RCS Messaging for UK and EU Businesses: What It Is, How It Works, Benefits, Marketing Use Cases and Best Tools
Why RCS Messaging Matters for Modern Marketing
RCS messaging has become one of the most important developments in mobile marketing since SMS first appeared. Where SMS limits businesses to plain, 160-character text, RCS messaging delivers richer, interactive and branded experiences that UK and European marketers are beginning to treat as a core communication channel.
What is RCS messaging? It’s the modern upgrade to text messaging, combining the universal reach of SMS with app-like features. RCS messages can include high-resolution images, carousels, tappable buttons, suggested replies, read receipts and verified sender branding, all inside the phone’s native messaging app. For most users, it feels like an enhanced version of texting rather than a separate app.
Momentum has accelerated rapidly. With Apple adding RCS support in iOS 18 (September 2024), the format is no longer limited to Android. UK and European carriers now support RCS widely, positioning it as the next major messaging standard for both personal and business communication.
What does RCS mean in text? It signals trust and authenticity. Instead of anonymous shortcodes, businesses appear with their brand name, logo and verification badge. This makes msg RCS ideal for reducing fraud, improving recognition and helping users instantly identify real messages from legitimate companies.
Marketers are paying attention because engagement lifts are significant, often up to three times higher than SMS, while requiring no app downloads and no learning curve for consumers. And for businesses using customer data platforms, RCS provides a more dynamic, interactive channel that fits directly into personalised, cross-channel marketing journeys.
What Is RCS Messaging and What Does RCS Mean in Text
RCS messaging, short for Rich Communication Services, is the modern upgrade to SMS and MMS. Developed by the GSMA to replace ageing text-message technology, it delivers richer, interactive and secure communication directly inside a user’s default messaging app.
What is RCS service? It is an IP-based messaging protocol that works over mobile data or Wi-Fi rather than legacy SMS infrastructure. This shift unlocks features that SMS could never support: high-resolution images, carousels, buttons, suggested replies, read receipts and verified business identities.
So what do RCS messages mean in practice? Customers receive messages that feel like a blend of texting and app-based chat, branded, interactive and trustworthy. Instead of anonymous shortcodes, messages come from a verified business with a logo, colour theme and interactive options they can tap instantly.
Delivered through Google Messages worldwide and Apple Messages from 2024/2025 onwards, RCS shows what SMS would look like if it were designed for today’s users. It meets modern expectations for personalisation, security and rich media while keeping the simplicity and familiarity of traditional text messaging.
What RCS Messages Look Like and How They Work
To understand the value of RCS messages, it helps to see how they function in real customer journeys. Unlike plain SMS, msg RCS delivers rich, interactive conversation flows rather than simple one-way text blasts.
The experience feels modern and intuitive. Read receipts show when a message is opened, while typing indicators make exchanges feel like real-time chats. Carousels allow customers to swipe through product options, and suggested reply buttons help guide them towards quick decisions without needing to type a full response.
RCS also introduces verified business profiles, which display your brand name, logo and verification badge at the top of the thread. This instantly builds trust, removing the ambiguity that often surrounds SMS shortcodes.
Every day, communications become more dynamic. Event reminders, boarding passes, and e-tickets turn into interactive cards. Product cards include images, prices and clear calls to action such as “Shop now”. Rich media, images, videos, audio and documents can be shared seamlessly, creating a more app-like experience inside the native messaging app.
What features does RCS messaging include? High-resolution media, rich cards, suggested replies, suggested actions, file sharing, location maps, group messaging, read receipts and typing indicators. Some networks also support end-to-end encryption.
And when combined with customer data platforms, anonymous website visitor tracking can connect browsing behaviour to personalised RCS outreach, helping brands turn previously unidentifiable traffic into richer, segmented customer journeys.
RCS Messaging vs SMS: What Is the Difference and Will RCS Replace SMS?
Understanding the difference between RCS messaging and SMS is essential for UK and European businesses evaluating modern mobile communication. While SMS has been the backbone of text marketing for decades, msg RCS introduces capabilities that fundamentally change what brands can do.
SMS is restricted by its legacy technology. It runs on cellular networks, limits messages to 160 characters, and only supports plain text. Delivery confirmation is basic, with no sender verification, no branding, and no interactive elements, making it functional but outdated for today’s customer expectations.
What is RCS service in comparison? It’s the complete opposite. RCS supports unlimited characters, high-resolution images, videos, GIFs, branding with verified business profiles, read receipts, typing indicators, carousels, and tappable buttons. It brings app-like experiences into the native SMS inbox without requiring users to download anything.
Is RCS better than SMS? For most marketing and customer experience use cases, yes. Industry benchmarks show RCS drives around 3X higher engagement than SMS, with click-through rates averaging 7% versus SMS’s 3%. Conversion performance also improves by up to 20%, largely due to richer content, clearer calls to action, and the trust created by verified sender IDs.
Will RCS replace SMS entirely? Not completely, at least not yet. RCS uses SMS as an automatic fallback when a device or carrier doesn’t support RCS. This means businesses can send a single message and rely on the network to adapt to each customer’s capabilities. SMS remains a universal infrastructure, but increasingly serves as the backup rather than the primary experience.
The difference between SMS and RCS is especially important for brands running omnichannel marketing programmes. SMS guarantees reach, but RCS provides significantly higher engagement where supported. For industries like retail, travel, hospitality, and financial services, this performance gap directly influences customer satisfaction, repeat purchasing, and overall revenue growth.
Enabling RCS on Android and iPhone
Enabling msg RCS is simple for users, but the exact steps depend on the device. Once activated, everyday texts upgrade automatically whenever both parties support RCS messaging.
How to Enable RCS Messaging on Android
On Android, RCS is managed through Google Messages, which is the default SMS/RCS app on most devices. To turn it on, users open Google Messages, tap their profile photo, and go to Messages settings. Under RCS chats, sometimes labelled Chat features, they toggle the feature on. Some networks require quick number verification before RCS activates.
What does it mean to enable RCS on Google Messages? It means switching from basic SMS to a richer, more interactive messaging format. When both users have RCS enabled, chats automatically upgrade. When they don’t, messages fall back seamlessly to SMS without the sender needing to change anything.
How to Enable RCS Messaging on iPhone
Apple introduced RCS support in iOS 18 (September 2024). To enable it, iPhone users go to Settings → Messages → RCS, found under the Advanced options. When active, the message field displays Text Message RCS, confirming the feature is running.
What does enabling RCS mean on an iPhone? It means iPhone users can finally exchange RCS messages with Android contacts using the full feature set, higher-quality media, read receipts, typing indicators, and more, removing the long-standing “green bubble” limitations.
Why Enabling RCS Matters
When users activate RCS, they allow their device to use the upgraded messaging protocol delivered through Google’s Jibe platform, which powers RCS for many networks worldwide. This infrastructure ensures consistent RCS performance across the UK, Europe, and global carrier networks, even in regions where operators haven’t deployed their own RCS systems.
RCS for Business and Marketing: Why It Is Becoming Essential
RCS Business Messaging (often called RBM) is quickly becoming a core channel for modern customer engagement. Rather than replacing SMS, it expands on it, bringing richer features, branded identities, and interactive experiences that traditional text messaging simply cannot offer.
RCS marketing messages instantly stand out because they come from verified business sender profiles. Instead of a random number, customers see your brand name, logo, and verification badge. This reduces spam concerns, improves trust, and increases interaction rates from the moment a message appears.
So, what makes RCS an effective marketing tool? It lives inside the customer’s native messaging app, making it more immediate than email and far more engaging than SMS. It merges the reach of traditional texting with the detail and visual impact usually found in apps or emails, making it ideal for UK and European audiences accustomed to high digital standards.
RCS Business Messaging supports a wide range of interactive features: rich cards, suggested replies, action buttons, image galleries, carousels, and integrated chatbots. Order updates can include product images and delivery maps, while promotions become far more clickable when presented with rich media or swipeable product ranges.
For customer data platforms running advanced user journeys, RCS fits seamlessly. Brands can track behaviour, identify high-intent users, segment audiences, and trigger personalised msg RCS message campaigns at exactly the right moment. When connected to email marketing platforms, RCS becomes the missing bridge in omnichannel marketing, allowing consistent, personalised messaging across channels.
RCS service providers in the UK and Europe handle the complex infrastructure, verifying business senders, managing messaging templates, monitoring analytics, and ensuring compliance. Marketing teams simply design the campaign and send it, while the platform handles delivery, routing, and optimisation behind the scenes.
Best Use Cases for RCS Marketing (UK and EU Examples)
RCS marketing delivers its strongest results when brands use its rich, interactive features to replace static SMS messages with visual, app-like customer experiences. Across the UK and Europe, adoption is accelerating because msg RCS improves engagement, reduces friction, and increases conversions in daily, high-volume moments.
Retail
RCS services allow retailers to send product carousels, restock alerts with images and prices, and “tap to buy” buttons directly inside the message thread. Cart recovery performs especially well, as abandoned baskets appear as rich cards rather than plain text reminders.
Travel
RCS marketing messages transform itineraries and boarding passes into interactive elements. Travellers receive real-time flight updates with rebooking options, tap-to-add passes for Google Wallet, and route maps embedded directly into the conversation. Support is reachable instantly through action buttons.
Hospitality
Restaurants and hotels use RCS messaging to send visual menus, booking confirmations, upgrade offers, and digital check-in links. Guests can update reservations, share dietary needs, or contact concierge services without leaving the chat.
Finance
Banks and financial services use verified RCS messages for secure fraud alerts, bill reminders, one-tap payment links, and detailed transaction summaries. Trusted branding improves clarity and reduces phishing concerns common with SMS.
Proven Results in the UK and Europe
Industry studies show RCS campaigns achieving 73% to 92% read rates and up to 20% higher conversions than traditional channels. In the UK, SMARTY reported a 500% rise in engagement after adopting RCS as part of its customer journey strategy, demonstrating the channel’s commercial impact at scale.
How to Build an RCS Marketing Strategy
Building an effective RCS marketing strategy starts with consent. Like SMS, RCS requires explicit opt-in, so integrate permission prompts across sign-up forms, checkout flows, loyalty enrolment, and service touchpoints. Once collected, create message templates for transactional updates, promotional carousels, and customer support journeys.
Connect your CRM and customer data platforms to deliver real-time personalisation. When RCS integrates with your broader omnichannel marketing stack and email marketing platforms, you can trigger automated conversations based on behaviour, preferences, and past interactions. Replies feed directly into workflows, allowing journeys to adapt intelligently.
Choose channels based on purpose. RCS marketing performs best for interactive product displays, secure branded messages, and high-intent journeys. SMS remains reliable for urgent text-only alerts, while WhatsApp excels in ongoing service conversations. Together, these channels form a unified, high-performing customer experience.
RCS vs WhatsApp vs SMS: When Each Channel Performs Best
Choosing between RCS messaging, WhatsApp and SMS depends on the outcome you want. RCS performs best for visually rich marketing journeys, cart recovery using carousels, verified branding, and transactional updates delivered directly into the phone’s native messaging app. It is ideal for UK and European businesses wanting app-like interactions without requiring any app download.
WhatsApp shines for two-way customer service, after-sales support and loyalty communication, especially in regions where WhatsApp penetration is high. Its encrypted, conversational format suits service-led interactions.
SMS still plays a vital role as the universal fallback. It reaches every device, supports time-critical alerts, and remains cost-effective for simple text notifications.
In practice, most brands combine all three channels. SMS guarantees reach, RCS messages deliver rich, interactive experiences, and WhatsApp enables private conversational depth, together forming a balanced, high-performance messaging mix.
Top RCS Messaging Service Providers (UK and Europe)
Choosing the right platform determines how effectively your RCS messaging performs. Several leading UK and European providers now deliver robust RCS services, verified branding, and high-quality msg RCS message delivery.
SaleCycle stands out for abandoned cart recovery and behavioural remarketing. Its RCS service supports personalised campaigns by tracking website behaviour and identifying anonymous visitors to increase conversions.
Twilio offers an enterprise-grade RCS Business Messaging API. Brands can upgrade from SMS to RCS without major code changes, benefiting from automatic global carrier routing.
Sinch powers large-scale RCS services across more than 90 mobile operators in 60+ countries, delivering billions of RCS messages with reliable carrier-grade infrastructure.
Infobip provides an advanced RCS marketing solution with strong analytics, verified sender support and extensive European network coverage.
Vodafone UK, alongside other regional carriers, offers direct RCS business messaging routes. Platforms like CM.com and Dotdigital embed RCS services within unified customer messaging suites, making deployment simple for UK and EU businesses.
Future of RCS Messaging in the UK and Europe
RCS messaging is entering a new phase of adoption. Apple’s rollout of RCS support in iOS 18 has unlocked the missing half of the market, allowing iPhone users across the UK and Europe to send and receive full-feature RCS messages. As iOS 18 penetration increases, msg RCS becomes available to millions more users each month.
Will RCS become the default messaging format? Current trends strongly suggest it. Android already treats RCS as the standard for modern devices, and carriers across Europe are now enabling RCS service as part of their 5G strategies. With both major ecosystems aligned, SMS increasingly acts only as a fallback.
Interoperability continues to improve through the GSMA Universal Profile, ensuring consistent delivery between networks and devices. In 2025, end-to-end encryption was introduced for supported clients, making RCS the first cross-network messaging channel to offer interoperable encrypted communication.
For UK and European businesses, the direction is clear: RCS transitions from an emerging channel to an expected experience. Brands that adopt RCS messaging now gain a competitive edge and prepare for the point where rich, interactive, branded messages become the new baseline for customer communication.
FAQs
What is RCS messaging?
RCS messaging is a modern upgrade to SMS that supports rich media, verified branding, read receipts and interactive features inside native messaging apps.
What does RCS mean in texting?
It means your texts can include images, videos, buttons, carousels and longer messages instead of basic 160-character SMS.
Is RCS replacing SMS?
Not fully. RCS is the enhanced default where supported, but texts automatically fall back to SMS if a device or network doesn’t support RCS.
How to enable RCS on Android?
Open Google Messages, tap your profile photo, go to Messages settings, choose RCS chats or Chat features, and toggle it on.
How to enable RCS on iPhone?
Go to Settings → Messages → enable RCS under Advanced. Requires iOS 18 and carrier support.
What can businesses do with RCS?
Send branded messages with images, carousels, buttons, payments and interactive journeys without requiring apps.
Is RCS free?
No. RCS costs are similar to SMS, with higher pricing for rich media or high-volume business campaigns.
What is the RCS Business Messaging API?
It’s the system that allows automated, personalised RCS campaigns at scale, integrated with CRM and marketing platforms.
Is RCS secure?
Yes. RCS uses Transport Layer Security, with end-to-end encryption available on supported devices and networks from 2025.
Conclusion: RCS Is Becoming a Major Marketing Channel
RCS messaging is no longer experimental; it is the natural progression of mobile communication. It blends SMS’s universal reach with the rich media, verified branding and interactive features modern consumers expect. For UK and European businesses, the moment to act is now.
Apple’s iOS 18 rollout removes the final adoption gap. European carriers continue expanding support, and major messaging platforms provide simple, reliable integration. Brands implementing RCS today secure a first-mover advantage before it becomes a default expectation across devices.
After years of attempting to enhance SMS, RCS finally delivers the richer, app-like messaging experience customers want in the native apps they already use. With Apple, Android and carriers aligned, the next generation of business messaging is firmly here. Now is the ideal time to evaluate RCS, connect it to your existing omnichannel marketing platform and begin building richer, higher-performing customer journeys.
