Published by RCS Message.in · Updated
Key points
- Message only prospects who agreed to hear from your college, and remove anyone who has opted out before every send.
- Set one goal, such as callback requests or open-day visits, and decide how you will count it before you send.
- Use three messages: an invitation, a reminder, and a callback confirmation sent only after a real request.
- Opening the event page and requesting a callback are different actions: one opens a web page, the other asks your team to call.
- Report delivered, read, confirmed callback requests and completed enquiries separately. A read message is not a lead.
The Education section on our Solutions page shows what colleges can send over RCS. This guide goes one step further: how an admissions team runs a single open-day campaign from audience to report. The college, dates and messages below are illustrative examples, not a real campaign or its results.
Step 1: Choose the audience and the goal
- Opted-in prospects only. Include people who agreed to receive messages from your college, for example through an enquiry form, an earlier application or an event registration. Keep a record of where and when each person agreed.
- Exclude before every send. Remove anyone who has opted out, asked you to stop, or whose number wasn't given by them. Do the check again before the reminder.
- One goal. Pick what success means, for example “callback requests from B.Tech prospects” or “open-day visits through the event page”, and write down how you will count it.
- Message category and approvals. Open-day invitations are usually promotional. Your agent must be verified and launched and your templates approved before the send date; see onboarding and brand verification and promotional vs transactional messages.
Step 2: Prepare three messages
Each example below shows when to send it, the text, and what each button does. Adapt the wording to your approved templates; every button label must be 25 characters or fewer.
Message 1: Invitation
When: About a week before the open day, to the opted-in audience.
Example College open day: Saturday, 14 March, 10 AM to 1 PM. Meet faculty, tour the labs and ask about B.Tech admissions for 2027.
Buttons:
- View event details: Opens your event page in the browser.
- Add to calendar: Opens the phone's calendar with the event filled in. The prospect decides whether to save it.
- Request a callback: A suggested reply. It sends a request back to you, if reply events reach your system.
One goal per message: the invitation asks prospects to come to the open day or to ask for a call.
Message 2: Reminder
When: One or two days before the open day, to the same audience minus anyone who opted out since.
Reminder: the Example College open day is this Saturday at 10 AM. Directions and parking details are on the event page.
Buttons:
- Get directions: Opens the map app at the campus location.
- View event details: Opens your event page.
- Request a callback: Same suggested reply as in the invitation.
Don't target the reminder at people whose invitation shows no read status: a missing read status doesn't mean the message was unread.
Message 3: Callback confirmation
When: Only after a real callback request has been received and recorded, to that one prospect.
Thanks, we've received your callback request. An admissions counsellor will call you [within the time your team commits to].
Buttons:
- View programmes: Opens your programmes page.
- Call admissions: Opens the phone's dialler with your admissions number. The call happens outside the message.
Never send this message in bulk or before a request exists. Promise only a call-back time your team can keep.
Step 3: Know what each button does
Buttons that open something on the phone and replies that send something back to you are measured differently. Plan your report around what each one can actually tell you.
| Button | Type | What happens | What you can measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| View event details, View programmes | Open a URL (suggested action) | Opens a web page. Google Messages shows the link's address under the button label. | Visits in your own web analytics, if the link carries a campaign tag. A visit doesn't tell you who the person is unless your page asks them. |
| Add to calendar | Create a calendar event (suggested action) | Opens the calendar with the event details; saving is up to the prospect. | Nothing you can confirm. Don't count it as attendance or interest. |
| Get directions | View a location (suggested action) | Opens the map app at the campus. | Nothing you can confirm. It isn't a lead. |
| Call admissions | Dial a number (suggested action) | Opens the dialler with your number filled in. | Calls appear in your phone system, not in RCS reports. |
| Request a callback | Suggested reply | Sends the reply text and a postback value (for example CALLBACK_OPEN_DAY) back to the business. | A callback request, once your team has received and recorded it. Whether reply events reach you depends on your account setup. |
A tap doesn't identify a prospect by itself, and a read message doesn't create a lead. Count a callback request only when your team has received it, and an enquiry only when a counsellor has recorded it.
Step 4: Decide who follows up
Follow-up isn't automatic. Before launch, agree:
- Who calls. Name the admissions counsellors responsible, their calling hours and the call-back time you promise in the confirmation message.
- How requests arrive. If reply events reach your system through the panel or the API webhook, route each “Request a callback” reply to a queue or CRM record and send the confirmation from there. Ask us whether reply events are available on your account before you plan around them.
- If reply events aren't available. Don't use a “Request a callback” reply. Use a button that opens your own callback or enquiry form instead, plus “Call admissions”, so every request arrives somewhere your team can see it. Send the confirmation only after the form is submitted.
- What gets recorded. For each request: received, called, and the outcome (enquiry completed, not reached, not interested). This is what fills the last two rows of the report.
- Opt-outs. Anyone who opts out during the campaign is removed from the reminder and future sends.
Pre-launch checklist
- Agent verified and launched; ask us about coverage for your audience (see carrier and device support).
- Invitation, reminder and confirmation templates approved.
- Audience contains only opted-in prospects, with opt-outs removed and the consent source recorded.
- Event page live and readable on phones; links carry a campaign tag so visits can be counted.
- Every button tested on your own phones: web links, calendar, location, dialler and reply.
- Follow-up owners, calling hours and the request tracker ready; the confirmation trigger tested.
- A plan for prospects who can't receive RCS, such as an SMS with a DLT-approved template, designed so nobody gets both (see delivery reports and SMS fallback).
- Report sheet prepared with the rows below.
Reporting example
A report that keeps each stage separate shows where the campaign worked and where follow-up needs attention. The rows below are the structure, not results: fill them in from your own reports and records.
| Row | What it counts | Where it comes from | What it doesn't tell you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Submitted | Messages accepted for delivery | Delivery reports | That the message reached the phone |
| Delivered | Messages that reached the phone | Delivery reports | That the prospect saw or read it |
| Read | Messages the device reported as read | Read status, where the device reports it | Interest or a lead; a missing read status doesn't mean unread |
| Event page visits from RCS | Sessions that arrived through the campaign-tagged link | Your web analytics | Who the visitor is, or that they will attend |
| Confirmed callback requests | Requests your team received and recorded, one per prospect | Reply events or your enquiry form, deduplicated | A completed enquiry; the call hasn't happened yet |
| Completed enquiries | Prospects your counsellors spoke to and recorded as an enquiry or application | Your admissions CRM or tracking sheet | — |
Read the rows top to bottom and never add one to another: reads are not requests, and requests are not enquiries. What each delivery status means is explained in understanding RCS delivery reports. For other ways colleges use RCS, go back to the Education examples.
References
About this article
- Published by RCS Message.in, operated by 1by0 Solutions in Hyderabad. We help businesses in India onboard, send and measure RCS Business Messaging.
- How we check facts: platform rules and limits come from Google's RCS for Business documentation, listed under References where used. Statements about RCS Message.in describe our own service. Examples are illustrative unless stated, and we don't quote other providers' prices.
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