RCS is all about conversations. MEF’s Future of Messaging Programme participants have developed a guide to help businesses prepare for the P2A opportunity. It examines use cases including customer support efficiency and maximising marketing ROI as well as different channels for chatbot technology and key considerations for RCS enabled conversational commerce. The MEF Guide to RCS Conversational Commerce is available to download now.

With over 50% of the world’s population now owning a smartphone, and 66% of US consumers already interacting with enterprises via chatbots, it is clear that a major disruption in communications between businesses and consumers is underway. Messaging between a business and its customers can be Application-to-Person (A2P) from the business, as well as coming from the customer – Person-to-Application (P2A).

While many businesses have been utilising A2P messaging via SMS for many years, familiarity with designing and deploying mobile P2A communications is less widespread.

There are multiple ways to deliver a ‘conversational commerce ‘experience: this rich P2A messaging experience is available in multiple messaging channels including OTT services (e.g. WhatsApp or Apple Business Communication), web chat, and the multimedia evolution of SMS messaging. Rich Communication Services (RCS) is an open standard being introduced by mobile network providers and industry stakeholders including Google, Samsung and many other handset manufacturers and network equipment providers. RCS provides modern person-to-person chat features as well as special features to improve business messaging.

Businesses need to understand how to engage with this new communication trend, and how to prepare for it. Mobile Ecosystem Forum members have developed a guide to look at the commercial opportunity for businesses adopting RCS for P2A messaging, both for marketing and customer support purposes. It explains the background and opportunity of conversational commerce looking at the strengths and weaknesses of RCS compared to other mobile P2A channels.

It also provides recommendations for any business considering deploying RCS P2A messaging, including:

• Understanding your use cases
• Maximise reach – think multichannel
• Plan for discovery

• Compare commercial models
• Permission management
• Fraud management and prevention

• Chatbot quality control
• Privacy