Setting up RCS

RCS delivers rich, on-brand messaging experiences to users on their mobile devices. To get started, you need to register a sender and set up your project. Follow this article for step-by-step instructions.

# In this article

# Step 1: Assign RCS permissions

Before users can work with RCS, an org admin or a member with the Manage Members org permission can provision users by assigning roles with the project permissions each user needs.

To allow users to...	Assign these project permissions
View RCS senders	View Channels and View Journeys, Campaigns, and Experiments
Create and manage RCS senders, test numbers, and destination submissions	Setup and Manage Channels and Manage and Publish Journeys
Create and manage RCS templates	Create and Manage Templates and Creative Library
Add and configure an RCS tile in a journey draft	Draft Journeys, Campaigns, and Experiments
Publish or activate a journey that sends RCS messages	Manage and Publish Journeys and Manage and Launch Campaigns, with RCS selected as an allowed message medium

# Step 2: Register and launch an RCS sender

Prioritize sender registration. Application forms are detailed, and the approval process can take up to five weeks.

Sender registration includes preparing brand assets, creating your sender, testing it, recording a launch video, submitting an application for each destination country, and monitoring the review process for final sender approvals.

Follow the RCS Sender Registration Overview and its linked task pages to complete the process in order.

While your sender is in Draft or Pending, you can continue with Steps 3, 4, and 5 on this page. Wait until the sender reaches a launched state before you complete Step 6 or send RCS messages.

# Step 3: Create message channels and message types for RCS

You can complete this task while the sender is still in Draft or Pending.

Iterable uses message channels and message types to manage RCS subscriptions.

1. First, create RCS message channels in your Iterable project.

   For detailed instructions, see Create Message Channels.

2. Next, add RCS message types to your new channels. RCS message types must use an opt-in subscription policy. Create message types that match the messages you plan to send from each sender:

   • Create marketing message types for promotional senders, and for the promotional messages you'll send from a multi-use sender—for example, Sales and Offers, Product Announcements, and Event Invitations.

   • Create transactional message types for transactional senders, and for the operational messages you'll send from a multi-use sender—for example, Order Confirmations, Shipping Notifications, and Account Updates.

   For detailed instructions, see Create Message Types.

   NOTE

   Unlike SMS, you can't bind an RCS message type to a sender. You select the sender and the message type separately on each template. Iterable doesn't restrict the pairing, so choose a message type that matches the sender's registered use case. There is no Multi-use message type. See Creating RCS Templates.

# Step 4: Configure subscription management for RCS

You can complete this step as soon as you have RCS message types. You don't need a launched sender.

Set up the API integration or preference center your users will use to opt in and manage their preferences. If you have an existing preference center, you can use it to manage RCS subscriptions, just make sure to add the new message type you have created.

For more information on managing subscriptions, see Subscription Preference Centers Overview.

# Step 5: Build an RCS-eligible audience

You can complete this step as soon as you have RCS message types. You don't need a launched sender to build the segment, but you can't send to it until the sender is launched and users won't appear in the segment until they have subscribed to your RCS message type.

To build a segment of potentially eligible users, see Building a segment for RCS-eligible users.

# Step 6: Configure reply and opt-out keyword management for RCS

Wait until the sender is in a launched state (Partially approved, Update required, or Approved). Reply management uses RCS templates and journeys, which are not available while the sender is in Draft, Syncing, or Pending.

After the sender is launched, create journeys that send RCS replies and process inbound keywords.

RCS templates support buttons that can be used to trigger a constrained set of possible replies to inbound messages. You can leverage this to create a conversation flow that can be used to handle inbound messages.

Configure your journeys to use the same HELP and opt-out keywords and response copy that you submitted for destination approval. For the submitted fields, see Compliance messaging in RCS Registration Reference.

See Sending RCS from a Journey for more information on how to configure reply management for RCS.

# Keyword-based opt-out management for RCS

For keyword-based opt-out management and inbound replies (for example, STOP, HELP, and START), use journeys to send appropriate replies and process unsubscribe and resubscribe requests.

Providing keyword-based responses and processing opt-out requests are required for compliance with regulatory requirements. To learn more about RCS compliance, see Best Practices for RCS Compliance.

# Next steps

After your sender reaches a launched state and your project is configured, you can create templates and start sending.

If the sender or destination is Partially approved, you can send only to recipients on carriers that have approved the sender. See RCS Registration Statuses.

• Create an RCS Template
• Send an RCS Campaign
• Send RCS from a Journey