5 REASONS WHY VIRTUAL TOURS ARE WORTH IT

YOUR BUYERS ARE ONLINE.

It’s no secret that technology has changed the way people buy things, and that includes homes.

Over half of homebuyers find their homes online. If you ask us, that number is only going up from here. With millennials buying more and more houses, they’ll be online searching for content like virtual home tours to show them what their future house could look like.

In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), millennials are the largest generation of homebuyers (37%) in the market right now. The NAR also found that 81% of older millennials found their home with a mobile app and 47% of Gen Xers looked online for properties as a first step.

Having a strong online presence has become a necessity for not only attracting new customers but maintaining those relationships even past the first purchase. Why is that the case? Well, it’s simply because the majority of consumers are making transactions online now.

YOUR BUYERS ARE LOOKING FOR VISUAL AND INTERACTIVE CONTENT.

There’s a lot of competition out there… and even more content. Static imagery definitely helps, but 91% of buyers are looking for more visual and interactive content. Eye-catching and realistic 3D house tours jump out at buyers because it eliminates their guesswork. They don’t have to wonder what it would be like to walk through their house or even the community – they can sit back and watch or interact with virtual tours to see for themselves.

An independent marketing research firm conducted a study (later published by Google) that revealed virtual tours help double consumer interest. Yes… you read that right… DOUBLE. In addition to all of this, over half of homebuyers feel a virtual tour is very important when they consider listings.

YOU CAN USE THEM EVERYWHERE.

Whether we’re talking virtual tours or 360° Panoramas, this content can be used in all of your digital marketing collateral. They are perfect for sales center presentations, interactive floor plans, your website, social media, and more. You can even pull high-quality, still imagery from these tours to use in all of those places as well. ROI. ROI. ROI.

Speaking of social media, video content overall is now preferred by most platforms. Their algorithms have been changing to give video more visibility within users’ timelines because of their engaging nature. Users spend more time watching videos than looking at still images. Posting virtual home tour videos constantly on your social media accounts can help you nurture your relationship with your customers online, and in turn, increase their interest in your brand.

Wherever you use them, virtual tours are bound to enhance your customer experience no matter what. There are so many reasons for that, but just keep in mind that consumers want to see videos from brands. Over 50%, in fact, prefer video over any other type of content.

YOU CAN SAVE TIME.

3D virtual tours allow your buyers to see inside so you don’t have to wait until models are built to start selling. Buyers are also better educated before purchasing as they’ve already seen what they’re looking for. That means a lot of the time your team would’ve spent with them, either on the phone or in person, is now spent elsewhere. Not to mention… if you’re selling to out of town buyers, you can send them this content to pique their interest without waiting until they get here.

YOU CAN SAVE MONEY.

Anyone in this industry can tell you that it’s far from cheap to build model homes. 3D virtual house tours give you the option to build fewer models. You can also save on building all of those options while still giving your audience a way to visualize and interact with them.

From a digital marketing standpoint, you can also lower your ad budget as the engagement and interactivity rates virtual tours bring will organically push your listing’s visibility up. These are just some examples of cost savings thanks to virtual tours. Once you add them all up, it’s easy to see how this investment could save you in the long run.