When people think about virtual tours, 3D and 360 virtual tours for real estate are usually the tour style that comes to mind first. And that makes sense. These are often the first type of virtual tours many prospects see when considering a property. They live on homepages or on listing pages, allowing a quick overview of the property. As a top-of-funnel marketing tool, 360 virtual tours and 3D virtual tours have so much to offer.
3D and 360 virtual tours for real estate certainly have their place in the multifamily community world. However, if any, most do not provide real-time engagement with prospects necessary to reach teams’ ultimate goal: A signed lease. Here’s what we mean.
Types of Top-of-Funnel Marketing
360 and 3D virtual tours for real estate are fantastic top-of-funnel marketing pieces. They are exactly what you’ll need to convert a simple website visitor into an interested lead on a website or listing page. That conversion is critical to engage with a prospective resident.
These types of tours are also often well-done and highly produced marketing pieces. While they can create a unique experience for prospective residents, they aren’t designed for real-time engagement.
These virtual tour videos are designed to appeal to the general public and allow visitors to get an idea of the property’s vibe. So, 350 and 3D virtual tours meet the needs for mass consumption. These tours provide and support the opportunity for visitors to get enough information. However, if prospects want to engage further, to take the next step in the process, you’ll need a more personalized virtual tour software, such as Realync.
What 360 and 3D virtual tours don’t do is allow the prospect to ask a question and hear the answer on the spot in real-time. They don’t allow for real-time analytics around what parts of the video the prospect looked at or engaged with. With top-of-funnel marketing tactics, you just need that early interest. That’s what 360 and 3D virtual tours are supposed to do.
Once you get into the virtual leasing phase, driving towards true lead-to-lease conversion, you’ll need more engagement.
Virtual tour equipment and 3D and 360 virtual tours for real estate will not pull a prospect all the way from lead to lease. As a lead generation tool, they are top-notch. Once that lead is in the door, a more personalized virtual tour version needs to come into play. That type of virtual tour software can’t provide the details and personal touch a prospective resident needs. However, virtual leasing technology can.
Using personalized video tours with a true human element, you can provide real, transparent tours with the opportunity for real-time feedback.
Personalization and Human-to-Human interaction
Using personalized video tours with a true human element, you can increase your lead-to-lease conversion rate. Why? Because you’re being real, showing the real parts of the apartment your prospects are actually interested in.
In fact, we spoke of asking and getting answers in real-time, another reason most 360 virtual tours in real estate lack real-time engagement is there is no one to engage WITH. There is no leasing agent at the center of the process. Without them, there isn’t the back and forth to build trust and relationships. For that, you’ll need real estate virtual tour software that allows leasing teams to engage with prospects. They can then give prospects the virtual tour they want and need to make a decision.
The lack of engagement makes personalization difficult, if not impossible. Today’s prospective residents want real, transparent tours of their potential new home. They want real-time engagement and personalization through live virtual tours and pre-recorded video tours showing them their exact unit. So, unless your community is planning on doing a 360 virtual tour of every single floor plan, or better yet, every unit…it won’t give today’s prospects what they want.
And, given real estate virtual tour pricing, 3D and 360 virtual tours for real estate generally are not covering each unit. They also aren’t conveying that accurate sense of authenticity, nor are they building the trust necessary for someone to agree to make your property their new home.
In the end, 3D and 360 virtual tours for real estate remain great for top-of-funnel marketing. They are geared to get people interested. However, they are not active leasing tools. They lack the authenticity and transparency of unit-specific video tours. They especially lack the personalization and transparency of a live video tour. Without those crucial forms of real-time engagement, you won’t find the level of lead to lease success in virtual leasing you’re after.
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!
