Is SMS Dead? Welcoming the RCS Revolution with Eric Miao, CSO of Attentive

Aug 27, 2025

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"Design thinking isn't just about aesthetics - it's about solving the right problems with empathy." - Eric Miao In this episode of Making Sense of Martech, Jacqueline Freedman sits down with Eric Miao, Chief Strategy Officer at Attentive, to unpack the future of messaging with the rollout of RCS (Rich Communication Services) in the U.S. Together, they explore how RCS is poised to transform mobile messaging into an interactive, commerce-driven channel that merges personalization, AI, and trust at scale. If you're a marketing leader, mobile strategist, or just curious whether SMS is really dead, this episode will reshape how you think about messaging.

Highlights

Discover why RCS is being called the "next generation of messaging" and what makes it fundamentally different from SMS.
Learn how brands like Spanx are utilizing RCS to achieve substantial increases in engagement and revenue.
Understand the role of AI in enabling true one-to-one personalization at scale through messaging.
Explore how RCS could disrupt customer service, identity management, and even AdTech as we know it.
Hear predictions on adoption hurdles, carrier dynamics, and how marketers can avoid making RCS "the next noisy channel.

Timestamps

2:16 – What RCS is and why it matters for marketers
3:22 – Game-changing features: rich media, carousels, and interactive replies
5:39 – How AI and personalization elevate RCS campaigns
7:42 – Case study: Spanx's 200% revenue lift with RCS
10:34 – Which industries are best positioned for RCS adoption
14:06 – Adoption hurdles: carriers, Google, Apple, and rollout challenges
19:18 – Preventing RCS from becoming "the next noisy channel"
23:22 – Global adoption and identity: privacy, phone numbers, and what endures
28:15 – Navigating privacy regulations, personalization, and zero-party data
38:04 – The future of SMS: fallback, governance, and avoiding bad actors

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