How to use a 360° virtual tour as a property marketing tool
Experiencing that moment when you drive past a home and think, “Yes, that’s where I want to live!”, was formerly impossible with a home that isn’t yet built – but things are very different now.
This being possible lends it’s thanks to the power of interactive CGI and 360° virtual tours, as when combined they allow you to experience a new build site and home before a brick has even been laid.
Excitingly, progress is already starting to take shape in the property industry.
Forward-thinking developers such as Avant Homes and William Davis Homes are enjoying the benefits of showing off their sites, homes, and option choices earlier in the buying process than their competitors.
But this hasn’t always been the case for the new build sector…
Developers used to take out adverts in newspapers and magazines, which were considered forward-thinking for their day!
The industry has since transitioned to online market places such as Rightmove and Zoopla, where new-builds and existing properties stand side-by-side.
The use of CGI has helped to bridge the gap for new builds, by allowing customers to see what they’ll look like once built.
However, virtual tours help to exceed the way in which all homes are sold. They have already increased the sales numbers of real estate drastically and will continue to do so.
Sounds great so far, but how do I make the most of a 360° virtual tour on my website? And how does this help me?
There are a few different ways to integrate a 360° virtual tour into your website.
iFrame:
The iFrame option allows you to display the 360° virtual tour on your website, like how Avant Homes do:
This option provides an immersive experience for the user and retains their presence on your website, meaning they can view other information you display at the same time as using the tour.
Hyperlink:
A hyperlink allows you to display a fullwidth tour on a webpage, giving the user the most interactive, engaging experience possible on a wider screen.
How could this help our site performance?
Tenfold – literally.
Comparing these figures to a recent 360° virtual tour we generated suggests they’re fantastic for improving dwell times – with the tour of just the exterior site development clocking in with an average dwell time of 5 minutes!
This shows just how much your audience could love exploring where their new home will be.
Fantastic! Could you tell me how to make the most of a 360° virtual tour on my social media channels?
Social media networks support 360° virtual tours thanks to their ability to link to external websites, giving you the opportunity to engage your audience in an interactive, immersive way.
When considering the overload of content that everybody is consuming on social media, every day, a 360° virtual tour can be a real scroll-stopper to enhance your organic feed and targeted ads.
Check out how Avant Homes showcase their virtual tours on their Instagram story:
How do 360° virtual tours work on messengers such as WhatsApp and SMS?
Again – thanks to 21st-century mobile technology there’s a plethora of ways you could share your shiny new 360° virtual tour.
They work just as well on mobile and can be as perfectly displayed from a text message as they would on a desktop PC, allowing you to customise your marketing plan to suit your target audience’s device usage.
You also don’t have to worry about a homebuyer sharing a 360° virtual tour of their new home with a friend or family member, as if they texted a link to the tour it would be showcased perfectly on the receiving device.
Any chance you’ve forgotten about our marketing suites?
No – we’ve thought of that too.
Marketing suites are a great way to communicate with your target audience and are a vital part of any property developer’s marketing strategy.
They do, however, need dragging into the future to become a greater experience for all involved in the process.
That’s why we supply our Viewstations to your marketing suites with the 360° virtual tours pre-loaded into the system, allowing you to show off your virtual tours inside your marketing suite before you even get WI-FI on site.
How do I get a 360° virtual tour of my property, before it’s built?
Easy!
It all starts with a conversation with the EyeSiteView team, where you can discuss your requirements in detail with Tony and experience a demo of some immersive, interactive solutions.
Book a demo meeting with Tony and the team here.
As soon as you’re happy and decided which of our interactive services match your vision, we can proceed with building your CGI 360° virtual tour from your planning documents and specifications – and you’ll have your completed tour in a few weeks time!
Virtual tours are packed full of functionality, allowing your audience to:
- Navigate the development site and each housetype as if they were already built.
- View and select different choices, such as kitchen, flooring, and bathroom options.
- Discover more information from ‘hotspots’, displaying text, images, videos – or whatever you like!
- Save their choices using a ‘virtual receipt’ to make the choice selection process more engaging.
