Peter Thomas Roth Reports 40% Higher Conversions With RCS Messaging

Prestige skincare brand Peter Thomas Roth is expanding its mobile marketing strategy with Rich Communication Services (RCS), working with ecommerce marketing platform Listrak to deliver interactive, branded messages to customers. In campaign tests, RCS messages generated an average conversion rate 40% higher than SMS and 29% more revenue per send, according to results shared by the companies. The findings offer an early indication of how richer mobile messaging formats could change customer engagement and promotional campaigns for ecommerce brands.

Peter Thomas Roth is using Rich Communication Services to move beyond conventional SMS marketing, introducing interactive mobile campaigns through its partnership with Listrak. The initiative adds a richer messaging format to the skincare brand's existing ecommerce customer engagement program, which has been supported by Listrak since 2024.

RCS brings features commonly associated with messaging applications into a device's native messaging environment. Brands can use high-resolution images, video, product carousels, interactive buttons, and quick replies instead of relying primarily on the text and links associated with traditional SMS. Verified sender information and branded presentation can also help consumers identify the businesses contacting them.

The channel's addressable audience has expanded as device support has grown. Android has supported RCS for several years, while Apple introduced support with iOS 18 in September 2024. This development made the format more relevant to brands seeking to reach both iPhone and Android users, although availability and functionality can still depend on device settings, carrier support, and messaging infrastructure.

For Peter Thomas Roth, the move is focused on applying those capabilities to ecommerce promotions and customer retention. Recent campaigns supported several fall shopping initiatives, including early access to sitewide sales, free gift-with-purchase promotions, and loyalty rewards communications.

The companies report that RCS outperformed SMS in controlled campaign comparisons. Across 50/50 RCS-versus-SMS tests, RCS delivered an average conversion rate 40% higher than SMS. Revenue per send was also 29% higher over the same period.

These results suggest that richer messaging can provide more than a visual upgrade when it helps customers understand an offer and take action without navigating through multiple steps. Product imagery, promotional details, and direct call-to-action buttons can make a message function more like a compact shopping experience.

However, the figures are company-reported campaign results rather than independently audited industry benchmarks. They also do not establish that RCS will produce similar improvements across every brand, audience, or campaign type. Results can vary with offer quality, customer preferences, message frequency, creative execution, and the proportion of subscribers using RCS-compatible devices.

Audience reach is another important consideration. Peter Thomas Roth reported that approximately 85% of its subscribed mobile audience was RCS-enabled, while the remaining 15% defaulted to SMS. That distribution matters when marketers design experiments: test groups need to account for the RCS-addressable audience to avoid misleading comparisons.

The campaigns also highlighted the importance of measuring performance over multiple sends. The company said click-through rates improved with successive RCS campaigns, moving from a 14% decline on the first send to a 3% lift. The pattern suggests that consumers may need time to become familiar with branded messages and verified senders before engagement improves.

RCS may also change mobile messaging economics. According to the announcement, branded sender names, URLs, and call-to-action buttons do not count toward an RCS message's character limit. This can allow content that would require multiple SMS segments to be delivered in a single RCS message, potentially improving message efficiency. Actual costs, however, depend on provider pricing and campaign arrangements.

Rochelle Jacobs, managing director of Peter Thomas Roth, said the format enables the brand to showcase products, highlight promotions, and deliver more personalized communications. Listrak CEO Ross Kramer described RCS as an increasingly important channel for brands seeking stronger customer relationships.

Market Landscape

RCS is emerging as an alternative to conventional SMS for brands that want more visual, interactive communication without requiring customers to install a separate messaging application.

Its development is part of a wider shift toward conversational and cross-channel customer engagement. Marketing platforms such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Braze, and Attentive support different combinations of mobile messaging, automation, and personalization. RCS adds another channel to this landscape, but its value depends on integration with customer data, campaign orchestration, consent management, and measurement systems.

For ecommerce businesses, the format could be especially useful for product launches, loyalty communications, promotional campaigns, abandoned-cart reminders, and time-sensitive offers. Yet SMS remains important because it provides a fallback for subscribers whose devices or networks do not support RCS.

The Peter Thomas Roth campaign illustrates why a hybrid approach may be necessary. With 15% of its subscribed mobile audience defaulting to SMS, the brand cannot assume that a single messaging format will reach every customer.

Strategic Outlook

The reported results strengthen the case for ecommerce brands to test RCS as part of their broader mobile marketing strategy. Its combination of rich media, verified branding, and interactive actions could make promotional messages more useful and potentially improve conversion performance.

The next challenge is proving that these gains remain consistent over time. Marketers will need to compare RCS and SMS across multiple campaigns, segment audiences by device eligibility, and evaluate conversion, revenue per send, engagement, and customer retention rather than relying on click-through rates alone.

RCS adoption will also depend on interoperability, geographic availability, platform support, and the commercial terms offered by messaging providers. Brands should therefore treat it as an additional channel within a coordinated customer engagement strategy, not an immediate replacement for SMS.

For Listrak, the Peter Thomas Roth implementation provides a customer example of how RCS can be incorporated into ecommerce marketing. For retailers, the more important question is whether richer mobile experiences can produce sustained improvements in customer value and campaign efficiency.

Top Insights

• RCS conversion performance: Peter Thomas Roth reported 40% higher conversion rates for RCS compared with SMS in 50/50 campaign tests conducted with Listrak.

• Revenue per send: RCS campaigns generated 29% more revenue per send than SMS, highlighting the potential commercial value of interactive mobile messaging.

• Audience eligibility: Approximately 85% of the brand's subscribed mobile audience was RCS-enabled, making device-level segmentation important for campaign testing.

• Engagement over time: Click-through performance improved across successive RCS sends, suggesting brands should evaluate adoption and engagement over multiple campaigns.

• SMS fallback remains relevant: The 15% of subscribers defaulting to SMS demonstrates why ecommerce marketers need cross-channel delivery strategies rather than relying exclusively on RCS.

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