Three Major Telecoms Launch 'RCS Image Template' Messaging

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, the three major telecommunications companies, announced on the 7th that they have launched the ‘RCS Image Template’ service, which allows sending marketing messages with various styles of images.

The RCS Image Template supports six types of messages: image and title emphasis, image emphasis, thumbnail (horizontal), thumbnail (vertical), SNS type, and SNS type (with middle button). Based on this, companies and small business owners can select the message type according to their marketing target or content.

In particular, it is offered at a cost 34% lower than multimedia messaging service (MMS), reducing the marketing cost burden through messages. It also achieves higher marketing effectiveness compared to regular text messages. In fact, an analysis of 4 million marketing messages using RCS sent by the three telecom companies from October to November last year showed that the marketing effectiveness was about 1.71 times higher than that of regular text messages.

‘RCS Image Template’ messages undergo an inspection process at the RCS Biz Center operated by the three telecom companies before being sent, which is expected to reduce customer inconvenience and damage caused by spam messages.

The three telecom companies will run a promotion for the ‘RCS Image Template’ for four months from this month through May, and will hold a free image creation support event later to help easily create image template messages.

Currently, the three telecom companies provide various services through RCS to enhance message reliability and marketing effectiveness. Since January, in collaboration with the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), they have been expanding the insertion of the ‘Safe Mark’ that verifies the actual sender for RCS messages sent by public institutions and financial institutions. For example, after a card payment, the message received will have an ‘authentication mark’ and ‘safe phrase (verified sender number)’ attached at the top.

The feature of RCS messages that exposes corporate customer brand logos and brand names is also being expanded to existing text message customers. Corporate customers can send messages displaying their brand instead of the sender number simply by registering their brand at the RCS Biz Center.

A telecom company official said, "We continue to launch new RCS services that can increase message reliability and marketing effectiveness," adding, "We will continue to strive to provide RCS message services that can increase sales for companies and small business customers."