A 360-degree tour is worth it
for my company?

Numbers, data, facts!

You are interested in a virtual 360 ° tour, but you are unsure
whether it brings decisive added value for you and your customers and whether the investment is worthwhile?
This article shows the study results and KPIs.

See and experience

leads to want and buy

Anyone familiar with the highly acclaimed study by Paul Martin Lester of California State University will know that an average of 80% of people can remember visual stimuli and associated actions. Only up to 10% of the information heard is remembered on average, and only 30% of information that has been read.

If you expect your target group to perceive your advertising message today, then it is all the more important to leave a lasting impression. Only those who stand out and gain attention will ultimately also win the customer.

pexels-wendel-moretti-1925630

What the customer wants

360 ° tour as a decision-making aid

Customers are increasingly expressing their need to be able to get a realistic impression of the property before booking a hotel or buying a property. For example, 71% of those questioned in a real estate trend study by Planethome stated that a 360 ° tour of a property made a particular contribution to their purchase decision. 75% of the respondents expressed the desire for virtual 360 ° views in the synopsis of a property. [1] The former CEO of PlanetHome, Robert Anzenberger, says:

“With the option of a virtual walk through the potential domicile, customers can make more targeted choices in advance and save time and money. (…) The interested party can see the details of the property comfortably at home on the Internet and only comes to view the property if the property actually suits him in all points. This saves the seller from idle sightseeing tourism. “

As the American advertising and PR agency Ypartnership examined, wish 57% of all leisure travelers a virtual 360 ° tour as a decision-making aid on the website of a hotel. 46% of business travelers were of the same opinion. [2]

More than 50% of the respondents use virtual tours for their online research, and the trend is rising. [3]
78% of the respondents say that the visual impressions of the ambience are their main criteria for the booking decision. [4] It should be noted that most Germans use the Internet as the main source of research about their travel destination or their next property.

To the examples

Purchase decisions

in the adventure society

In today’s society, personal decisions demonstrably follow a logic of experience [6]. This means that decisions that go hand in hand with change (such as a purchase or an investment) are made consciously on the basis of experiences and / or the prospect of positive experiences. You should take advantage of this knowledge by being able to anchor a positive experience with your company in the memory of your customers through an impressive, tangible 360 ° tour. In addition, visual tangibility and exploration of your offer are crucial for most consumers in their purchase decision. The relevant studies provide evidence.

Increase in the conversion rate

& Increase the length of stay by 5 times

The Society for Consumer Research published a study as early as 2001 which proves that Internet sites with virtual tours captivate the attention of visitors for much longer than is the case with “classic” photos. The result was one 5 times longer visitor duration . But why is the length of stay on a website so important?

From a statistical point of view, the conversion rate [8] is higher the longer a visitor stays on the website. As the length of stay increases, so do your sales. The longer length of stay and the experience logic described above lead to an increase in the conversion rate when using virtual 360 ° tours on your website. This is suggested, among other things, by the study by the hotel chain Omni Hotels (see
below).

1 x
higher visitor duration
1 x
Increase in the conversion rate
1 %
more online bookings

Up to 48% more bookings and a 2.9x increase in the conversion rate

Hotels & event locations benefit greatly!

The hotel industry is already enjoying significant success through the use of 360 ° tours on its website:

In a Study by the hotel chain Omni Hotels with 130,000 “unique consumers” it was found that the Conversion rate in the group of consumers who had seen a virtual 360 ° tour to find out
2.9 times higher than the control group. Overall, the likelihood that this group would ultimately book was 67% higher.

The study also showed that the 360 ° tour of a hotel is also an important tool for customer acquisition on third-party websites. Almost 30% of consumers who saw the virtual tour on a third party website visited the Omni website. A significant percentage of these made a booking. These results clearly show the value of the 360 ° tours and their decisive influence on the decision-making process of consumers. [9]

How crucial the 360 ° presentation and virtual reality are for the hotel industry is also something that Best Western hotel chain detected. Hotels with a 360 ° presentation could up to 48% more bookings record.[10] As a result, Best Western International decided to use a 360 ° Virtual Reality Experience for all 2,000 hotels in North America in order to significantly increase sales.[11]

The advantages for the customer are obvious. Thanks to the 360 ° tours of a hotel or property, potential guests can get an authentic picture of the provider’s range of services and the quality. This reduces the concerns of potential customers and increases trust in the right range of services. This transparency promotes trust and thus the likelihood of a booking.

To the examples

Now is the time

These study results and examples suggest investing in virtual 360 ° tours. All the more so because each of our virtual tours is Virtual Reality (VR) capable. This means that all tours created can be immersive using VR glasses[12] can be experienced as if you were actually there.

Now is exactly the right time, as global sales of VR devices rose by 30% in 2018, despite previously conflicting forecasts. [13] According to the latest studies by the market research institute SuperData, steady growth is forecast until 2022 with a sales volume of 34.1 billion US dollars. This leads to an increase in sales of 442% compared to 2018. The time has come for VR technology to reach the broad market. Consumers, who already largely use the Internet as the basis for their purchase and investment decisions, will in the future be increasingly willing to experience your company using VR technology and thereby decide for you. Especially in the B2B area, VR is already used in a wide variety of industries and has been widely accepted by the market.

Conclusion

The numbers of the studies mentioned above speak for themselves. Virtual 360 ° tours are one of the most effective and most underrated marketing tools in the competition for new customers. With a 360 ° tour, you bind customers more effectively to your company and stand out from your competitors. As soon as your customers have experienced the ambience of your location and have built an emotional bond, the decision to buy is not far away. Thanks to a positive (and lasting) impression on the customer, a strong branding as an innovative pioneer, better visibility on the Internet and the trust gained through transparency, you ultimately inspire your new customers and win them over. This is clearly reflected in the increase in the conversion rate and sales.

[1] PlanetHome study, 2007
[2] Report by Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown and Russell and Yankelovich Partners, 2004
[3] Clickz Stats Study, 2006
[4] Study by HRS and the market research institute eResult, 2011
[5] Reiseanalysis Study, 2008
[6] see bpb: http://www.bpb.de/apuz/25689/die-erlebnisgesellschaft-der-kollektiv-weg-ins-glueck?p=all
[7] https://www.gfk.com/de/branchen/medien-und-entertainment/
[8] Wikipedia: Conversion, from English conversion, describes in marketing, especially in online marketing, the conversion of the status of a target person into a new status, e.g. B. converting a prospect into a customer
[9] https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4033212.html
[10] https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/about/press-media.html?NewsID=517
[11] https://www.bestwestern.com/de_DE/about/press-media/2016-press-releases/bw-launches-vr-tours.html
[12] Immersion describes the effect caused by a virtual reality environment, which makes the user’s awareness of being exposed to illusory stimuli so far into the background that the virtual environment is perceived as real.
[13] https://www.vrnerds.de/superdata-marktforschung-vr-markt-um-30

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