RCS messaging is gradually becoming one of the largest parts of text messaging in India. Unlike SMS, it allows regular people to send and receive limitless text messages and makes media-sharing simple without using third-party applications.
In addition, RCS opens up new opportunities for businesses to improve their marketing efforts. Many companies, especially in financial services and insurance, use RBM (RCS Business Messaging) to send promotional content and campaigns directly to potential customers through messaging apps.
Let’s discuss about the RCS marketing and how to choose the right RCS messaging provider to strengthen your marketing strategy.
RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a protocol used to send and receive high-quality text messages and media like photos, videos and PDFs. It is supported by telecom operators and Google. Also, it has been adopted in most Android mobiles on the Google Messages app and some of the iPhones, both globally and in India.
While SMS works by signalling channels of cellular networks. RCS is operated over mobile data or Broadband networks. It is considered to be more secure due to its providing E2E encryption.
Unlike older protocols like SMS/MMS, RCS is not limited by the number of characters to 160 and certainly not limited to GSM-7 encoding. The best part about RCS messaging is the quality of marketing and campaigns you can do.
India is slowly advancing towards RCS marketing for outreach. Because the average CTR for SMS and e-mail outreach are 5.5% and 2.6%, respectively. But the CTR for RCS messages ranges from 15-30%, with some campaigns reaching up to 50%. Meaning in some campaigns, half of the people clicked the link to follow through.
RBM is effective, and it is a great tool to connect businesses and the customers in need of their service and products.
So, how to get started?
You need to get an RCS provider, more accurately, an RCS Business Messaging API Provider. They are often CPaaS companies that provide an interface that connects a brand with RCS infrastructure. They help you to send high-quality, targeted, interactive, and highly personalised messages.
Here are the crucial components to look out for in providers
● Rich Media Messaging
The way to improve a brand’s reputation is through clear communication. What other ways to communicate clearly, if not by using media like photos, videos, clickable buttons and other types of files? You can send files up to 100MB in size. So, you need to make sure that your API provider can send those high-quality media without any compression.
● Automation & Chatbots
Reducing hassle in marketing is tough. Especially with managing your customers and answering their questions. Except when you can use tools like AI Chatbots and automated replies to make a promotional campaign both interactive and effective.
● Delivery Reports & Analytics
One of the biggest mistakes a business could make in marketing is sending bland and impersonalized messages to people; those messages will get ignored. Instead, to send the most personalised messages to your customers, you should analyse the data at the backend.
Data relating to message delivery, read receipts, the percentage of people who clicked specific links and buttons, and more.
Your RCS messaging provider must also get the data to be analysed and presented at your interface.
● API & Integration Support
An API, short for Application Programming Interface, is basically a middle node that communicates between a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and RCS.
You should integrate them so that the messages sent are based on previous purchases and automated replies are based on the actual data. The fallback option is yet another important point.
When a device doesn’t support RCS messages, the application programme should have the ability to switch back to traditional SMS automatically.
● Security & Compliance
In our modern world, being online means being vulnerable to having your data compromised. RCS messages are end-to-end encrypted.
Your API provider should implement strict protection and secure transit that prevents spoofing of data. VerifiIDs of senders also build trust between the brand and users.
Providers must also follow regional regulations and be SOC 2 and SOC 3 compliant, which ensures that the stored data is safe and secure.
Key Features to Look for in an RCS Provider
1. WABA Connect
WABA Connect is aiming to transform from traditional SMS marketing into more interactive brand conversations for Android users by providing RCS Business Messaging (RBM).
As a certified provider in India, WABA Connect pushes RCS marketing to its maximum potential to gain trust and improve engagement.
Popular customers are Amber, Yamaha, Honda, Coca-Cola, Vedantu, Hyundai, and Mahindra University.
Key Features
● WABA, which is an official partner of Meta and Google, provides sharing of high-resolution media such as photos and videos, interactive buttons, in a simple interface.
● The API integration is seamless, and it has support for AI chatbots for automations. WABA provides support for promotional campaigns, transactional messages and OTP Verification.
● WhatsApp and SMS outreach APIs are also supported in a single dashboard. Quick automated replies and CTA buttons are provided and customizable.
Pricing
● Pricing is highly customizable, and free demo also available.
Pros
● WABA offers support for better and faster messaging for both RCS and WhatsApp.
● WhatsApp, RCS, and SMS business messaging in one simple interface.
● Code-free backend, ideal for beginners.
● AI chatbot integration for automated replies.
Cons
● RCS is limited to mostly Android devices. If your targeted customers have iPhones, RCS is not the ideal choice. Instead, you can use WhatsApp business outreach.
Best for
● Direct-to-customer brands, financial technology, E-commerce, insurance, and companies that want to improve their marketing and get broader with customers.
Sinch offers a robust amount of high-volume RCS solutions. RCS messages by Sinch mostly feature interactive buttons, which leads to high conversion rates compared to SMS or e-mail marketing.
They have pioneered in modern mobile messaging. Their APIs allow a brand to communicate with people.
Sinch was founded in 2008, and they originally focused on SMS, but later pivoted their journey towards RCS when they launched their first API for RCS business messaging in 2018.
Key Features
● It is a premium channel which upgrades regular SMS marketing to an interactive experience within the native messaging app on mobile devices.
● They support the sharing of rich media, suggesting user replies.
● Sinch makes your brand identity verified, and shows verified sender badges with your company’s logo as profile picture, which reduces suspicion of brands being frauds or scams.
● They ensure high-quality fallback, so that the delivery of the messages automatically switches back to regular SMS, ensuring that a brand can be intact when RCS is either disabled or not available on their devices.
Pricing
● Typically between ₹0.16 and ₹0.80 per message.
Pros
● High-quality fallback to SMS when RCS is not available on the user’s device.
● Verified brand ID, High-quality media sending, and intuitive analysis of data.
● Simplified and code-free interface
Cons
● The number of characters you can send per message is limited to around 3000 characters per message, unlike its competitors.
● Character limits for titles are two hundred.
Best for
● Retail, E-commerce, Banking, travel, and Hospitality
BOL7 enables companies to provide branded, visually appealing RCS messages to users. It is a digital marketing company that specializes in communication solutions in India.
They help brands in RBM and WhatsApp Business APIs services. BOL7 is based in Noida, UP.
They have specialised tools to send interactive, high-quality messages relieved from the limits of traditional SMS, making marketing a better, simple and minimal-effort experience for the users. In the past, they were involved in broader marketing.
Key Features
● BOL7 RCS BM providers allow businesses to send high-resolution media.
● They have 24/7 customer support for the RCS messaging API.
● They mainly manage large-scale campaigns. BOL7 includes Action-Oriented Buttons, which means clickable buttons for the next move by the users, like “buy now” and “book an Appointment”.
● BOL7’s application has been tested on more than 10,000 Android phones to make sure of a smoother experience.
Pricing
● Around ₹0.60 – ₹0.88 per delivered message.
● There is also a setup fee that floats around ₹3000 to ₹4000
Pros
● Seamless API that easily integrates with your existing CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
● BOL7 provides a demo URL and APK for instant testing.
● Dedicated RCS application rather than just providing API access.
Cons
● Competitors have more sophisticated fallback logic.
● BOL7 integration may feel a bit complicated, developer-like it and find it less “plug to play.”
Best for
● SMEs and Startups, E-commerce Brands, Public sectors, local service providers, and BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance).
Karix is a part of Talna Platforms, one of the world’s largest CPaaS providers.
They serve a massive engine for businesses which requires high-volume, secure and compliant communication. Karix processes over a hundred billion messages annually.
It was originally an independent company, but was acquired by Talna Platforms in 2018.
Key Features
● While their competitors provide similar APIs, Karix includes exclusive technological layers and a strategic partnership in India.
● Every message is recorded in a private Blockchain, and this ensures data tampering and full transparency in billing. This feature is mainly designed for regulated sectors like banking.
● They have been testing to integrate UPI payments through RCS, and that will allow users to buy directly from the carousel without needing to leave the messaging app.
Pricing
● ₹0.16 to ₹0.20 per message ranges between 5 lakhs and 50 thousand messages.
Pros
● They offer 17,000 to 20,000 TPS (Transactions Per Second) capacity. This is specifically a bug advantage for BFSIs and E-commerce during festival times, and when you need to verify millions of OTPs in a few seconds.
Cons
● Their API structure and Documentation are built towards developer teams, requiring you to have more developer teams than other “no-coding” competitors.
● Users report getting slower responses for non-priority accounts.
Best for
● Karix is best for large enterprises, think Fortune 500 and Tier-1 Indian Firm.
| Provider | Pricing | Features | API | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WABA Connect | Flexible pricing (free demo available) | Rapid “no-code” rich template deployment | Rapid, no-code automation wrappers | Direct-to-customer brands, financial technology, E-commerce, insurance |
| Sinch | ₹0.16 to ₹0.80 | Global Tier-1 Google Jibe integration | Global, unified Conversation API standard | Retail, E-commerce, Banking, travel and Hospitality |
| BOL7 | ₹0.60 to ₹0.88 | Low-cost local Indian campaign scaling | Simple, cost-effective regional marketing hooks | SMEs and Startups, E-commerce Brands, Public sectors, BFSIs |
| Karix | ₹0.16 to ₹0.20 | Blockchain-verified secure rich-media delivery | Blockchain-encrypted, high-throughput enterprise pipes | Large enterprises |
● Pricing Models
RCS pricing centres on basic Messages for simple alerts and Single Rich Messages for carousels. For two-way engagement, Session-Based Pricing charges a flat fee for a 24-hour window of unlimited interaction.
Some providers require you to pay a single-time Brand Verification fee. And the SMS fallback feature ensures that you only pay for SMS pricing and not for RCS when the sent message is SMS.
● Average Cost in India
Usually, the cost ranges from ₹0.16 to ₹0.20 per message. Basic text-only RCS messages are affordable, and they are often priced close to premium transactional SMS, while “Single Rich Messages”, which contain carousels or videos, carry a slight premium due to the data payload. standard Transactional/Promotional SMS rate (typically ₹0.10–₹0.12) for that specific recipient.
● Hidden Charges
Beyond the base message fee, companies may encounter unannounced setup or bot verification fees, which are required to get your brand logo and checkmark approved by carriers.
An important hidden charge that you might miss is the automated SMS fallback cost. If a recipient doesn’t have RCS enabled, the system silently sends a standard SMS, which might be billed at a higher rate than the RCS message itself.
E-commerce uses RCS carousels for marketing with abandoned carts and “Buy Now” buttons, while Logistics provides instant tracking (Status) of the RCS message sent. Brands use verified IDs to send secure OTPs. Travelling and Healthcare bookings are highly minimised with easy QR code scanning.
Benefits of RCS Messaging for Businesses
RCS marketing transforms simple SMS marketing into an interactive experience. Trust in the minds of customers is built through verified IDs with branded logos, which reduces the risk of data getting compromised. With high-quality carousels and interactive buttons drive six to seven times higher engagement than older SMS. With instant read receipts and two-way AI Chatbots, it mends the gap between simplified notifications and full-scale business.
● The First thing you need to look out for when choosing a better RBM API provider are the pricing, quality of media, reliability, and the latency of the messages sent.
● Next, verify the Providers’ carrier connectivity and their reliability fallback to SMS.
● Evaluate their API’s ease of integration with your CRM.
● Finally, check their brand verification speed. WABA Connect often serves as a better, more agile option for rapid, no-code deployments.
There are many providers in the market, so the way you choose should depend on the technical resources and the volume of customers you need to reach.
For most businesses and brands, especially for startups, WABA Connect is an excellent option. Because WABA offers a code-free interface and enormous multi-channel support.
Regardless, integrating RCS business messaging into your marketing strategy is one of the most effective ways to build a business in the Big 26.
Contact WABA Connect today.
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