How Do I Measure RCS Campaign Performance?

RCS Analytics: What to Measure and Why

The best part of RCS isn't just the higher engagement—it's that you can actually measure it in detail. Here's what to track and why it matters.

Core Metrics Every Campaign Should Track

Delivery Rate

• Percentage of messages successfully delivered
• Industry benchmark: 95%+ delivery
• Low delivery rates indicate carrier or compliance issues

Open Rate

• Percentage of delivered messages that were opened
• RCS benchmark: 50-80%
• SMS benchmark: 20-40%
• High open rates indicate strong subject lines and timing

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

• Percentage of opens that resulted in button taps or link clicks
• RCS benchmark: 8-15%
• Indicates content relevance and call-to-action strength

Conversion Rate

• Percentage of recipients who completed a desired action
• RCS benchmark: 2-8% (varies by use case)
• The metric that ties to revenue

Response Rate

• Percentage of recipients who replied or interacted
• RCS benchmark: 5-10%
• Shows two-way engagement quality

Advanced Metrics Worth Tracking

Cost Per Conversion

• Total campaign cost / number of conversions
• The metric that determines ROI
• Compare across channels to optimize spend

Revenue Per Message

• Total revenue / number of messages sent
• Direct measure of campaign efficiency
• Track over time to spot trends

Engagement Quality Score

• Composite metric weighting opens, clicks, and conversions
• Helps compare campaigns across different objectives
• Useful for identifying top-performing content

Fallback Rate

• Percentage of messages that fell back to SMS
• Indicates RCS coverage in your audience
• Helps forecast capacity and costs

Time to Action

• How quickly recipients engage after message delivery
• RCS messages typically see 50% of engagement in first hour
• Use for timing future campaigns

Setting Up Your Dashboard

Most RCS platforms include built-in analytics, but I recommend customizing dashboards to your KPIs:

Marketing Campaigns

• Delivery, open, CTR, conversion, revenue
• Cost per acquisition, ROI
• A/B test results

Transactional Messages

• Delivery confirmation, read receipts
• Time to action (e.g., appointment confirmation)
• Fallback rates

Customer Service Flows

• Completion rate (form submissions, actions taken)
• Deflection from other channels
• Customer satisfaction scores

A/B Testing for Optimization

RCS is perfect for A/B testing because you can test:

• Content: Different images, videos, or copy
• Timing: Send at different times of day or week
• Frequency: Test message cadence
• Personalization: Dynamic content vs. static
• Call-to-action: Button text, placement, count

Run tests for at least one week to get statistical significance. Track not just clicks but downstream conversions.

Attribution Challenges

One thing to be aware of: attribution gets complex when RCS is part of a multi-channel journey. Best practices:

Use UTM parameters Tag all RCS links with UTM codes so you can track them in Google Analytics or your attribution platform.

Set up conversion tracking Most RCS platforms support conversion APIs—integrate with your analytics to track post-click behavior.

Track assisted conversions RCS often assists conversions that happen later via email or web. Use multi-touch attribution to capture this.

Monitor incrementality Test holdout groups (customers who don't receive RCS) to measure true incremental lift.

Reporting Cadence

What to report and when:

Daily (during active campaigns)

• Delivery rates, immediate engagement
• Any issues or anomalies

Weekly

• Campaign performance summaries
• Optimization recommendations

Monthly

• Channel ROI comparison
• Customer segment performance
• Strategic recommendations

Quarterly

• Year-over-year trends
• Benchmark against industry standards
• Major strategy adjustments

The Bottom Line

The biggest mistake I see is treating RCS analytics like SMS analytics. RCS gives you richer data—use it. Track engagement quality, not just delivery. Measure conversion paths, not just last-click attribution. And most importantly, let data drive your optimization decisions.

Want help setting up custom dashboards for your campaigns? I can build templates aligned with your KPIs.