Is a virtual tour worthwhile for my company?

Figures, data, facts.

Are you interested in a virtual 3D or 360° tour, but are still unsure whether it will bring decisive added value for you and your customers and whether the investment will pay off?
This page highlights different study results and KPIs to help you make an informed decision.

See and experience

creates the need and leads to buying

If you are familiar with the multi-renowned study by Paul Martin Lester, professor of communication at California State University, you will know that people can remember an average of 80% of visual stimuli such as photos and videos. Information heard is remembered by 20%, information read by only 10%.

The attention span in our fast-paced times is short. To ensure that your target group still retains your advertising message, it is all the more important to leave a lasting impression. Those who manage to attract the attention of their target group and stand out from the crowd will ultimately win the customer.

Entscheidungshilfe

What customers want

Virtual 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 respondents expressed a desire for virtual 360° views in the exposé of a property.[1] Former PlanetHome CEO Robert Anzenberger has this to say:

“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 respondents use virtual tours in their online research, and the trend is rising.[3]

78% of the respondents express that the visual impressions of the ambience are their main criterion for the booking decision.
[4] It should be noted that most Germans use the Internet as their main source of research about their destination or your next property.[5]

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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 [7], which proves that websites with virtual tours maintain visitors’ attention span significantly longer than websites with classic photos. The result was 5 times longer visitor duration. It should be mentioned here that at that time only very simple virtual tours with little interaction were technically possible. Therefore, a much stronger effect can be assumed when using modern 3D tours. But why is the length of stay on a website so important?

Statistically, the conversion rate is [8] the longer a visitor stays on the website. As the length of stay increases, so do your sales. The longer dwell time and the experience logic described above thus lead to an increase in the conversion rate when using 360-degree virtual tours on your website. This is proven, among others, by the study of the hotel chain Omni Hotels (see below).

1 x
higher visitor duration
1 x
Increase in the conversion rate
1 %
up to 48% 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 considerable proven success through the use of 360° tours on its Internet presence:

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.

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

The significant added value of a 360° presentation and virtual reality technology for the hotel industry has also been identified by the Best Western hotel chain. Hotels with a 360° virtual tour saw up to 48% more bookings. [10] Due to the impressive and unexpected result, Best Western International decided to deploy 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 a virtual 360° tour of a hotel or property, the potential guest can get an authentic picture of the provider’s range of services and quality. This reduces concerns and provides certainty in choosing the right hotel or property. Transparency promotes trust and thus the likelihood of a booking.

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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. I.e. all created tours can be shown immersively by means of VR glasses.[12] experienced as if you were really there.

That said, now is exactly the right time, as global sales of VR devices grew 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 tours are one of the most effective and underestimated marketing tools in the competition for new customers. With a virtual tour, you not only win new customers, but also stand out from your competitors at the same time. As soon as prospective customers have virtually explored your offer and an emotional bond has been established, the path to the purchase decision is not far away. Thanks to a positive (and lasting) impression on the customer, strong branding as an innovative pioneer, better visibility on the Internet as well as the trust gained through transparency, you will ultimately inspire your new customers and win them over.

The result of this sustainable investment is a high return on investment (ROI), which is reflected in the increase in conversion rate and sales.

Sources

Unfortunately, many studies are no longer publicly available on the web. If you are interested in a particular study, please feel free to contact us directly.

[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/home

[8] https://de.ryte.com/wiki/Conversion_Rate on the impact of dwell time on conversion rate.

Definition Conversion (Wikipedia): Conversion, from the English conversion, in marketing, especially in online marketing, refers to the transformation of the status of a target person into a new status, e.g., the conversion of 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] Definition Immersion (Wikipedia): Immersion describes the effect caused by a virtual reality (VR) environment that causes the user’s awareness of being exposed to illusory stimuli to fade into the background to such an extent that the virtual environment is perceived as real. If the degree of immersion is particularly high, we also speak of “presence”.
[13] https://www.vrnerds.de/superdata-marktforschung-vr-markt-um-30

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