Virtual tours

All you need to know about this trending new marketing tool

What is a virtual tour?

A Virtual Tour is a collection of 360 degree panoramic images, “stitched” together which provides a comprehensive view of a place, enabling customers to virtually “walk” through your company and look around by simply moving their mouse.

This interactive feature allows potential customers to have a virtual experience of your business before visiting in person. The 360-degree view not only showcases the physical space but also helps convey the personality and distinctiveness of your business, setting it apart from competitors.

A virtual tour can be a valuable tool in capturing attention, engaging customers, and leaving a lasting impression. They offer businesses in various industries, such as real estate, restaurants, shops, yoga studios, and accommodations, the opportunity to showcase their locations in an immersive and interactive way.

By providing customers with a virtual tour, you can give them a realistic experience of your establishment before they visit, helping to generate interest and engagement. This can be particularly beneficial in attracting new customers and keeping potential customers engaged. Virtual tours have proven to be effective in enhancing communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for a more engaging and informative experience.

This is how a virtual tour can look like

Three ways a virtual tour can benefit your business

1. Build trust and credibility

With over 5 million daily visits worldwide, virtual tours offer a unique opportunity to enhance a business’s online presence. By providing a sense of luxury and immersion, virtual tours can create a more engaging and visually appealing experience for customers. This can help build trust and credibility with potential customers. Additionally, virtual tours can increase engagement with a brand’s website, as they provide an interactive and captivating experience that encourages visitors to spend more time exploring the site.

2. Utilize the power of emotions

Any booking and purchase is made with the subconscious desire to feel something. And the more you’re able to evoke those feelings beforehand, the more you’ll stick in peoples minds as their first choice. The immersiveness of virtual tours also help your potential customers to feel their dreams move closer. This pleasant experience helps them in the decision making process, which in turn greatly benefits the positive impression you’re leaving on your customers minds.

3. generate more sales by Standing out

Capturing customers attention has never been more difficult. Virtual tours are not only fun to explore, they can help convey information in a more engaging and memorable way than regular photos, without overwhelming your audience. By providing this super-easy-to-use tool on your website, you’re enabling your customers to make their decision easier, faster and more secure, because they know exactly what to expect. This in turn can increase sales and customer happiness.

Quick look at the facts

Customers aged from 18 to 34 are 80% more likely to book a place if they find a virtual tour on the home page.

When a website has 360° virtual photos, the conversion rate on products sold on those pages is about 27% higher than for standard two-dimensional images.

40% of adult users on the internet rely on virtual tours in their research and decision-making process.

Customers spend 5-10 times more time on websites with virtual tours, which is important for SEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing websites or applications for internet search engines. These methods will help you get to the top positions in search engines and bring organic, i.e. unpaid, traffic from them to your website.

57% of people want more businesses to offer virtual tours on their websites to make their decision easier.

Industries that benefit from virtual tours the most

Real estate

Time management is an important point in the real estate industry. Providing clients with a virtual tour of a property can be a helpful way to showcase its features and save time for both parties involved. By creating virtual tours of houses, apartments, and other properties, it becomes more convenient for prospective buyers or tenants to thoroughly explore the entire space before scheduling an in-person visit.

This not only saves time for both the potential tenant and the real estate agency but also allows them to focus on properties that are most relevant to their needs. The immersive experience of a virtual walk-through assists buyers in narrowing down their options, increasing the likelihood of finding the perfect home for customers, benefiting both potential owners and real estate agents.

Accommodation providers

Virtual tours offer significant advantages for visitors seeking accommodation. By providing a comprehensive view of the layout in all directions, virtual tours make it easier for visitors to navigate and locate specific areas or amenities within the accommodation. This enhanced understanding helps visitors find what they are looking for more efficiently.

For hotels, Airbnb’s, and vacation rentals, virtual tours serve multiple purposes. They allow potential guests to envision themselves in the chosen accommodation, aiding in the decision-making process. Accommodation providers can leverage virtual tours as a vital tool to showcase their premises and provide customers with a realistic perception of the surrounding environment, ultimately influencing their booking decisions.

Restaurants

Restaurant owners can greatly benefit from offering virtual presentations of their premises and atmosphere. By providing a virtual tour, potential customers can get a glimpse of what to expect and envision the experience they can have when visiting with friends.
This allows them to make informed decisions about whether the restaurant aligns with their preferences and desired ambiance. Virtual presentations help create anticipation and excitement, ultimately attracting more customers to the restaurant.

Retail stores

Virtual tours offer retailers a powerful tool to showcase their products and services to potential customers. By utilizing virtual tours, retailers can effectively demonstrate the range and variety of products available, allowing customers to gain a comprehensive understanding of what is on offer.
Additionally, virtual tours provide a detailed view of the store’s layout and contents from all directions, making it easier for customers to navigate and locate specific items they are interested in. This enhanced visual experience enhances the overall shopping experience and facilitates a more seamless and efficient customer journey.

Educational centers

Each year, a significant number of high school students aspire to attend college. While some may focus on visiting local schools, others have grand ambitions of studying in a different country. Virtual tours play a crucial role in assisting these students, particularly those who are unable to physically visit the campus.
By providing a virtual tour, colleges can offer a comprehensive understanding of their campus structure and facilities. This empowers students to explore and evaluate the aspects that are important to them, making it easier for them to find the college that aligns with their aspirations and goals, regardless of their geographical location.

Child care centers

In today’s world, parents prioritize the environment in which they place their children. Child care centers that offer virtual tours play a crucial role in assisting parents in making informed decisions. By providing a virtual tour, these centers enable parents to familiarize themselves with the layout and facilities, allowing them to assess whether the center aligns with their family’s needs and expectations. This empowers parents to make the best choice for their children’s care and well-being.

Beauty salons, gyms & yoga studios

Virtual tours offer numerous benefits for beauty salons, fitness studios, and yoga studios. They provide potential customers with the opportunity to virtually explore the premises, gain a comprehensive understanding of the services available, and fully immerse themselves in the studio’s atmosphere. By experiencing the virtual tour, customers can make more informed decisions about which studio aligns best with their preferences and needs.

Automotive & car virtual tours

Virtual tours are truly a revolutionary way for customers to view and “feel” their dream car before they buy it. This technology gives potential buyers a unique opportunity to explore the vehicle from the comfort of their own home and get a realistic feel for its interior and exterior.

Virtual tours are especially important because most people start their new car search online. With this technology, you can ensure that your vehicles make a great first impression and attract potential customers.

How to use a virtual tour

Once a virtual tour is created, the customer will get access to a HTML link. Here are some ways you can use a virtual tour to make it work for your business:

Embed it on your website – When customers visit your website, it is essential to prominently feature the virtual tour, ensuring easy accessibility for their convenience. By strategically placing the virtual tour on your website, customers can quickly locate and engage with it. This prominent placement allows them to explore your premises, gain a comprehensive understanding of your offerings, and make informed decisions about engaging with your business.

Share it with clients – If your business receives inquiries about your establishment that can be addressed through the virtual tour, consider offering to send clients the tour as a means to answer some of their questions. By providing the virtual tour, you can offer clients a comprehensive visual experience that showcases your establishment’s layout, services, and atmosphere. This can help address their inquiries and provide them with a better understanding of what your business has to offer.

Post it on social media – Posting the new virtual tour on your company’s social media platforms is an effective strategy to generate attention and increase its visibility. Social media provides a wide reach and allows for easy sharing and engagement with your target audience. By sharing the virtual tour on your company’s social media accounts, you can effectively promote it to your followers and potentially attract new users.

Aerial virtual tours

The aerial virtual tour is created using a professional drone that can capture stunning views from up to 120 meters high. Aerial panoramas indeed offer a unique and captivating perspective that other mediums cannot replicate.

The 360-degree aerial virtual tours provide clients with a fresh and exciting way to explore your location, building, or area. This type of virtual tour can be a valuable marketing asset, as it allows you to showcase the location from an aerial perspective, helping you differentiate yourself from the competition.

Why and when do 360° virtual drone photos help your clients?

Opening a tour with aerial perspective can be a fantastic way to introduce to a client.

Here are some reasons:

to showcase a truly spectacular location
to illustrate a building in the area outside before the user starts exploring it from the inside
when the user don’t know the position of your building
to show locations and tours across a very wide geographic area, such as a university campus
when a location is hidden, or not easily identifiable