In 2025, mobile engagement is no longer about choosing a single dominant channel. Instead, brands that perform best are those that orchestrate several mobile touchpoints in a coherent, privacy-conscious strategy. Among the most powerful and complementary tools available today are RCS notifications and web push notifications. Used together, they can drastically increase mobile engagement, retention and revenue—provided they are integrated thoughtfully into the customer journey.
Understanding RCS and web push in 2025
Before combining RCS and web push notifications, marketers need a clear understanding of what each technology is designed to do and where it shines.
RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the evolution of SMS and MMS, supported natively by Android and increasingly integrated by mobile operators and messaging apps. RCS notifications allow brands to send rich, interactive messages directly into the default messaging app. These can include images, carousels, suggested replies, buttons (e.g., “Buy now”, “Track order”), and even in-message forms.
Web push notifications, on the other hand, are browser-based alerts that reach users who have opted in via their browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari on desktop, and supported mobile browsers on Android). They appear on the screen even when the user is not on the website, making them a low-friction, always-on engagement channel. Modern web push supports rich content as well, including images, CTAs and deep links.
Both channels target mobile users but from different angles: RCS via the phone’s messaging infrastructure, and web push via the browser. This makes them inherently complementary for a holistic mobile engagement strategy.
Why combine RCS and web push notifications?
Using RCS notifications and web push in silos leads to fragmented experiences and inconsistent performance. When orchestrated together, they create a layered mobile marketing stack that amplifies reach and engagement.
Key reasons to combine them:
- Extended reach across devices and contexts: RCS reaches users via their phone number, while web push targets those who opted in via the browser. Together, they cover users who may ignore one channel but respond to the other.
- Reinforced message recall: An offer seen in a web push on mobile can be reinforced with a richer, more interactive RCS notification, increasing the likelihood of action.
- Channel redundancy: If web push permissions are blocked or a browser is closed, RCS can serve as a backup channel to deliver critical alerts.
- More granular personalization: Web push is tightly tied to browsing behavior, while RCS can be tied to CRM and purchase data. Combined, they allow advanced segmentation and tailored sequences.
- Better attribution and testing: Comparing engagement across both channels helps refine content, timing and targeting strategies.
Strengths of RCS notifications for mobile engagement
RCS is particularly suited for high-impact, transactional and conversation-driven interactions. Its strengths in 2025 include:
- Native, trusted environment: Messages arrive in the default messaging app, which users check frequently and perceive as a personal, trusted space.
- Rich, interactive experiences: Carousels for product browsing, embedded videos, quick replies and action buttons turn a simple message into an interactive mini-landing page.
- Transactional communication: Order confirmations, delivery tracking, appointment reminders and two-factor authentication are more engaging when enriched with visuals and buttons.
- Conversational commerce: Integration with chatbots and agents lets users ask questions, modify orders or get support without leaving the conversation thread.
- High visibility: Compared to email and some app notifications, RCS messages benefit from high open rates, especially for time-sensitive updates.
Marketers use RCS notifications as a high-value touchpoint in the customer lifecycle, especially in later stages such as purchase, onboarding and retention.
Strengths of web push notifications for mobile engagement
Web push notifications excel earlier in the funnel and are especially effective in driving repeat visits and re-engagement with content or offers.
- Frictionless opt-in: With a simple browser prompt, users can subscribe without creating an account or installing an app.
- Behavior-based triggers: Web push is tightly integrated with on-site behavior, allowing triggers such as “abandoned cart”, “product viewed” or “content category visited”.
- Cross-device continuity: Users can receive notifications on desktop and mobile, maintaining awareness across contexts.
- Speed of deployment: Implementing web push on a website or progressive web app (PWA) is usually faster and cheaper than building and promoting a full native app.
- Content distribution: Media, blogs and SaaS platforms frequently rely on web push to promote new articles, features, webinars or product updates.
In 2025, as PWAs gain maturity and browsers refine permission flows, web push remains a cornerstone of browser-based mobile engagement strategies.
Designing complementary use cases across the customer journey
The most effective brands map the customer journey and assign clear roles to RCS and web push notifications at each stage.
Awareness and acquisition
- Use web push to re-engage anonymous visitors who explored products or content but did not convert.
- Promote time-limited offers, sales events or new content via web push, linking back to mobile-optimized pages.
Activation and onboarding
- After a user signs up with a phone number, send a welcome flow through RCS: brand introduction, key features, and a first incentive (discount, tutorial, checklist).
- Complement this with web push sequences that highlight relevant guides, FAQs or “getting started” articles based on their browsing behavior.
Conversion and purchase
- Trigger web push abandoned-cart reminders and product recommendations, nudging users back to the site.
- Once the purchase is complete, confirm the order and share tracking details via RCS, with buttons for “Track delivery”, “Contact support” or “Add to calendar”.
Retention and loyalty
- Use web push for regular updates: new content, feature releases, loyalty program points balance or seasonal offers.
- Reserve RCS notifications for higher-value or time-sensitive moments: VIP offers, subscription renewal reminders, expiring points, or critical service updates.
The goal is to avoid duplication and instead define a clear division of roles: web push for frequent, behavior-driven nudges; RCS for richer, high-impact and relationship-oriented messages.
Orchestrating frequency and timing across channels
One of the main risks when combining RCS and web push notifications is overwhelming users. A coordinated orchestration strategy is essential.
- Centralize your data and permissions: Use a customer data platform (CDP) or marketing automation tool to synchronize consent status, preferences and behavior across channels.
- Define channel priorities: For each type of message (transactional, promotional, educational), decide which channel is primary and which acts as backup.
- Apply global frequency caps: Limit the total number of communications per user per day or week across all channels, not just per channel.
- Use time-window rules: Avoid sending RCS or web push notifications at inappropriate hours; adapt to local time zones and user-level preferences.
- Create channel handovers: For example, if a web push notification is ignored, trigger an RCS follow-up after a defined time, but only for high-value messages.
This orchestration reduces fatigue, maintains trust and ensures each notification feels intentional rather than repetitive.
Personalization strategies for RCS and web push
Personalized content and timing are key to unlocking the full performance of RCS notifications and web push campaigns.
- Leverage behavioral data: Use browsing events (pages viewed, time spent, items added to cart) to personalize web push messages, and purchase/order history to tailor RCS content.
- Segment by engagement level: Highly engaged users can receive more frequent and richer RCS notifications, while dormant users might receive softer, less frequent messages via web push.
- Dynamic content: Insert dynamic fields (name, last product viewed, store location, loyalty tier) into both RCS and web push templates.
- Conditional content blocks: For example, one RCS template can present different offers based on customer value, while a web push campaign can show different CTA texts based on previous interactions.
- A/B testing: Test visuals, copy length, call-to-action and send times separately for RCS and web push. The winning patterns may differ by channel.
The combination of real-time behavioral signals from web push and CRM-level insight used for RCS allows more precise, context-aware mobile engagement.
Privacy, consent and regulatory considerations
In 2025, privacy-first design is non-negotiable. Both RCS and web push are governed by strict consent frameworks and regional regulations.
- Transparent opt-in flows: Clearly explain what type of notifications users will receive and how often, for both browser and phone-number-based communication.
- Easy opt-out mechanisms: Provide one-click unsubscribe links for RCS messages and visible “unsubscribe” options in web push notification centers or account settings.
- Compliance with GDPR, ePrivacy and local telecom rules: Store consent records, respect purpose limitations, and avoid sending unsolicited promotional messages.
- Data minimization: Collect only the data needed for personalization and engagement; avoid unnecessary profiling.
- Security: Protect messaging endpoints, APIs and customer identifiers to prevent spoofing or unauthorized access.
A transparent, respectful approach to data and permissions not only keeps brands compliant but also strengthens user trust, which is essential for sustainable mobile engagement.
Measuring performance and optimizing the orchestration
To truly benefit from combining RCS and web push notifications, marketers must measure more than just opens or clicks.
- Channel-specific KPIs: Monitor delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate and response rate separately for RCS and web push.
- Cross-channel impact: Analyze how often a web push impression leads to a later RCS conversion event (and vice versa).
- Journey-level metrics: Evaluate performance at the journey level, such as onboarding completion, time to first purchase, repeat purchase rate and churn.
- Incrementality testing: Run tests where certain cohorts receive both RCS and web push, while others receive only one channel, to measure incremental lift.
- Optimization cycles: Use insights to refine triggers, sequences, frequency caps, and channel priorities regularly.
Over time, this data-driven approach reveals which combinations of RCS and web push notifications drive the strongest long-term engagement and value.
Preparing your organization for a dual-channel mobile strategy
Deploying RCS and web push in a complementary way requires coordination among marketing, product, CRM, IT and data teams.
- Align objectives: Define clear goals for mobile engagement: increased retention, higher average order value, reduced churn, or improved onboarding.
- Choose integrated tools: Select marketing platforms that support both RCS messaging and web push orchestration, with shared profiles and analytics.
- Document journeys and playbooks: Create visual maps of key customer journeys and specify which channel triggers what message at each step.
- Train teams on channel nuances: Ensure copywriters, designers and CRM managers understand the specific UX, limits and possibilities of RCS and web push.
- Iterate based on feedback: Collect qualitative feedback from users and customer-support teams to refine content, timing and channel mix.
As mobile ecosystems evolve, the brands that stand out will be those that treat RCS notifications and web push not as isolated tactics, but as orchestrated components of an integrated, user-centric engagement strategy.