The useful way to read examples is in two directions at once. The message format decides what the customer sees and can tap. The industry decides which job the message is doing. A rich card is the same object whether it carries a shipping update or a mortgage rate, so the examples below are grouped both ways, with the working payloads on the format pages and the full programmes on the industry pages.
Examples by message format
- Rich card. One image, a title, a description, and up to four buttons. This is the workhorse: order confirmations, appointment reminders, a single product. See RCS rich card examples for the payload.
- Carousel. Two to ten swipeable cards in one message, each with its own media and buttons. Menus, property listings, a small catalogue. See RCS carousel examples.
- Suggested replies. Tappable chips that send a predefined answer back to your agent, so a confirmation is one tap instead of a typed "Y". See RCS suggested reply examples.
- Suggested actions. Buttons that trigger the device: open a URL, dial, show a map, add a calendar event. See RCS suggested action examples.
- Plain rich text. No card at all, just a verified sender, a logo, and up to 3,072 characters. Still an upgrade on SMS, because the recipient can see who sent it. The RCS character limit covers the ceiling.
Examples by industry
- Retail and e-commerce. A carousel of the items left in a cart, each card with an Add and a View button. RCS for retail and e-commerce, and the abandoned cart playbook.
- Logistics and delivery. A live tracking map in the thread with Leave at door, Reschedule, and Message driver chips. RCS for logistics and delivery.
- Healthcare. An appointment card with Confirm, Reschedule, and Directions, replacing the reminder call. RCS for healthcare.
- Financial services. A fraud alert the customer answers with Yes or No in one tap, sent from a verified bank identity so it is distinguishable from the phishing text imitating it. RCS for financial services.
- Restaurants. A menu carousel with prices and an Order button, or a booking confirmation with a map action. RCS for restaurants.
- Travel and hospitality. A boarding pass card, a gate change, a one-tap upgrade offer. RCS for travel and hospitality.
- Automotive. A service reminder with the vehicle, the due work, and a Book button. RCS for automotive.
- Real estate. A carousel of listings with photos, price, and a Schedule viewing action. RCS for real estate.
A worked example, order to delivery
One order produces four messages, and every one of them is a different format doing a different job.
- Confirmation. A rich card with the item photo, the order number, and a View order button. The customer gets a receipt they can find again in the thread, not an email they will not open.
- Dispatch. A rich card with the carrier, the delivery window, and a Track button that opens live tracking. No shortened link, no page load outside the inbox.
- Out for delivery. A map card with Leave at door and Reschedule chips. This is where the "where is my order?" support contact would otherwise have happened.
- Delivered. A photo of the placed parcel with a timestamp, and a Rate your delivery reply pair.
The same four messages over SMS would be four plain texts, three shortened links, and an unknown number in the recipient's inbox. The order and delivery updates playbook has the full flow.
What separates a good RCS example from a bad one
Three things, and they are all about the fallback rather than the artwork.
The message has to make sense as plain text. Every RCS send needs an SMS version for recipients who cannot receive the rich one, and a card whose entire meaning lives in the image becomes an empty text. Write the copy first, add the media second. How RCS falls back to SMS covers the mechanics.
The buttons have to do something the thread cannot. A button that opens the same web page the customer would have reached anyway has not saved anyone a step. A button that confirms an appointment, reschedules a delivery, or answers a fraud check has removed a phone call.
The sender has to be verified. An unverified message is a rich message from a number, which is exactly the shape of the scam it competes with. See what is a verified sender.
Build these without writing the JSON
The payloads on the format pages are what the API sends, and they are worth reading if you are integrating directly through the RCS API. In SimplyRCS the same cards and carousels are assembled once in the content library and reused across flows and campaigns, so the examples above are template work rather than engineering work. You can also preview how an SMS becomes an RCS message before building anything.
- The five patterns that cover almost all business RCS: order updates, appointment reminders, promotions, one-time passcodes and fraud checks, and two-way support.
- Formats: rich card, carousel of 2 to 10 cards, suggested replies, suggested actions, and plain rich text up to 3,072 characters.
- A carousel card and a rich card carry the same fields, so an example built for one industry ports to another by changing the copy and the media.
- Every example needs an SMS fallback version, because RCS delivery is per recipient and not guaranteed.
- Verified sender identity is what separates these examples from the smishing they sit next to in the same inbox.