As RCS (Rich Communication Services) grows more popular, businesses will begin to adapt to this shift in customer communications. In 2025, we will see more enterprises adopt rich media platforms like WhatsApp, or build their own rich media business messaging (RBM) tools.

These platforms offer interactive and personalized messaging experiences, making them powerful tools for brands aiming to engage with customers.

With features like video carousels, quick replies, chatbots, and in-app transactions, rich media messaging is set to become the cornerstone of client communications.

While SMS will still play a role, businesses that move beyond static-text communication and invest in rich media platforms, combined with omnichannel integration, will deliver seamless, consistent interactions that set them apart from the competition.

The most exciting aspect of this shift is how it levels the playing field. Digital comms tools have become so advanced that even a small business can deliver the experience you might expect of a global enterprise.

As adoption surges in 2025, the race will be on to see which brands maximize these tools to reshape their customer experience.

In 2025, earning consumer trust will be a key differentiator for customer engagement, driven by a growing emphasis on ethical data practices.

This goes far beyond meeting regulations like GDPR and CCPA, – brands that prioritize transparent communication around data collection and use will set themselves apart in an increasingly privacy-conscious market. This is another trend that will be impacted by channels like RCS and WhatsApp offering more seamless opt-in and opt-out features, enabling customers to update their preferences with ease.

For businesses, the path forward is clear: implement visible privacy controls, partner with compliant third-party providers, and use customer data responsibly to deliver personalized experiences without compromising trust.

While it may sound strange, in 2025, brands that master this balance may do so without their customers taking much notice. It is the businesses that get this wrong that might grab customer attention, for all the wrong reasons.

While it’s certainly generated plenty of conversation and hype up to this point, 2025 will be the year generative AI starts to truly make its mark on customer engagement.

Innovative providers will blend AI-driven automation with skilled agents to deliver more personalized, efficient, and adaptive customer experiences.

But getting this balance is key, over-automating or taking the human touch out of the experience will quickly lead to inefficient processes and unhappy customers.

When done right, generative and conversational AI offers businesses a way to emulate natural human interactions, moving beyond static responses to real-time, responsive conversations. This has the potential to greatly streamline workflows and empower agents to focus on more important complex, value-driven tasks.

By partnering with CPaaS providers and leveraging AI for proactive issue resolution and personalized engagement, businesses that strike the right balance will enhance customer satisfaction while simultaneously driving operational efficiency.