One of the most popular styles of virtual tours on the market today is 3D virtual tours for real estate. When compared to flat, two-dimensional photographs of units or the community, these types of tours are an absolute upgrade.
However, what happens when it’s time to scale past that style of the tour? In other words, how do you move a prospect down the funnel?
Multifamily communities are constantly looking for the best ways to showcase their properties in an ever-increasing virtual environment. Before spending money on 3D virtual tour software, especially since 3D real estate photography prices can be expensive, take a pause. Consider what prospects really want and need in order to move them from lead to signed lease.
What tools, programs, or tactics can help multifamily leasing teams scale past 3D virtual tours in real estate? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
What a 3D Virtual Tour Can Do for You
It’s important to recognize the role 3D virtual tours play stacked up against other virtual leasing solutions. 3D virtual tours bring potential prospects into the funnel as a power lead generation and marketing tool. Oftentimes, you’ll see 3D and 360 real estate virtual tours sitting on property home pages or on other listing sites like Apartments.com. They are often highly produced pieces created by real estate virtual tour services. These virtual tours for real estate allow visitors to the site to see an overview of the property.
A 3D or 360 virtual tour can show a visitor enough of the community for them to get an idea of the look and feel of the space. That can help them decide to take the next step in the process. The next step may result in the visitor needing more details. 3D virtual tours can certainly be attributed to converting this visitor into a prospect. However, it’s certainly not THE thing that will delight them to sign a lease. The power of these types of tours ends at lead generation. To move a prospect from lead-to-lease, you’ll need more. You’ll need to scale past the 3D virtual tours in real estate to a full virtual leasing strategy.
Check out our free toolkit and get started creating a real estate video tour
Virtual Leasing as a Strategy
We aren’t denying there are benefits to 3D or 360 virtual tours. What we are saying is that they may not be the best solution to your virtual leasing strategy if they’re the only thing you’re leveraging. While they provide excellent top-of-funnel value as a marketing tool, that tends to be where their value ends. They are not active leasing tools. So, then, what’s next for communities looking to broaden their virtual leasing capabilities? What do you do when you’re ready to move beyond 3D virtual tours in real estate?
Ultimately, communities looking to be best equipped with an actual virtual leasing strategy, need more than just 3D virtual tours. They are one virtual touring aspect of the larger strategy. There is so much more to a virtual leasing strategy than just the tour. To have an actual active and engaging virtual leasing strategy, multifamily communities need personalization and human-to-human interaction.
A prospect isn’t going to move quickly and sign a lease if they don’t feel a sense of connection to their possible new home. Prospects need to see exactly what they want to see. They need to have their questions answered by knowledgeable leasing agents seeking to build a true, trusting relationship. Those are aspects of the lead-to-lease process that need to happen before anyone can commit to moving into a property and calling it home. When it comes to scaling beyond what virtual 360 and 3D home tours or apartment tours can offer, you should highly consider an actual virtual leasing solution with live video tours and DIY pre-recorded video tours. These are much more scalable options. A DIY video platform, like Realync, provides full virtual leasing options and empowers multifamily teams to leverage live and pre-recorded video experiences throughout the entire resident lifecycle.
When searching for a new home, most prospects check the property website or social channels first so 3D virtual tours make sense. These tools can give prospects the top-level information they need to know to see if they want to go deeper. However, they don’t provide the same impact as personalized virtual experiences. 3D virtual tours lack the human-to-human element or relationship-building aspect. And that’s why a DIY video solution should be a part of your virtual leasing strategy… the right virtual leasing platform that is.
Get In Touch!
Close more leases, market more effectively, engage with residents and, as always, keep it real. Do you have a question or suggestion? Or want to learn more about what you read? Email us at contact@realync.com. We’d love to hear from you!
