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Introduction
The professional mobile messaging market is moving toward increasingly personalized communication. SMS, RCS, and email—each channel has its own role to play.
SMS is a very effective channel for short messages, but without media. RCS, the successor to SMS, allows for more interactive, enriched, and reliable messages, although its use is still limited. Email remains a good channel thanks to its low cost and customization capabilities, but it suffers from inbox saturation and spam.
With all the communication channels available today, it can be difficult for companies to know which one to choose.
2025 Retrospective
Compared to RCS for Business and email, SMS still the most widely used channel in 2025.
In France, the number of messages sent increased by 6%. According to AF2M, 14.2 billion SMS messages SMS sent. What makes SMS so successful SMS just its promotional potential. It is widely used for appointment reminders, shipping notifications, and special offers related to loyalty programs.
Since 2023, the main shipping sectors have remained unchanged:
- 1st place: Retail (31%)
- 2nd place: Banking and Insurance (20%)
- 3rd place: Services (14%)
- 4th place: E-commerce and delivery (10%)
- 5th place: Public services and health
- 6th place: Mass retail
- 7th place: Digital
The dominant sector is retail, yet according to AF2M, SMS (60%) dominate SMS (40%) in terms of volume.
SMS, RCS, email: which channel to choose in 2026?
| Canal | Open rate | Deliverability rate | KING |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS | 98% (smsmode ) | 98% (smsmode ) | Every €1 invested generates €9 |
| RCS | 80% (af2m) | 85% (af2m) | Every €1 invested generates €10 |
| 20% (Statista) | 84% (The Global Statistics) | Every €1 invested generates €45 |
Between 2024 and 2025, SMS will have the highest open rate. RCS and SMS the highest deliverability rates. In the coming years, RCS is expected to be compatible with virtually all smartphones and to surpass SMS open rates. Email certainly has a higher ROI, but its low open rate means that it cannot be the only acquisition channel.
Why SMS the channel with the highest open rate?
Each channel has its advantages, but also its disadvantages.
Email: has a fairly low open rate, mainly due to spam: many emails end up in our spam folders without us realizing it. Another reason is marketing pressure, which is often much stronger with email (to compensate for its low open rate).
SMS has a high open rate because, unlike email, it has only recently become possible to mark it as spam (on some operating systems since 2025) and this is very rare, so all users can receive their SMS. However, people are becoming increasingly wary of receiving SMS messages SMS to SMS fraud (phishing). It remains the most widely used channel, however, thanks in particular to the work done to secure messages (checking personalized senders and links sent).
Despite being more reliable than SMS verified and complete brand profile), RCS has a lower open rate than SMS. RCS messages do not end up in spam folders, but not all recipients can receive them. This incompatibility with certain smartphones is still a slight obstacle in 2026, but coverage is increasing week by week. Between 2024 and 2025, there was a 10% increase in RCS-compatible smartphones. By 2025, more than 80% of smartphones were RCS-compatible. This figure is expected to increase further in 2026.
SMS RCS at smsmode in figures
Between 2024 and 2025, the number of SMS at smsmode © remained stable. However, the distribution by channel underwent significant change:Â
| Type | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Transactional | 53% | 68% |
| Marketing | 40% | 24% |
| OTP | 7% | 7% |
Between 2024 and 2025, SMS messages remained unchanged. SMS messages declined, while SMS messages increased.
Unlike SMS, RCS has seen strong growth. In the last quarter of 2025, the number of RCS messages sent tripled.
Set up your campaigns with smsmode©
smsmode © offers several solutions for integrating SMS RCS into your marketing strategy:
- SMS RCS API: automatically trigger your SMS RCS campaigns from your e-commerce site, CRM, or ERP.
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- Agency mode: entrust your RCS campaigns to smsmode©, from agent registration to KPI analysis.
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Conclusion
In 2026, the most effective channel is expected to be RCS. RCS compatibility is expected to continue to increase, enabling many smartphones to receive it. With its reliable, personalized, and enriched messages, RCS has set itself apart from SMS. SMS still SMS remain an effective channel.
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