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RCS ROI calculator

Cost & Pricing

Quick answer

RCS ROI is the incremental revenue RCS generates minus its cost, divided by its cost. To estimate it: take your audience size, multiply by RCS delivery rate, then by the click-through rate, then by conversion rate and average order value to get revenue; subtract the all-in RCS cost (messages + carrier fees + platform fee + taxes). Use your own click-through once you have it; until then a named campaign, such as Nespresso France at 15% (Google RCS for Business case study), is a safer input than a quoted range.

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A simple worked example (illustrative): send a rich RCS offer to 50,000 opted-in contacts. At a 20% click-through and a 3% conversion on a $40 average order, that's 50,000 × 20% × 3% × $40 = $12,000 in attributable revenue. If the all-in cost of that send (messages + carrier fees + share of platform fee + taxes) is, say, $1,500, ROI = ($12,000 − $1,500) / $1,500 ≈ 7x. Swap in your own rates and rates of response to size it for your program.

The levers that move ROI most are click-through and conversion (where RCS's rich, branded format helps) and redemption for offers/loyalty. SimplyRCS will run this math for you, send us your volume and audience and we'll return an itemized cost and ROI estimate. Get an estimate → Or model it yourself first with the free RCS ROI calculator.

What the ROI of RCS is walks through the formula with a worked case, how much RCS costs supplies the cost side, and how RCS billing works has the worksheet the calculator's rates come from.

Key facts
  • ROI = (incremental revenue − all-in RCS cost) / all-in RCS cost.
  • Revenue ≈ audience × delivery rate × CTR × conversion × AOV; take CTR from your own sends or a named campaign, not a quoted range.
  • Include every cost layer (messages, carrier fees, platform, taxes) for an honest ROI, see billing transparency.

Related questions

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Frequently asked

What click-through rate should I assume for RCS before I have my own data?

Use a named campaign result as the input until you have your own sends, because it is safer than a quoted range. One example is Nespresso France at 15%, from a Google RCS for Business case study. Once your own campaigns have produced a click-through figure, replace the borrowed number so the estimate reflects your audience.

Which costs should be counted when working out the return on an RCS send?

Count every cost layer: the messages themselves, carrier fees, the platform fee and taxes. Leaving one of them out makes the return look better than it really is. For a single send, the platform fee goes in as a share of that fee, so the all-in figure matches what the send actually cost.

What has the biggest effect on RCS ROI?

Click-through and conversion move the return most, along with redemption for offers and loyalty. These are the points where the rich, branded format of RCS helps. SimplyRCS will run the calculation from your volume and audience and return an itemized cost and ROI estimate, or you can model it yourself first with the free ROI calculator.

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