RCS Emerges as Personalized Retail Media Channel
Rich Communication Services (RCS), a Google-developed messaging protocol over a decade old, enables rich media like images, carousels, videos, links and direct payments within standard phone messaging apps. With Apple's adoption in late 2024, RCS has achieved near-universal smartphone compatibility, positioning it as a high-engagement channel for retail media that delivers targeted, interactive messages at key purchase moments, such as cart abandonment or personalized recommendations.
Retailers have reported substantial performance gains: image carousels in RCS boosted click-through rates by 106%, conversion rates by 50%, and revenue per send versus plain SMS; open rates exceeded 100% uplift in some cases, with revenue up 146% from location-targeted campaigns. Industry data confirms RCS open rates at 72%, click-through rates of 15-30% (up to 51% in peaks), and 60-70% higher conversions than MMS, with read rates from 73-92%.[1][2]
RCS Capabilities in Retail Workflows
RCS transforms one-way notifications into two-way interactions, allowing users to reply, select options or complete actions like "Buy Now" without app-switching. This supports dynamic use cases: product carousels for sponsored recommendations, back-in-stock alerts, price-drop notifications, or store proximity promotions. Cart recovery messages embed abandoned item images with purchase buttons, tying directly to conversions.
Messaging integrates rich elements—logos, colors, suggested replies—mirroring mobile ad units but within native inboxes. Data-driven targeting leverages past purchases, browsing history, location or activity levels for hyper-personalization, such as seasonal offers in specific regions.
Integration Roadmap for Retail Media
To embed RCS, retailers map it as an owned CRM channel, brand-sold placement or hybrid. Launch with measurable cases like abandonment recovery or sponsored carousels, ensuring opt-in consent and identity resolution to avoid duplicates.
Delivery options include CPaaS providers for quick rollout or direct Google RBM for control, capturing metrics like delivery status and clicks. Design templates for rich cards, multi-product flows or guided shopping ("What size?"), linked to product pages with UTM tracking. Target high-LTV, lapsed or category-intender segments, testing via holdouts for incrementality on sales and margins.
Pricing spans CPM, CPC, CPA or sponsored fees; frequency caps preserve trust per GSMA guidelines. Pilots benchmark against SMS/email, scaling via automation for triggers like flash sales.[1]
Impact on E-Commerce Product Feeds and Catalog Standards
RCS demands precise, real-time product data to power carousels and cards, elevating product feed quality. Feeds must sync high-res images, pricing and availability instantly, as delays undermine interactive trust. This accelerates assortment rollout, enabling flash launches or back-in-stock alerts within minutes via API-fed messaging.
Catalog standards tighten: entries require structured attributes (size, style, geo-relevance) for dynamic matching, reducing generic blasts. Incomplete feeds risk low engagement, pushing no-code tools to automate feed validation and enrichment.[3]
Product feed - NotPIM
Boosting Card Quality and AI/No-Code Synergies
Rich messages expose card completeness gaps—missing visuals or CTAs halve CTRs, per 30% uplift cases from RCS switches. Retailers must audit for full metadata (descriptions, variants), using AI to generate carousels from feeds or suggest replies based on behavior.
No-code platforms streamline RCS deployment: drag-and-drop templates for ad units, AI-optimized timing via engagement data, and automated personalization loops. This lowers barriers, letting mid-tier retailers compete on hyper-targeted media without dev teams, while real-time analytics refine feeds iteratively.[2][4]
RCS Reaches 70-85% of US/UK/Germany smartphones, with Germany's 88% coverage surpassing some app ecosystems. As a $28.2 billion market by 2035 projection, it shifts retail media from onsite/offsite dominance toward conversational, inbox-native conversions, redefining content infrastructure for speed and relevance. InternetRetailing [1]. Infobip [2].
The rise of RCS highlights the critical importance of accurate, up-to-date product data, especially for retailers focused on hyper-personalized customer engagement. This trend underscores the challenges in managing and enriching product information at scale. Solutions like NotPIM play a crucial role by providing the tools necessary to ensure high-quality product feeds – a foundation for successful implementation of RCS and similar technologies – ultimately boosting conversions and customer satisfaction through these interactive messaging experiences.
Common Mistakes in Product Feed Uploads - NotPIM