What you can send
That last row is the one people underestimate. On SMS you learn whether the message arrived. On
RCS you learn whether it was read and what the customer did next, which makes the channel
measurable in a way SMS never has been.
Who is involved
RCS has more parties than SMS, and that is why setting it up takes longer than switching on a sender ID.
Each of those is a gate. A template is approved per operator, and a sender profile is launched
per operator, so “RCS is live” usually means live on one network before the others.
Before your first message
1
A sender profile, launched
Your brand identity on the channel — name, logo, colour, description. It has to be created
and then launched with each operator you want to reach. See
Sender profiles.
2
Approved templates
Message content is approved in advance, like DLT for SMS. See
Templates and the
template guidelines for what gets rejected.
3
A plan for handsets that cannot receive RCS
Not every device, network or subscriber is RCS-capable. Configure
SMS fallback so those customers still get the
message.
Fallback is not optional in practice. RCS coverage is good and growing, but it is never
total. A campaign without fallback silently reaches fewer people than you think.
Where to go next
Send your first campaign
Build and launch RCS campaigns from the portal.
Set up the channel
Sender profiles, templates, billing and reports.
Send from your own code
The RCS API — templates, sends, callbacks and error codes.
Send from your marketing platform
MoEngage, CleverTap and the other connectors.
Reference
- RCS Business Messaging — Google’s own documentation for the platform underneath
- RCS error codes — what each operator rejection means