💬 2025 Marketing Stats for 2026 Best Practices💬 Get the Report Now

RICH COMMUNICATION SERVICES (RCS)

Modern Messaging Experiences for a Mobile-First Era

RCS gives you the power to deliver sleek, immersive, and fully branded experiences within your contacts’ native text messaging inboxes — no third-party app required.

Join the Waiting List
Smartphones with a variety of RCS messages on interfaces

Embrace the Next-Generation Texting Standard

Send dynamic, personalized, rich media messages that outperform traditional SMS in every metric, including click-through rates, conversions, and customer satisfaction. With RCS, you’ll enjoy features like customizable CTA buttons, branded chats, and a verified sender badge that strengthens audience trust.

Prevent impersonation and boost contacts’ confidence in your business. Include your organization’s name, logo, brand colors, and verification checkmark for a more trustworthy texting experience.

A secure verified RCS message from a pharmacy on a smart phone

Get better peace of mind. With all RCS messages encrypted in transit, and end-to-end encryption available in supported apps, you can rest assured your communications are private and secure.

Enjoy more flexible communications. While SMS has a strict 160-character limit, RCS offers up to 3072 characters per message, so you never have to stress about fitting everything you need to share.

Unleash the power of visual storytelling in your text messages. Send crisp, high-resolution product images, high-definition videos, GIFs, carousels, PDFs, and customized call-to-action buttons.

RCS message with customized buttons

Create the dynamic, ultra-responsive chat environment your audience craves. Enable message reactions, typing indicators, and read receipts so texts feel like genuine, one-on-one conversations.

 

 

Person interacting with an RCS message

Offer more seamless multimedia interactions. Send messages that launch GPS navigation, browsers, and other apps directly from messages, and include maps and location information within your chat interface.

RCS message with  location information and interactive map

Send more timely and relevant messages. Leverage location and geographic data to tailor your content to each contact’s current environment, and deliver more valuable, higher-impact promotions.

RCS message with links to apps near a specific location

Why Choose TrueDialog for RCS?

At TrueDialog, we believe RCS is the future of text messaging, and we’ve carefully designed a feature-rich platform to ensure your business excels in this new era of mobile communication.

Here are a few ways we help organizations like yours modernize their messaging program and drive exceptional results: 

RCS message for a sporting event with links to tickets parking maps and merchandise

Unlike other platforms that struggle to keep up with enterprise-sized needs, TrueDialog is built for large, fast-growing organizations in highly regulated industries. Our infrastructure supports unmatched reliability, scalability, and throughput from the moment you launch.

Woman using enterprise text messaging system to send rcs messages

Not every device and carrier supports RCS (yet), but with TrueDialog, you can send without fear. When your message can’t be delivered in RCS format, our platform automatically falls back to SMS/MMS to ensure those contacts aren’t left out of the loop.

 

Confused about the RCS business verification process? We’ve got you covered. TrueDialog will help you set up your RCS agent profile and apply for verification so you can make the most of these features and boost audience trust.

 

Woman setting up RCS messaging system

Our user-friendly interface makes it easy for teams to quickly build and launch powerful messaging experiences with carousels, customized buttons, high-resolution videos, and other rich content. Enjoy all the benefits of RCS without the extra work. 

RCS message with interactive buttons to book an appointment

 

TrueDialog natively integrates with leading CRMs and marketing automation platforms, including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua.

Integration with Salesforce HubSpot Marketo Eloqua and Microsoft

 

TrueDialog meets rigorous security standards, including SOC 2 Type II and TX-RAMP, and uses an ISO-certified cloud data center. We also offer single sign-on and multi-factor authentication, single- and double-opt-in consent, comprehensive opt-out records, and other safeguards to protect your data and keep you compliant with industry regulations.

SOC 2 Type II and TX-RAMP, ISO-certified cloud data center

We know you need to make informed decisions fast. Our user-friendly analytics and reporting dashboard gives you immediate insight into the RCS metrics that matter most, such as open rates, read receipts, button clicks, media interactions, and conversions, in real time.

 

Person receiving data about sms marketing campaigns

For many organizations, RCS is a brand-new frontier — but our team of experts is here to guide you every step of the way. From onboarding and verified profile set-up through campaign assistance and advice on best practices, our award-winning vendor support team has your back. 

RCS message with video and electronic tickets

SMS

RCS

Message length 160 character limit 3,000+ character limit
Supported media Text only (or basic images and links with MMS) High-resolution images, video, GIFs, audio, PDFs, and more
User experience Simple and familiar Familiar experience, but with more modern, interactive features like typing indicators, reactions, and customizable buttons
Branding 10DLC and Short codes can be mistaken for spam Verified brand checkmark, name, logo, colors, increase trust – and response
Encryption Not encrypted. Messages travel in plain text over carrier networks Encrypts messages in transit, with end-to-end encryption available in supported apps
Deliverabilty Long codes and 10DLC have strict messages-per-second caps that throttle delivery and slow large sends High throughput. Uses IP delivery with far fewer volume limits, enabling fast delivery at scale

RCS Use Cases

RCS brings rich, interactive, and secure messaging into your audience’s native mobile inbox.

Here are a few ways top organizations drive impact with RCS

Sports and Live Entertainment

Excellent Gameday Experiences
RCS makes it easy to send tickets, stadium maps, parking details, and concession options in one rich message. Brands can further boost the fan experience by adding one-tap actions (such as adding passes to a mobile wallet or placing in-seat food orders). 

Irresistible Merch Campaigns
Use interactive carousels to showcase featured merchandise, limited-edition drops, and promotional bundles. This way, fans can tap to purchase directly from the message, without downloading or logging into another app.

Real-Time Fan Interaction
Keep fans engaged during events with fun polls, such as asking them to vote on the next hype song or choose the game MVP. With RCS quick-reply buttons, it’s easy to collect real-time responses and get everyone involved. 

Woman reading text message on her phone

B2B Tech

Keep Hot Leads Moving
Never lose lead momentum. Share product videos, case studies, and personalized promotions directly in your message threads, and add custom buttons, like “Request Demo” or “Talk to Sales,” so there’s nothing stopping high-intent leads from taking action. 

Interactive Product Announcements
Tell a more compelling story about your latest product releases. Use videos and carousels to highlight new features or walk customers through key updates. Create your own captivating CTAs, such as “See What’s New,” to drive immediate engagement.

Easy Event Registration
Promote webinars, conferences, and other events with rich media event invites. Highlight speakers, agenda items, and ticket promotions, and add a button to capture registrations and sign-ups directly within the message. 

Student reading SMs message sent by her college

Higher Education

Donor and Alumni Engagement
Strengthen your connections with alums and donors through meaningful, personalized communications. Promote opportunities for philanthropy and legacy-building, add a “Donate Now” button to make giving easy, and share progress toward fundraising initiatives to boost participation. 

Prospective Student Connections
With RCS, admissions teams can reach prospective students and keep them on track via the communication platform they use most. Send application reminders, share videos and PDFs on various programs, and give them the option to book a campus tour directly in the message.

Campus Event Promotions
Boost turnout for career fairs, movie nights, guest lectures, and other campus happenings with enticing digital invites delivered via RCS. Include event details, maps, and an RSVP button all within the message thread to ignite interest and improve attendance.

Financial Services

Personalized Financial Education
Use RCS features to deliver dynamic personal finance content tailored to each contact’s interests, life stage, and needs. Share product comparison carousels, educational PDFs, how-to videos, and other resources to help customers level up their financial literacy (while boosting brand awareness).

Real-Time Alerts and Fraud Prevention
Deliver fraud alerts with one-tap response buttons that help customers act fast, such as “This Wasn’t Me” or “Freeze My Card.” Sending messages from your verified, branded profile will prove it’s really you, so they don’t waste precious time second-guessing.

Responsive, High-Touch Support
With RCS, you can enable typing indicators and read receipts to reassure your customers that there’s a real, live, and fully engaged support agent on the other end of the chat. Make it easy for members to resolve issues and get their questions answered without calling or logging in to an app.

Business man using mass texting service

Frequently Asked Questions

Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a newer messaging protocol that delivers verified, branded, and interactive messaging natively on both Android and Apple devices without requiring users to download another app. 

It combines the reach of text messaging with modern digital experiences (such as high-resolution visuals, buttons, long-form content, and typing indicators), bringing app-like interactions into the native messaging interface your audiences already use.

Additionally, RCS includes verified sender identity, which makes it harder to spoof and easier to trust. This extra layer of security helps strengthen brand credibility and customer relationships by reassuring recipients it’s really you — not an imposter.

This new messaging protocol isn’t required, but it does offer numerous perks, such as verified, branded profiles to help businesses boost their trustworthiness and credibility in audiences’ inboxes.

Of course, SMS still remains essential. For example, while RCS is better-suited for bulk campaigns from an organization or team, you may still choose to use SMS for one-on-one, two-way conversations (such as customer support and communications with a single member of the sales team). Additionally, SMS acts as a fallback when your recipient cannot receive rich communication services messages.

The bottom line? SMS is still the universal standard, but RCS is ushering in a new era of messaging — and TrueDialog is here to support both.

You don’t have to dive headfirst into RCS immediately. We recommend you start by setting up a verified profile to claim your branded presence. Then, when you’re ready for more, TrueDialog can help you take advantage of additional engagement-driving features, like image carousels and custom CTAs. 

By dipping a toe into RCS now, you’ll be ahead of the curve and ready to leapfrog your competitors (instead of playing catch-up).

No, and that’s one of the great benefits of this new messaging protocol: it offers a modern, app-like experience directly within a contact’s native text messaging inbox. So long as your contact uses an RCS-enabled device (and uses a carrier that supports it), they’ll automatically receive the rich content you send — no third-party app required.

RCS adoption has grown significantly in recent years (especially since it’s now available on both Android and iPhone devices). That said, some older devices may not be compatible with this protocol, and some smaller carriers still don’t support it. Fortunately, in those cases, the TrueDialog platform will fall back to SMS or MMS.

While the majority of your audience can likely receive these messages, we understand that some contacts may not have RCS-compatible devices or use carriers that do not yet support it.

The good news is that when a message can’t be delivered via RCS, the TrueDialog platform automatically falls back to SMS/MMS to ensure your text still reaches its intended recipient. While the message may not include the same rich, immersive experience, it will be delivered in a format that’s compatible with your contact’s device.

At the heart of RCS is the verified profile, which helps businesses prove their authenticity and trustworthiness when engaging with their audience. A verified profile displays an organization’s official branding (including their company name, logo, and brand colors) in the native messaging application, along with a verified checkmark confirming that the organization has been validated by carriers.

In other words, it’s an extra layer of branding and verification that helps consumers feel more confident engaging with a business via text.

To become verified, brands will need to work with a partner (like TrueDialog) that can help them create a profile and submit their business for verification.

We know RCS is uncharted territory for many organizations, but you don’t have to navigate it alone. The TrueDialog team is actively monitoring updates and carrier policy changes to help your brand take full advantage of this new opportunity. And as the texting landscape evolves, we’re here to support you with new capabilities and the expert advice our clients have come to expect.