The Complete Guide to Virtual Tours

Until recently, virtual reality had been something of a fantasy for storytellers and technologists. As long ago as 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum described something like virtual reality in a short story called Pygmalion’s Spectacles.

“But listen – a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?”

Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (e.g. video games), education (e.g. medical or military training) and business (e.g. virtual tours). Other distinct types of VR-style technology include augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality, sometimes referred to as extended reality or XR.

As pioneers of AR & VR in Africa, Picha Images is passionate about demystifying the mixed reality world to deliver jaw-dropping experiences for businesses.

With the advancement of technology, VR has become more accessible where anyone with a mobile phone can experience it without the need for expensive equipment.

Virtual tours can be used to deliver an immersive experience for clients who wish to visit your business, event or property. Capturing all details in the moment, one is able to place themselves in the space & see everything around them….as if they were right there!

Application of Virtual Tours

The benefits of virtual tours in various industries :

Real Estate

In the real estate industry, the two basic types of tours are interactive floor plans and highly engaging virtual tours. The virtual tour real estate properties usually cost more than the floor plans since you need to hire a professional photographer, use high-end equipment, and employ specialized software for them.

Virtual Walks

Virtual walks are motion picture documentaries that are shot continuously while moving forward through an urban or natural area. The effect allows the audience to experience the sights and sounds as if they are actually traveling that area without the use of VR headsets or goggles.

Online

An online or web-based virtual tour is employed by many businesses for showcasing their products and services since it can be accessed from anywhere. In this case, a lot of materials, such as still pictures, videos, texts, etc. can be used to provide a better experience to their viewers.

Hospitality

Hotels increasingly add online tours to their websites to offer an immersive visualization of their property and amenities. The tours can range from high-quality 360-degree stitched photos to professionally crafted video tours.

Historic preservation

The 3D virtual tour technology plays a great role in preserving and documenting the historic properties which are at the risk of being destroyed or are restricted to public access. The 3D virtual models used can also be digitally archived using .obj or other standard file formats for future academic exploration or research.

Top 10 Benefits of Choosing a Virtual Tour

Real estate virtual tours can bring more exposure to your projects. Here, you will get a piece of detailed knowledge about the key advantages of using a virtual tour in the real estate industry.

Save money and time

Virtual tours are dynamic, interactive, and capable of retaining the attention of the homebuyers within seconds. It can help you to eliminate the time taken for creating complicated processes like developing a blueprint for your project. Besides, the experts can develop as well as edit the virtual tours real quick and at cost-competitive prices, thereby providing a cost-effective solution to the real estate companies in preparing the presentations. Finally, the end result will enable you to present your proposed plans to your potential buyers in the most seamless manner.

Greater reach

Using a virtual tour to market your real estate projects can help you to get a better reach among the customers. These visuals are appealing and far more detailed than the sketches of the property. That is why the reputed virtual tour developers integrate it to add finer details into the presentations to make them more impactful. Evidently, homebuyers expect to find as much information as possible so that they can make more informed decisions easily. So, by using it, the real estate owners or builders can effectively increase the sales potential of their projects and significantly increase the reachability.

Targeting potential customers

Every architect must integrate customized features into the projects as demanded by the homebuyers if they wish to win more clients. By using virtual tours, they can target specific segments of customers who are really interested in purchasing the property. Besides, a customized approach in developing these virtual tours also increases the chances of sales. You can also present 360 panoramic virtual tours to potential homebuyers, which can provide them with a comprehensive concept about the overall looks of the area. Personalized provisions make the customers feel valued, and they might also consider working with you more than your competitors.

Easier to grab attention

In this competitive business environment, it is difficult to retain the attention of the viewers for a long time. However, by creating captivating virtual tours for real estate projects, you can increase your chance of attracting more customers and keep them engaged for a longer duration. Besides, every customer would like to view the final look of their project, which they can only experience after the construction is completed. So, providing the virtual tour of a property even before its construction will provide you the advantage of finalizing the deal with the clients. Transparency in presenting these details can also enhance your brand image.

Creating focus on key areas

It is possible to highlight particular aspects of the project with the help of virtual tours. However, doing this can be a bit trickier on the part of a beginner, which is why it is better to rely on a professional in this matter. So, simply convey your ideas to a reputed virtual tour company, and the experts will integrate the necessary features into your project. They will use advanced real estate virtual tour software to develop the presentations, which will make it more convincing and marketable. Besides, you can easily share them with the homebuyers through the internet. If required, you can also edit the design as per the recommendations of the client and integrate the customized features.

Visual information

When you use a virtual tour, you can present all types of information related to the project. These presentations carry high visual appeal and convey a complete idea about the finished project. Besides, using this 3D visualization homebuyers are usually keen to know about the amenities, features, wall color, floor design, and all other aspects of a project. So, by offering detailed visual information in the virtual tours, you can gain more clients and customers.

Customization

Viewers generally focus on the details that matter to them the most. For instance, they can zoom in to a particular area of the project, examine the details and come up with their specific suggestion. This personalized approach to homebuyers is one of the key benefits of 360 virtual tours. Besides, you can make the necessary changes in the virtual tours as recommended by the homebuyers. Developers can also come up with day scenes and night scenes for the project to increase its appeal.

Greater ROI

Virtual tours have turned out to be a powerful marketing weapon for real estate companies. These visuals increase the chances of selling the property. You can easily reveal the key selling points of the project by tailoring the features according to the needs of the users. These presentations bring a greater ROI for the developers. Customers want complete information about the upcoming projects, and you can come up with every little detail through this 360-degree photography and tours.

Social media can be of help

Customers expect real estate developers to present them with accurate information about the design attributes of a project. So, when you present them with these virtual tours, the proposed plans become more believable. Besides, there is a high probability that if people like it, they are going to share it on social media. And, that will act as a ranking factor for your website. Eventually, you will get more traffic and rank high in the search results.

Minimizes the bounce rate

Increased bounce rates are definitely a problem for every real estate agent since it will affect the visibility of their site by lowering your search engine rankings. It usually denotes the number of visitors who do not stay on your website for a longer time. To ensure that they stay, you need to keep them engaged by posting quality content on your site, which can be achieved through virtual tours. Since the time duration of virtual tours is at least a minute, it is most likely that people will watch it and spend more time on your site, thereby dropping your bounce rate.

With the rapidly increasing competition in the business & real estate sector, it is necessary to seek professional support from experts while developing virtual tours. It is even wiser to partner with one of the established companies that possess specialization in offering real estate virtual tour services. Developers across the globe are reaping enormous benefits by using it and presenting potential home buyers with sophisticated real estate visuals. Besides, 360-degree virtual tours can also strengthen your marketing and promotional strategies to a greater extent. To find out more about virtual tours and request quotes , Get in Touch with us