Sending out email newsletters means that you are competing with countless other emails flooding your customer’s inbox. So why not use RCS as an alternative and appear directly in your customer’s phone messages? We provide you with all the important information on the functions and options of RCS newsletters as well as advantages compared to email and WhatsApp.
What RCS Newsletters Can Include
RCS offers a lot of functions and options that help your messages stand out, including:
- Branded sender name plus use of logo, and colors
- Rich text (headlines, paragraphs)
- Images and image carousels
- Buttons (CTAs)
- Cards (product highlights, articles, offers)
- Quick replies (e.g. “Read more”, “Unsubscribe”)
Additionally, RCS offers security features such as end-to-end encryption and verified senders to increase trust and prevent spam and phishing.
Use Cases for RCS Newsletters
RCS for companies offers a lot of attractive options for business communication across industries. Especially as newsletters, RCS can be used for:
- increasing traffic to online shops
- content updates (e.g. product announcements)
- promotions (e.g. special offers, seasonal campaigns, event invitations
- questionnaires and other forms of user interaction
- hybrid of transactional and editorial content (e.g. order update that includes recommendations, account summary plus tips)
How RCS Newsletters Are Sent
As marketing messages, RCS newsletters require an explicit user opt-in. RCS business messages are sent through RCS providers, e.g. Google’s own RCS Business Messaging platform or providers such as iBASIS. When choosing your provider, consider features such as realtime analytics, automation and definition of target audiences, reporting, etc. to optimize your newsletter campaigns.
Advantages of RCS vs. Email Newsletters
RCS | |
Very high open rates (often 70–90%) | 20–40% |
Instant delivery | Can be delayed or spam-filtered |
SMS as fallback option | no fallback option |
Interactive UI | Limited interactivity |
Strong branding in inbox | Competes with many emails |
RCS is also an ideal addition to your existing marketing channels, e.g. to accompany your SMS marketing or in multichannel approaches (RCS alert for initial information, longform email afterwards).
RCS vs. Whatsapp
Although RCS and Whatsapp might offer similar options at first glance (which we also discuss in our article on RCS compared to messaging services), RCS is a more secure and flexible option than WhatsApp.
RCS | |
directly available in phone messaging app | app download required |
SMS as fallback option | fallback options possible with additional services |
countless design and branding options | limited templates |
used for various interactions with businesses and in private | mostly used for private conversations |
Conclusion – Using RCS For Your Newsletter
As the user base of RCS is constantly growing and new features are being added, more use cases and options for businesses will be available over time. If you aim at high engagement from your users for important updates and want to try different options and formats, you should consider RCS as your new newsletter platform.