Study

Operator-Sponsored RCS Will Win Consumer Hearts and Brand Budgets - Seite 2

For operators, this is good news. While consumers may use multiple messaging applications for different purposes, nearly everyone texts and they text a lot. Consumers trust traditional texting service because they consider it secure and reliable, and they know their personal contacts all have access to texting – which isn’t necessarily the case with messaging apps. In fact, the most commonly used messaging app is the native, pre-loaded application that integrates both SMS and device-centric messaging services, such as iMessage or Android Messages. This preference for and trust in SMS demonstrates a clear opportunity for operator-sponsored RCS to build on the allegiance consumers already have to text messaging.

RCS capabilities are wide-ranging. They include basic person-to-person chat as well as “mobile-app”-like experiences, such as booking and scheduling services or purchasing goods directly from the RCS application. Focus group members were receptive to the idea of living their digital lives in a single, one-stop messaging application that includes friends, family and favorite brands. They liked the prospect of being able to eliminate multiple apps and streamline their mobile communications into one all-encompassing tool. This removes the user-friction caused by the sometimes clunky and inconvenient separate messaging apps and the tendency of those apps to occupy a lot of device memory.

In addition to gaining a better understanding of consumers’ mobile messaging preferences, the research also produced some key findings for operators.

“Three lessons emerged from our research,” said Lurie. “First, operators must prioritize person-to-person communications to ensure RCS is seen as an app used for day-to-day texting as well as messaging. Second, operators should quickly launch application-to-person functionality to make it easy for consumers to control interactions with the brands they like. And finally, operators must prioritize privacy and security so that RCS becomes the app consumers trust for everything. RCS is an incredible opportunity for operators and brands. Consumers love its capabilities, and brands love its potential as a safe, engaging marketing channel.”