SMS or RCS: how to choose the channel for each message

The question “which channel should I use” has no general answer. SMS and RCS arrive in the same messaging app on the phone, but they solve different problems and have limits of their own. What helps is knowing those limits and letting your data point to which channel to use for each group of customers.

SMS: reach and simplicity

SMS reaches any mobile phone, with or without internet, through the messaging app that comes with the device. That is why it remains the widest-reaching channel for short notices: confirmation codes, due-date reminders, delivery alerts.

The limit is the format. There is no image, no button and no visual identity for the sender. The link in the text is the only path to anything beyond the message.

The character limit

An SMS message holds 160 characters in the standard SMS alphabet. Characters outside that alphabet, such as accented letters in Portuguese, Spanish or French, or emoji, change the encoding, and the per-message limit drops to 70 characters. Longer messages are split into parts, and each part usually counts as one send.

If you write to customers in languages with accents, this matters. A plain sentence like “Sua fatura está disponível” already uses characters outside the standard alphabet. It is worth writing the text, counting characters in the right encoding and deciding whether the accent is worth the extra part.

RCS: rich messaging in the native app

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the evolution of SMS inside the phone’s own messaging app. For businesses, it allows images, action buttons, carousels and a verified sender with a name and logo.

Reach depends on three things: the device, the carrier and the messaging app with RCS turned on. Where RCS is not available, the message does not arrive as RCS, and each provider handles that case in its own way. That is why RCS pairs well with SMS: the same data, two channels, and the result of each showing who received it where.

Let your data choose the channel

The decision works better when it comes from your data instead of a default for everyone. A few fields help:

• Message type: a short, urgent notice calls for SMS. An offer with an image or an action button calls for RCS.
• Consent for marketing, which defines who can receive what.
• Result history: the record list shows who received on each channel, which helps pick the channel for the next cycle.
• Preferred channel, when the customer has stated one.

In DeepMiner, these criteria become filters on different strategies in the same flow: an RCS strategy for people who opted in to marketing, an SMS one for due-date notices. Each has its own provider and its own recurrence, and the option to not resend to anyone who already received on that channel.

Compare channels by result

With each provider’s webhook writing the status to the record, SMS and RCS have their own status fields side by side on the customer. Each strategy’s run shows the total, the sent messages and the failures, the record list shows each channel’s status per customer and the webhook log shows what arrived from each provider. Checking no longer depends on two different panels.

What this comparison shows holds for your data and changes over time. Use the results to revisit the strategies’ criteria instead of choosing a channel once and forgetting about it.

What about other channels?

DeepMiner comes with SMS and RCS ready, plus data enrichment providers. The platform administrator can register other providers that expose an HTTP API, with the method, the payload template, batch sending and the webhook return paths. The results from those providers also return to the record.

Want to see SMS and RCS strategies on the same data? Book a demo.