Quick answer. Any business that texts customers and would benefit from branding, rich content, interactivity, or measurable engagement should consider RCS — which is most of them. It's especially valuable for businesses that send visual or time-sensitive messages (retail, restaurants, travel), that need trust and verification (banks, healthcare, government), or that want two-way, app-like experiences (loyalty, support, scheduling). If your customer messages today are plain SMS that get ignored or mistaken for spam, RCS is the upgrade that makes them branded, interactive, and trackable.
The simplest test: if a branded logo, a product image, a tap-to-act button, or a read receipt would make your message work harder, RCS fits. If you only ever send a one-line code to every possible device, SMS may still be enough — though RCS with SMS fallback gives you the best of both.
Because RCS falls back to SMS automatically, adopting it doesn't cost you reach — which is why "which businesses" is better framed as "which messages." Most businesses have at least some flows (offers, confirmations, reminders, support) that benefit immediately.
Key facts
- Best-fit signals: visual/time-sensitive content, a need for verified trust, or two-way interaction.
- RCS reaches over 80% of smartphone users in major markets like the US (industry reports, 2025–2026), with SMS fallback covering the rest.