RCS

RCS puts rich messages — cards, carousels, pictures and buttons — into the phone’s own messages app, from a verified business sender called a bot. Each message goes out through the bot that sends to the person’s country, using a template that bot has approved. The plan must include RCS. The menu then shows an RCS section with Dashboard, Send RCS, Templates and Settings.

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How RCS sends

Three things decide whether a message can go to a number:

1. A route for its country. A route names the bot that sends to one country. A number in a country with no route is skipped.
2. The bot. Each bot is approved by the provider for some countries (“launched in”) and is of one type: Promotional, Transactional or OTP.
3. The template’s approval on that bot. Every bot approves templates separately. If the routed bot hasn’t approved the template yet, that number is skipped, with the reason.

Skipped numbers aren’t sent and show the reason — “No RCS route for…” or “…isn’t approved on… yet” — so you can fix the route or the approval.

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How you connect

Open RCS → Settings. Under How you connect, choose one of two:

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Bots

On your own provider account, Add bot under Bots:

• Bot id — from your provider;
• Name — as the bot shows on phones;
• Type — Promotional, Transactional or OTP;
• Launched in — the countries the bot is approved for.

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Routes

The Routes section lists, for each country you can reach, the bot that sends there and whether the route is Yours or the FireFlo default. To add one, pick a Country and a Bot, then Add route. Your own route for a country takes the place of FireFlo’s default; removing it brings the default back. Routing is by country. The Operator column reads “Any”.

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Write templates

RCS sends approved templates only — never typed text. See RCS templates to write one and submit it to your bots.

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Send RCS

RCS → Send RCS sends one approved template to people you type in. For more people, send a broadcast on RCS: choose the template and fill each variable from a column of your list or with your own text. The preview shows the message as the first person will see it, and each row goes from the bot its country routes to. A broadcast on RCS also shows Button taps: how many people tapped a button, as a share of those sent, and which buttons.

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One message to one person, through the API

Your own systems can send one RCS message to one person with the OMNI API’s messages — on its own, or as a step in a route such as RCS, then SMS. It goes the same way a broadcast’s row does: the person’s country picks the bot, and the template must be approved on that bot. When it can’t go — no route for their country, the template not approved there — the next channel in the route is tried. Delivery and reads are reported, so a step can wait for either, and the message is filed in the person’s Inbox thread.

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Replies and taps

• A reply lands in the Inbox, in the person’s RCS thread, with the broadcasts they were sent filed into it.
• A tap on a quick reply button counts as an answer, so it shows in the thread too. Taps on every kind of button are counted for the broadcast’s figures.
• RCS takes no typed replies: in the Inbox, the reply box points you to Send RCS to send an approved template instead.

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The RCS dashboard

RCS → Dashboard shows what went out, what came back and what was tapped, for the period you pick: Messages sent; Delivered (phones that showed it); Read (with replies); Button taps and how many people tapped; a Traffic chart of sent, failed and replies; and the Most tapped buttons.

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Opt-outs

STOP stops a person on every channel; do-not-contact and quiet hours are always honoured. With the Customer data battery, people can stop RCS alone, or RCS marketing alone.

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What batteries add on RCS

RCS works with no battery at all. Each one below adds to it when it is in your plan. Calendar adds nothing on RCS.

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Who may