Derek: Hi.
My name is Derek Johnson with tatango.com.
Today, I'm going to be walking you through a RCS business messaging demo from 1-800-Flowers,
shot by the GSMA at Mobile World Congress 2018.
If you want to see the original video, check out the link in the description below.
Let's start it off.
Ari: Hi.
My name is Ari, and I'm a product marketing manager at Twilio.
Today, we're really excited to demonstrate what we've integrated with RCS business messaging
into the Twilio messaging APIs...
Derek: So right off the bat here, you're gonna notice that that phone, even though it's huge,
is an Android phone, and currently RCS business messaging is only supported by Android devices.
So you won't see demos done for RCS business messaging on an iPhone or iOS device.
So that's very important to know when kind of planning for RCS business messaging, that
currently it is only supported on Android devices.
Ari: ...making it much easier for any Twilio developer to easily add rich, contextual,
branded messages into their existing messaging applications.
When a customer places an order...
Derek: Okay, a lot of stuff going on here.
This is the top of the RCS business message.
The first thing you're gonna notice is there's no shortcode here.
A shortcode is a five to six digit phone number.
Shortcodes are used when you're sending an SMS or MMS message.
So the shortcode could be 12345.
Now, here, instead of a phone number, it's actually the brand name, 1-800-Flowers, which
is pretty cool.
Now, also up there, you notice that it's purple and that's actually by design.
The brand, 1-800-Flowers, gets to pick their color that they want to use for their messaging.
Now on the very right-hand side of the message at the top, you're gonna see a little verified
sign, and that's actually a verified sender.
And what this is, it ensures the consumer that they're talking to the person that actually
they think they're talking to, in this case, it's a brand.
So it verifies that they're actually talking to 1-800 contacts.
Now, in 1-800 contacts' example, maybe that's not as valuable, but when you look at something
like a bank, like Bank of America, it's extremely valuable that you're talking to actually your
bank, not a scammer and giving them information.
So this is gonna be a really good feature over SMS and MMS.
Now, a few other things here.
You'll notice down below there's actually a logo.
So you get to include a logo in an RCS business message.
There's obviously the 1-800-Flowers logo.
And then you get to include some details about the company, so who's actually messaging you.
1-800-Flowers.
"Shop our curated collection of flowers and gifts that you can send anywhere anytime."
So as you can see here, this is a very, very heavily branded message where a shortcode
message is essentially coming from a shortcode 12345, and then requiring in the message to
include all this information.
Now, also, in an SMS or MMS, you don't get the branded name at the very top.
You don't get the verified sender.
You don't get the colors either or the logo.
So it is a very, very different experience than SMS and MMS via shortcode.
So let's keep going here.
Ari: ...with 1-800-Flowers.
They want to make sure that the order is being handled properly.
They want to make sure that they ordered the right bouquet of flowers...
Derek: So as you can see on the bottom of the message here, it's an order confirmed.
So essentially, someone has gone to 1800flowers.com or maybe even called in or opened their app
and ordered flowers.
And then at the bottom here, there's actually a link.
Ari: ...for the significant other.
And if they need to make any changes to that, they can easily modify that order...
Derek: And this is gonna be a modify order link.
Ari: ...directly within the messaging experience.
They're given options to do this through the online portal...
Derek: So then they're gonna get an RCS message back and it's gonna say, "How can we help?
We can help you modify your order.
How would you like to do it?"
Now, below, these are actually suggested actions, so "Online," "Email us," and "Call us."
So a suggested action is kind of like a button within an RCS business message, and when you
click on that, usually, it will open some other type of app or some type of service
on the mobile phone.
So "Online" would actually kick you to the mobile browser, "Email us" would open your
email, and then "Call us" would actually open the phone calling system within the phone.
Ari: ...at 1-800-Flowers, able to contact them over the phone, or email them for support.
Once that order has been properly modified and the order has shipped, you get a prompt
notification alerting them that the shipment is on their way.
They can then track that order through the FedEx delivery link, and once it actually
has been successfully delivered, they're able to find out...
Derek: And as you can see here, they're not intermixing SMS and MMS.
This is a full RCS messaging experience from the order confirmation all the way through.
Ari: ...and they can notify their loved one.
1-800-Flowers is then reengaging with the customer...
Derek: This is really cool too.
As you can see below the verified sender at the top here, it says INFO & OPTIONS.
When you click that, it's actually going to open up a lot of different options: reporting
spam, getting more information about how to contact the brand, which is all stuff that
does not currently get submitted to a consumer when they're texted from a shortcode.
Ari: ...to make sure that the next time they need to send flowers, the next time they need
to send chocolates, they have a way to do that directly through the mobile application...
Derek: There's another great kind of action item there, is Download Now.
So this would download the mobile app for the consumer.
So all stuff that instead of putting a link to download the app which you have to do in
SMS and MMS, this is more kind of web-ish where it's more buttons and icons that you're
clicking or things of that nature.
Ari: ...incentivizing them to do so with 20% off.
We're really excited about 1-800-Flowers has built in order to better engage their end-users,
provide prompt and interactive notifications.
We can't wait to see what you build with RCS messaging at Twilio.
Derek: So great example of how a brand is planning on using RCS business messaging,
and kind of how it compares to the current experience with SMS and MMS.
If you'd like to see more, definitely check out our YouTube channel.
If you want to see the original video, check out the descriptions below.
Again, my name is Derek with tatango.com.