iTunes Radio – The Great Cross Sell Platform

If you haven’t upgraded to the new iOS7 platform for your iPhone you’re in for a pleasant surprise – iTunes Radio.  As it’s similar to other internet radio platforms such as Pandora, etc. you would think it’s just another music streaming service…but alas, as you dig a bit deeper you’ll find iTunes Radio is the great cross sell platform.

What Apple’s done right with iTunes Radio

-          Access – it’s right there at the bottom of your music library where your playlist, artists, etc. is listed.  Easy to reach, easy to buy.

-          Features – easy navigation from the information graphic to an artist station, for the song, sharing the station (sharing also equals cross selling), ability allow (or not) explicit tracks.

-          Cross Sell – not only is the $1.29 buy button in it’s same graphic and placement you’re use to it… the announcer comes in very naturally/in no way obtrusive and briefly mentions a track you might want to download.

-          Individuality – the ability to “tune” the station from Hits to Variety to Discovery I found great.  If I wanted to hear the familiar – I kept it on the Hits, if I was in a more inquisitive mood I’d tune it to Discovery – more opportunity to Cross Sell. 

-          Clarity – reception via wifi was fine… but 4G seems to stutter a bit.

-          Fresh Music – although the music is probably the same as in my iTunes library, iTunes Radio creates a new playlist of music I normally wouldn’t listen too but fits the category.  And that becomes addictive… to the point, where I’ve downloaded 3 songs which I hadn’t heard for years – again Cross Sell!  And that data about my purchasing history is surely getting mashed up for additional cross sell opportunities in the future.

-          Integration – as all my music is on iTunes – buying integrates right into my catalog as you would expect it to…. keeping me from straying to another music service.

What Needs Improvement

-          Graphics – the same basic music genre has the same graphic images… It makes it tough for you to mental mind graph the music to an image.

-          UI – even after using it for a few days I keep stumbling with the UI trying to navigate my way around.

All marketers can learn another lesson from Apple.  This time, the lesson is subtle but just as powerful – sell horizontally and vertically.

Scott