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Overview
During a national campaign The Dad Shift tested the performance of RCS messaging against traditional SMS for raising donations and signing up volunteers, and found it consistently outperformed the older messaging format in every department.
Here’s how it happened.
To highlight how two weeks of paternity leave leaves new mothers without support and damages long-term career prospects, The Dad Shift and Pregnant Then Screwed teamed up for a bold campaign: “UK paternity leave is a motherf**ker.”
Participants could sign up to receive stickers with that message and post photos showing how inadequate paternity leave affected their lives from unhealed C-section scars to mountains of laundry. The aim was to flood social media and local press with a wave of real stories, all on the same day.
But with only a few days to recruit signups, the team needed fast, high-impact messaging that would cut through and that’s where Movement’s RCS came in.
The Challenge
The Dad Shift had a limited window to reach potential supporters, drive signups, and mobilise a national conversation.
They’d already used email to reach existing supporters, for longer-form storytelling and campaign updates, but needed a more immediate communication line to drive donations. To do this they used Movement’s text service. The question was whether RCS (Rich Communication Services) could outperform traditional SMS in motivating quick, meaningful action.
The Test
Two versions of the same message were sent:
- SMS: Plain text only, sent to an audience of campaign supporters.
- RCS: A visually branded message using The Dad Shift’s logo, campaign imagery, and calls-to-action with tappable buttons for “Sign up” and “Donate.”
Both channels drove recipients to the same signup and donation pages, allowing for a direct comparison of performance.
The Results
Sign-ups
SMS: 0.60%
RCS: 0.84%
Uplift: +42%
Donation page visitors
SMS: 0.17%
RCS: 0.42%
Uplift: +143%
Completed donations
SMS: 0.12%
RCS: 0.32%
Uplift: +160%
8,400 people received a text communication from The Dad Shift, this was split into two groups of 4,200 (one group receiving an SMS the other, RCS)
Quick statistical analysis showed that RCS consistently outperformed SMS across every step of the supporter journey, with statistically significant gains in click-through and donation rates.
The percentages shown are the percentage of total recipients who clicked on a message, signed up or donated.
Beyond the numbers, RCS created a more trustworthy and dynamic experience, recipients could see The Dad Shift’s verified name and logo at the top of the message, and the campaign’s visuals reinforced authenticity and urgency.
Why It Worked
✅ Branded trust:
RCS messages displayed The Dad Shift’s verified name and logo, reducing scepticism and increasing credibility.
📱 Rich visuals:
Imagery from the campaign helped tell the story instantly, emotionally and visually.
💬 Interactive calls-to-action:
Clickable “Sign up” and “Donate” buttons streamlined the user journey, cutting down friction and boosting conversions.
🚀 Better performance, same scale:
With the same audience size, RCS drove 160% more donations and 42% more signups. And even when that’s extrapolated out to the top of funnel figures such as click throughs, with far bigger sample sizes, RCS was still significantly higher (15%) proving that channel quality can be as important as message quantity
The Takeaway
RCS isn’t an abstract concept; it’s already outperforming SMS in real-world activism. For campaigns like The Dad Shift, where every signup counts and every day matters, the ability to engage supporters with trusted, visually rich messages makes all the difference.
Ready to see what RCS could do for your campaigns?
📅 Book a call with Movement to explore how RCS can help you mobilise faster, raise more, and reach your supporters where they’re most engaged.
