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Explore the key concepts, practical considerations, and frequently asked questions related to sms vs rcs benchmarks in india | ctr and measurement.
Key takeaways
- BFSI campaigns post the highest RCS open rates (78-88%) of any industry tracked, driven largely by the verified sender badge's trust signal.
- Transactional RCS messages hit 82-92% open rates since customers expect them, while re-engagement and win-back sends lag at just 55-68%.
- Comparing RCS's lower open rate directly against SMS's 95%+ misreads the data- SMS's figure includes a large share of habitual, low-attention opens.
Most Indian businesses evaluating RCS are really asking one question: how does it perform against the bulk SMS campaigns they already run? This report benchmarks RCS against SMS on the same four metrics- open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and read-receipt engagement- broken down by industry and message type, with WhatsApp Business included as a secondary reference point. Every figure uses the metric definitions and methodology set out below, so you can compare your own RCS business messaging and SMS numbers like-for-like.
Quick answer: Bulk SMS posts a higher headline open rate (95%+) than RCS (70-85%), but RCS delivers a click-through rate of 15-35% versus 1-5% for SMS, and e-commerce conversion of 8-12% versus 1-3%. WhatsApp Business (10-20% CTR) sits between the two on clicks, though it often edges ahead on read receipts for opted-in conversational threads. BFSI and e-commerce post the strongest RCS numbers, driven by verified sender trust and rich product visuals respectively.
Methodology and Data Sources
Date range: [START DATE]-[END DATE].
Sample: [NUMBER] RCS campaigns and [NUMBER] bulk SMS campaigns across [NUMBER] businesses, sent through Get Click Media's RCS messaging platform on Jio, Airtel, and Vi. SMS figures come from comparable sends (same industry, similar audience and offer) over the same period, so the RCS vs SMS comparison is like-for-like.
How ranges are built: Each range shows the middle 50% of campaign results (25th to 75th percentile) for that industry or message type, not a single best-case send. Campaigns below [MINIMUM] delivered messages were excluded to avoid small-sample noise. WhatsApp Business figures are directional and based on [SOURCE].
Event sources: RCS delivery, read, and button-tap events come from carrier and Google RBM delivery and read events. The read-receipt mechanics follow the GSMA RCS Universal Profile. SMS delivery is based on operator delivery reports (DLRs), and SMS sending windows follow TRAI's TCCCPR regulations.
Metric Definitions
| Metric | RCS definition | SMS definition |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery rate | Messages delivered to an RCS-capable device ÷ messages sent | Messages with a successful DLR ÷ messages sent |
| Open rate | Delivered messages that sent a read event ÷ delivered messages | Estimated: SMS has no read event, so this is the widely cited industry figure, not a measured value |
| Click-through rate (CTR) | Unique recipients who tapped a suggested action, button, or link ÷ delivered messages | Unique recipients who clicked a tracked short link ÷ delivered messages |
| Conversion rate | Unique recipients who completed the target action (purchase, payment, booking) within [X] days ÷ delivered messages | Same definition, attributed through the tracked link |
| Read-receipt rate | Delivered messages with a read event ÷ delivered messages, on devices and senders where read receipts are enabled | Not available |
CTR and conversion use delivered messages as the denominator for both channels, so the two can be compared directly. Open rate is the one metric that is not measured the same way on both channels, which is why this report treats CTR and conversion as the main RCS vs SMS comparison.
Why Benchmarking RCS Matters
RCS is still a newer channel for many Indian marketing teams, and without a reference point it is easy to either under-invest because a campaign "feels" underwhelming, or over-invest without knowing if results are actually strong. Comparing your own numbers against real benchmark ranges- by industry, not just as an overall average- gives you a much more accurate read on whether a campaign is performing well.
The figures come from the dataset described in the methodology above. Treat them as directional ranges, not guarantees- actual results vary by list quality, creative, and offer.
RCS Engagement Benchmarks by Industry (2026)
| Industry | Open Rate | Click-Through Rate | Conversion Rate | Read-Receipt Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | 72-82% | 18-32% | 8-12% | 65-78% |
| BFSI (Banking/Fintech) | 78-88% | 15-25% | 6-10%* | 72-85% |
| Travel | 70-80% | 12-22% | 4-8% | 62-75% |
| D2C brands | 68-80% | 20-35% | 7-11% | 60-74% |
| Real estate | 65-75% | 10-18% | 2-5%** | 58-70% |
*BFSI conversion measured as completed action (payment, renewal) rather than purchase. **Real estate conversion measured as site visit or enquiry booking, a longer-consideration action.
For comparison, bulk SMS across the same industries typically shows a 95%+ open rate but only a 1-5% click-through rate, and WhatsApp Business messaging typically shows 10-20% CTR with strong read-receipt visibility for opted-in threads. The full mechanics behind the SMS comparison are covered in our RCS vs SMS guide, and the WhatsApp comparison is covered in RCS vs WhatsApp.
RCS vs SMS vs WhatsApp: Engagement Comparison
| Metric | RCS | Bulk SMS | WhatsApp Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 70-85% | 95%+ | 70-90%* |
| Click-through rate | 15-35% | 1-5% | 10-20% |
| Avg conversion rate (e-commerce) | 8-12% | 1-3% | 5-9% |
| Read receipts | Yes | No | Yes |
| Verified sender identity | Yes | No | Partial (Business badge) |
| Requires opt-in / app install | No | No | Yes |
*WhatsApp open rate is measured only among opted-in recipients, which is a narrower, pre-filtered audience than RCS or SMS reach.
The important nuance in this table is audience composition. SMS's high open rate reflects near-universal reach including many disengaged habitual opens. WhatsApp's strong numbers come from an audience that has already opted in, which is a smaller, more willing pool to begin with. RCS sits in between- broad reach similar to SMS, combined with engagement quality closer to WhatsApp, which is why the click-through and conversion numbers are the most directly comparable indicator of real campaign performance across all three.
Factor 1: Verified Sender Status
Campaigns sent from a Google-verified RCS sender consistently outperform unverified test sends by a wide margin, particularly in BFSI and insurance, where customers are primed to be suspicious of unfamiliar payment or account messages. The verified sender badge- brand name, logo, and checkmark- is the single largest trust signal available in the channel today, and it is a major reason BFSI benchmarks lead nearly every category above except pure e-commerce click volume.
Factor 2: Rich Media Usage
Rich cards that include a specific, relevant image (the actual product, the actual location, the actual offer) outperform text-only or generic-image RCS messages by a wide margin on click-through rate. Carousels personalized to browsing or purchase history outperform generic carousels sent to a full list. See our RCS campaign examples post for 15 real setups showing exactly how media choice shapes these numbers in practice.
Factor 3: Call-to-Action Clarity
Cards with a single, verb-first button ("Track Order," "Pay Now," "Confirm") consistently outperform cards with two or more competing buttons or vague labels like "Click Here." Our RCS message templates guide breaks down button and copy structure for eight common template types, each built around this single-action principle.
Factor 4: Send Time
Send time affects RCS performance similarly to other channels, but with one added nuance- because RCS is not restricted by TRAI's DND rules or the 9 AM-9 PM promotional SMS sending window the way promotional SMS is, businesses have more flexibility to test send times outside those hours. That said, aligning sends with actual customer behaviour patterns (evening browsing peaks for e-commerce, morning hours for transactional banking updates) still measurably outperforms indiscriminate send times.
Factor 5: Audience Segmentation
Campaigns segmented by past behaviour- previous purchase category, cart contents, booking history- consistently show higher open and click-through rates than broadcast sends to an entire list. This is especially visible in the carousel formats used for re-order prompts and new-arrival campaigns, where relevance to the individual recipient is the main driver of scroll-through depth across multiple cards.
How to Benchmark Your Own RCS Campaigns
- Track four core metrics per send: delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate (defined consistently for your business, whether that is a purchase, a booking, or a confirmed payment).
- Compare against your industry range, not an overall average. A travel campaign performing at 14% CTR is healthy for that vertical even though it would look weak against an e-commerce benchmark.
- A/B test one variable at a time. Test image versus no image, one button versus two, or a personalized carousel versus a generic one, on comparable audience segments, before scaling a change across your full list.
- Use read-receipt and button-tap data to retarget. Recipients who opened but did not click are a different audience than those who never opened at all, and they warrant a different follow-up message.
- Re-benchmark quarterly. As RCS adoption grows in India and more brands adopt the channel, baseline engagement will shift, so benchmarks should be revisited rather than treated as fixed.
Why These Numbers Matter for Budget Decisions
The click-through and conversion gap between RCS and SMS is large enough to change the cost-per-conversion math even when per-message pricing is similar. If RCS delivers 3x to 7x the click-through rate of SMS on a comparable send, the effective cost per click or per conversion is proportionally lower, even before accounting for the added value of read-receipt data and verified trust. Our RCS messaging cost guide walks through this calculation in more detail for Indian pricing.
For businesses still deciding how much of their messaging budget to shift toward RCS, RCS coverage in India is also worth reviewing- since benchmark performance only matters for the portion of your audience RCS can actually reach today, with SMS fallback covering the rest.
Benchmarks by Message Type
Beyond industry, the type of message itself has a measurable effect on engagement, since transactional and promotional content are read with different expectations.
| Message type | Open Rate | Click-Through Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Transactional (order confirmation, payment alert) | 82-92% | N/A- often no button needed |
| Appointment or booking reminder | 78-88% | 20-30% (confirm/reschedule taps) |
| Promotional offer (single card) | 65-78% | 12-22% |
| Promotional carousel (multi-card) | 68-80% | 18-35% |
| Re-engagement / win-back | 55-68% | 8-15% |
Transactional messages post the highest open rates because customers are actively expecting them, while promotional and win-back sends depend far more heavily on relevance and timing to reach comparable engagement. This is one reason a blended channel strategy- transactional RCS paired with a lighter promotional cadence- tends to protect long-term engagement better than a purely promotional send schedule.
Common Benchmarking Mistakes to Avoid
- Comparing RCS open rate directly against SMS and concluding RCS underperforms. As covered above, SMS's headline open rate includes a large share of habitual, low-attention opens. RCS's lower headline number combined with its far higher click-through rate is the more accurate read on genuine engagement.
- Averaging across industries instead of comparing like-for-like. A blended average across e-commerce, BFSI, travel, D2C, and real estate obscures the fact that a real estate campaign at 14% CTR is strong for that category, while an e-commerce campaign at 14% CTR is below range.
- Judging a campaign on a single send. Message relevance, list quality, send time, and creative all vary send to send. A meaningful benchmark needs several campaigns' worth of data, not one send judged in isolation.
- Ignoring read-receipt data in favor of click data alone. A message with a high open rate but low click-through rate often signals a content or offer problem, not a delivery or trust problem- which points toward a different fix than a message with low open rates in the first place.
- Not separating new versus returning customer segments. Returning customers with an existing relationship to the brand typically show meaningfully higher engagement than a cold or lapsed segment, so blending both together into one benchmark can mask which group actually needs creative or offer improvements.
Get Click Media is one of India's leading RCS messaging service providers, giving businesses full visibility into delivery, open, click, and conversion data across RCS and bulk SMS from a single dashboard. Request a demo to see how your campaigns benchmark against these industry ranges.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good open rate for RCS messaging?
A good open rate for RCS messaging in India typically falls between 70% and 85%, depending on the industry and how relevant the message is to the recipient. This is generally lower than SMS's 95%+ open rate, but RCS open rates are considered more meaningful because they reflect genuine attention to a message the customer recognizes as coming from a verified sender, rather than habitual opens.
What click-through rate should I expect from an RCS campaign?
RCS campaigns typically see click-through rates between 15% and 35%, compared to 1% to 5% for bulk SMS and roughly 10% to 20% for WhatsApp Business messages. The exact rate depends heavily on industry, message relevance, and whether the campaign uses rich media and a single clear call-to-action button.
How does RCS conversion rate compare to SMS and WhatsApp?
RCS conversion rates for e-commerce campaigns typically range from 8% to 12%, compared to 1% to 3% for SMS and 5% to 9% for WhatsApp Business messaging. The gap is largest for visually driven purchase decisions, where RCS's rich card format lets customers see the product and act in a single tap, unlike SMS which requires an external link click first.
Which industry sees the highest RCS engagement in India?
Banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) and e-commerce typically see the highest RCS engagement in India, often posting open rates above 80% and click-through rates in the upper end of the 15% to 35% range. This is largely driven by the verified sender badge, which is especially valuable for trust-sensitive financial communication, combined with high message relevance for e-commerce offers.
What factors most affect RCS campaign performance?
The factors with the largest measurable impact on RCS campaign performance are verified sender status, use of rich media that shows the actual product or offer, clarity of the call-to-action button, send time relative to customer behavior, and audience segmentation. Campaigns that get all five factors right typically perform at the top end of published benchmark ranges, while campaigns missing even one or two of them fall toward the bottom.
How do I benchmark my own RCS campaign performance?
To benchmark your own RCS campaign, track delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate for each send, then compare them against your industry's published range rather than an overall average, since performance varies significantly by vertical. Running a small A/B test between two creative variations on the same audience segment is also one of the fastest ways to establish your own baseline before scaling a campaign.
Does RCS read-receipt data actually help improve campaigns?
Yes. RCS read-receipt data shows exactly when a message was opened and, in many cases, which button was tapped, which lets a business retarget non-openers with a follow-up message or a different offer rather than guessing. This level of interaction data is not available with standard SMS, which only confirms delivery to the device, not whether the customer engaged with the content.
Are RCS benchmarks from other countries relevant to Indian businesses?
RCS benchmarks from other countries can be a useful general reference, but Indian businesses should weight local data more heavily, since engagement is affected by carrier rollout maturity, device mix, and consumer messaging habits that differ by market. In India specifically, Jio, Airtel, and Vi's RCS rollout and the growing base of Android and iOS 18+ devices shape the benchmark ranges cited in this report.
About the author
Get Click Media creates practical resources for businesses using messaging, automation, analytics, and digital communication to improve customer engagement. This article was published on and was last reviewed on .