Message is one part of BT's suite of Rich Communications products, serving as the starting point in the journey to a full RCS solution with rich features like conversational based media and imagery sharing.
"RCS Branded Message is basically a slimmed down version of traditional RCS, allowing brands to seamlessly move their customer engagement from SMS to a more feature-rich alternative," says Catherine Maguire, Product Manager – Richer Messaging at BT.
RCS Branded Message effectively requires no operational change from brands – they can keep doing what they're doing with their existing messaging and reap the benefits of richer engagement, while BT take care of everything in the background.
Sounds too good to be true? Let's have a look at the details.
Looking Ahead from Traditional SMS
While SMS has rightfully earned its status as a tried-and-true brand communications method, digital evolution continues to reveal its limitations. In fact, SMS offers nothing more than black and white text with a link, which doesn’t cater to current customer expectations.
"With the BT Smart Messaging Team, SMS has always been the core of our suite of omnichannel communications solutions," Maguire shares. "But as the market progresses, we can't help but notice the great opportunity outside of this channel, and the way RCS can address this."
RCS Branded Message allows brands the chance to enhance their SMS communication features for RCS-enabled devices, of which there are over 20 million in the UK market alone.