A new report says that Rich Communications Services (RCS) provide an opportunity for financial services professionals to at least partly alleviate trust and security concerns in their text communication with clients.
The report, entitled “The Messaging Evolution: Exploring Consumer Motivation and Behavior in the Age of RCS,” was conducted by Datos Insights and Solutions by Text. It found that 80% of consumers want text communication capabilities with their lenders. However, only 22% consistently conduct such communications at this point.
The report found that 68% of respondents are more comfortable with financial text communications when RCS features are employed. Written by David Albertazzi and Ariana-Michele Moore, the report found that 84% of consumers are open to using enhanced messaging for financial services interactions.
Other takeaways from the research:
- RCS enables seamless autopay and collections adoption, with 76% of consumers willing to use RCS text messaging for these tasks.
- The survey found that early adopters will gain market differentiation before RCS becomes table stakes. Fifty-nine percent of consumers are more likely to choose lenders offering RCS capabilities.
- The survey suggests that text messaging may rival or replace mobile apps for financial tasks, with 40% saying that they prefer text over apps and 28% saying that they wouldn’t need apps if RCS could do the job.
“Consumer demand, RCS capabilities, and competitive pressure make this clear: Financial services organizations must act now to implement comprehensive RCS strategies,” according to the report.
“The institutions that embrace RCS comprehensively will address longstanding operational challenges, such as late payments and follow-ups, while meeting customer expectations. This technology represents not just an upgrade to existing capabilities but a fundamental reimagining of how financial services can engage with customers effectively.”
The survey used as the basis for the report was based on 1,500 US-based consumers.
Increased use of text could help alleviate what seems to be a great data crunch. A CTIA report released in September said that last year 132 trillion megabytes (MB) of mobile data was consumed. Total growth was 32 trillion MB, which represented the biggest year-over-year increase ever and was the third consecutive year of approximately 35% growth.
