Twilio has announced the global availability of Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging via its Programmable Messaging and Verify APIs.
RCS is the next evolution of SMS messaging and has gained significant enterprise traction this year after Apple announced its support for the service as part of its iOS 18 update in June.
It builds upon conventional SMS messaging by allowing users to augment messages with various forms of multimedia, including videos, GIFs, audio, and more.
As such, sales and marketing teams that leverage Twilio’s API can create more compelling content to send via text. Such content could well enhance the success of their outbound campaigns by bolstering metrics like first-time transactions and repeat purchases.
Yet, Twilio enables further customization options alongside the rich communications features consumers have experienced when using messaging apps such as Messenger and WhatsApp. These help to verify a business's messages.
For instance, Twilio allows companies to add their names, logos, and taglines to messages. Additionally, the vendor provides them with trusted sender verification by Google and “read receipts”.
All this will help customers to trust that the message has come from the real brand, not a fraudster, and increase "positive" customer engagement.
Meanwhile, it also lowers “negative” customer engagement. This is where customers reach out just to make sure the message they’ve received isn’t a scam.
Such “negative” engagement is not something to overlook. Indeed, in 2022, Gartner found that two-thirds of customers contact customer service after receiving a proactive message from a brand “often using costly assisted channels”.
Typically, this is because they feel like they need additional information. However, ten percent of B2C and 24 percent of B2B customers follow up to confirm that the outreach isn't a con.
Branded RCS will remove many of these unnecessary contacts to customer service teams – which come with considerable costs – while closing that trust gap.
“At Twilio, we believe building engagement with your customers should be as seamless and trusted as possible,” added Inbal Shani, Chief Product Officer at Twilio Communications.
