Once a business decides to run RCS business messaging campaigns, the next question is almost always the same: what should the actual message look like? This guide gives you the rich card structure and ready-to-adapt copy for eight of the most common RCS template types, so you can go from concept to a working campaign without starting from a blank page.
Quick answer: Every RCS template is built from the same four building blocks- a media image or video, a short headline, a supporting description, and one to two action buttons. The template type changes what goes in those fields, not the structure itself. Below are eight ready-to-use formats covering welcome messages, verification alerts, cart recovery, order confirmations, appointment reminders, promo carousels, feedback requests, and re-engagement- each with example copy and CTA guidance.
If you have not yet seen what these templates look like in a finished campaign, our RCS campaign examples guide shows 15 real-world setups across industries. This post focuses on the reusable format itself.
The Anatomy of an RCS Rich Card
Before the templates, it helps to understand the four fields every rich card is built from:
| Field | Purpose | Recommended length |
|---|---|---|
| Media | Image or short video at the top of the card | 1440x1024px, under 1MB |
| Headline | The main message, first thing read | 25-40 characters |
| Description | Supporting detail or context | 100-200 characters |
| Buttons | Up to 4 suggested actions | 1-2 buttons for best results |
Unlike SMS, which forces every message into a single 160-character block, RCS organizes content into these distinct fields, each rendered with its own visual treatment. For a full breakdown of how this compares structurally to SMS, see RCS vs SMS in India.
A carousel template is simply a sequence of up to 10 of these rich cards sent as one message, scrollable left to right, most often used for multi-product or multi-option campaigns.
Template 1: Welcome Message
Structure: Brand logo image, welcoming headline, short description of what the customer can expect, and a "Get Started" or "Explore" button.
Example copy:
- Headline: "Welcome to [Brand] 👋"
- Description: "You're all set. Get exclusive offers, order updates, and support- right here in your messages."
- Button: "Explore Now" (Open URL)
Tone and CTA guidance: Keep the welcome message warm and brief. This is the customer's first RCS impression of your brand, so lead with the verified sender badge doing the trust-building- the copy itself should just orient them, not sell hard.
Template 2: Verified Alert (OTP-Style Notification)
Structure: Verified sender badge prominent, clear headline stating the alert type, the relevant code or reference number, and a short validity note. No promotional buttons on true OTP messages.
Example copy:
- Headline: "Your verification code"
- Description: "Your code is 482913. Valid for 10 minutes. Do not share this code with anyone."
Tone and CTA guidance: Verified-alert templates should stay strictly functional- no marketing language, no extra buttons. The value here is the verified sender badge itself, which reassures the customer the code is genuinely from your brand and not a phishing attempt, a real risk with unverified SMS senders.
Template 3: Cart Abandonment
Structure: Product image the customer viewed, price, urgency line, and a single "Complete Purchase" button.
Example copy:
- Headline: "Still thinking it over?"
- Description: "Your [Product Name] is waiting- ₹1,299. Only 4 left in stock."
- Button: "Complete Purchase" (Open URL to checkout)
Tone and CTA guidance: Show the actual product, not a generic graphic. Urgency lines work best when specific and true- real stock counts or real offer end times outperform vague "hurry" language, and inaccurate urgency erodes trust for future messages.
Template 4: Order Confirmation
Structure: Order summary image or icon, headline confirming the order, key details (order number, items, delivery estimate), and a "Track Order" button.
Example copy:
- Headline: "Order confirmed! 🎉"
- Description: "Order #48213 is on its way. Estimated delivery: Aug 4. Track it anytime below."
- Button: "Track Order" (Open URL)
Tone and CTA guidance: This template's job is reassurance, not persuasion. Front-load the confirmation and the tracking action- customers checking this message are usually anxious about whether the order went through, not looking to be sold to.
Template 5: Appointment Reminder
Structure: Provider name/photo or clinic logo, appointment date and time, location, and "Confirm" and "Reschedule" buttons.
Example copy:
- Headline: "Appointment reminder"
- Description: "Dr. Sharma, tomorrow at 4:30 PM, Andheri Clinic. Please arrive 10 minutes early."
- Buttons: "Confirm" (Quick Reply), "Reschedule" (Open URL)
Tone and CTA guidance: Include a map or location button whenever the appointment is physical- location friction is one of the most common causes of no-shows, and removing it with a one-tap directions button measurably reduces missed appointments.
Template 6: Offer or Promo Carousel
Structure: A sequence of 4-6 rich cards, each showing one product or offer, price, and a "Shop Now" button, with a final card linking to the full sale collection.
Example copy (per card):
- Headline: "40% off- today only"
- Description: "[Product Name], now ₹899 (was ₹1,499)."
- Button: "Shop Now" (Open URL)
Tone and CTA guidance: Personalize carousels to past browsing or purchase behaviour wherever possible- a relevant 4-card carousel consistently outperforms a generic 10-card one. See our campaign examples post for a full walkthrough of a new-arrivals carousel built this way.
Template 7: Feedback Request
Structure: Image of the purchased product or service, thank-you headline, and a star-rating quick-reply set.
Example copy:
- Headline: "How did we do?"
- Description: "Thanks for choosing [Brand]. Tap a star to rate your experience with [Product Name]."
- Buttons: "⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐" as tappable quick-reply options (or a single "Rate Now" button to an external form)
Tone and CTA guidance: Keep the feedback ask to a single tap wherever the platform supports it. Redirecting customers to an external form step reduces completion significantly compared to an in-message quick reply.
Template 8: Re-engagement
Structure: A warm, low-pressure image (not a hard sell), a headline that acknowledges time has passed, and a single incentive-led button.
Example copy:
- Headline: "We miss you"
- Description: "It's been a while. Here's 15% off your next order, just for coming back."
- Button: "Claim Offer" (Open URL)
Tone and CTA guidance: Re-engagement messages should feel like an invitation, not a demand. A modest, genuine incentive tends to outperform an aggressive discount, and a single button keeps the decision simple for a customer who has already disengaged once.
Character, Media, and Button Limits at a Glance
| Element | Recommended limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | 25-40 characters | Longer text may truncate on smaller screens |
| Description | 100-200 characters | No hard RCS-wide cap, but shorter reads better |
| Image | 1440x1024px, under 1MB | JPEG or PNG |
| Buttons per card | 1-2 (max 4 supported) | Fewer buttons generally convert better |
| Cards per carousel | 4-6 (max 10 supported) | Relevance matters more than card count |
General CTA Best Practices Across All Templates
A few rules apply across every template type above:
- One primary action per card. Competing buttons split attention and reduce the click-through rate on the action that matters most.
- Use verb-first button labels. "Track Order," "Complete Purchase," "Confirm"- action verbs outperform vague labels like "Click Here."
- Match urgency to truth. Only use countdown or low-stock language when it is accurate; customers who catch a false urgency claim disengage from future messages.
- Lead with the image that matches intent. A cart abandonment card should show the exact product, not a lifestyle stock photo- specificity is what makes the card feel personally relevant.
Once your templates are built, benchmark them against real performance data- our RCS engagement benchmarks post covers open rate, CTR, and conversion figures by industry so you know what "good" looks like for your category.
Adapting Templates by Industry
The eight templates above are starting points, not fixed scripts. A few industry-specific adjustments consistently improve performance:
E-commerce and D2C: Lean on the cart abandonment and promo carousel templates most heavily, and always show the actual product image rather than a generic banner. Urgency lines (stock counts, offer end times) work well here but should stay accurate- see the campaign examples post for how this plays out in a real new-arrivals carousel.
BFSI (banking, insurance, fintech): The verified alert template should be used strictly for functional notifications- OTPs, fraud alerts, payment reminders. Keep promotional content (cross-sell offers, new product launches) in a visually distinct template so customers can immediately tell the difference between a security-critical message and a marketing one. This separation also builds long-term trust in your verified sender identity.
Travel and hospitality: Order confirmation and appointment reminder templates adapt well to booking confirmations and check-in reminders. Adding a map thumbnail or "Manage Booking" button to these templates consistently reduces support queries, since customers can self-serve common questions (where, when, how to change) directly from the message.
Real estate: The offer carousel template adapts naturally into a property showcase- floor plans and renders in place of product images- while the appointment reminder template works well for site visit confirmations, particularly with a location button attached.
Healthcare and services: The appointment reminder template is the core workhorse here, often extended with a "View Prep Instructions" button for appointments that require fasting, documents, or other preparation. Clear, calm language matters more than persuasive copy in this category.
Common Template Mistakes to Avoid
A few mistakes show up repeatedly in underperforming RCS campaigns, regardless of template type:
- Overloading the description field. Cramming every possible detail into the subtitle text defeats the purpose of the rich card format. If a message needs that much explanation, it usually belongs in a carousel with multiple cards instead of one dense card.
- Using stock imagery instead of real content. Generic lifestyle images perform worse than the actual product, the actual location, or the actual order detail, because specificity is what makes a message feel personally relevant rather than mass-blasted.
- Adding too many buttons. Every additional button splits the recipient's attention and measurably reduces the click-through rate on the action that matters most. If a message genuinely needs several possible actions, a quick-reply menu is usually cleaner than four action buttons crowded onto one card.
- Copying SMS habits into RCS. Techniques built around SMS's 160-character constraint- heavy abbreviation, aggressive urgency, all-caps- read as spammy inside a rich card format that customers already associate with a more premium, trustworthy experience. Since RCS is not classified as commercial SMS under TRAI's current DND rules, it is tempting to treat it as an unlimited broadcast channel, but message quality still determines whether customers stay engaged or opt out.
- Skipping the SMS fallback version. Even a well-designed rich card template needs a plain-text fallback for recipients on devices that do not yet support RCS. Platforms that handle this automatically, like Get Click Media's messaging platform, let you define the fallback copy once alongside the rich card, rather than building and maintaining two separate campaigns.
From Template to Live Campaign
Turning a template into a live campaign requires a Google-verified RCS sender profile and a delivery platform capable of rendering rich cards and carousels correctly, with automatic SMS fallback for devices that do not yet support RCS. If your business is still deciding between channels, our guides on RCS vs WhatsApp and RCS coverage in India cover reach and fit in more depth, and the RCS API integration guide walks through the technical setup for sending these templates programmatically.
Get Click Media is one of India's leading RCS messaging service providers, helping businesses design, test, and launch rich card and carousel templates like the ones above- with verified sender onboarding, carrier connectivity across Jio, Airtel, and Vi, and automatic SMS fallback built in. Request a demo to get your first template live.
Frequently Asked Questions
An RCS rich card template consists of a media section (an image or short video at the top), a headline of around 25 characters, a subtitle or description of around 200 characters, and up to two or three suggested action buttons such as Open URL, Call, View Location, or Quick Reply. This structure is fixed by the RCS Business Messaging standard, so every template you design fits within it.
RCS text fields do not have the strict 160-character limit that applies to a single SMS segment. A rich card headline typically works best around 25 to 40 characters and the description around 100 to 200 characters for full visibility across devices, but RCS is not constrained the way SMS is, since content is organized into structured card fields rather than one continuous block of text.
Google's RCS Business Messaging specification supports up to 4 suggested actions per rich card, which can be a mix of reply buttons and action buttons such as Open URL, Dial Number, View Location, or Calendar Event. Most well-performing templates use 1 to 2 buttons to keep the decision simple for the recipient.
RCS rich cards commonly use images around 1440 by 1024 pixels in JPEG or PNG format, kept under roughly 1MB for fast loading on mobile networks. Using a clear, high-contrast product or brand image at this resolution ensures the card renders sharply across both Android's Google Messages and iOS 18 and above.
The best cart abandonment RCS template shows the exact product image the customer viewed, its price, a short urgency line such as limited stock or an ending offer, and a single 'Complete Purchase' button linking directly to checkout. Keeping the card focused on one product and one action consistently performs better than showing multiple items.
Yes, RCS supports carousel templates that display up to 10 rich cards in a single horizontally scrollable message, each with its own image, headline, description, and buttons. Carousels are commonly used for promo offers, new arrivals, or re-order prompts, and typically perform best when limited to 4 to 6 relevant cards rather than the full 10.
RCS Business Messaging templates go through Google's brand and agent verification process as part of onboarding, rather than the template-by-template DLT approval required for promotional SMS in India. Once your RCS sender is verified, you generally have more flexibility to launch and adjust rich card templates without a separate approval cycle for each one.
RCS message copy works best when it is short, specific, and direct- stating exactly what happened or what is on offer, followed by one clear instruction. Because the visual card already carries brand tone and trust through the image and verified sender badge, the text itself should focus on clarity rather than persuasive language.
