1. Hit the Right Happy Medium With Home Staging

An empty home is a bit too blank of a canvas. People want to imagine how they could live in or use a home’s various spaces, and empty rooms create optical illusions that play tricks with our eyes. We need familiar furniture and objects to give a sense of scale.

On the other hand, cluttered homes or overdone staging takes the attention away from the space and towards the objects themselves.

Listing agents must therefore strike a “Goldilocks” balance when staging by placing objects that provide familiar forms and functions while accentuating the features of a home, not drawing attention away from them.

2. Have Consistent, Bright Lighting Throughout the Home

Lighting can dramatically change our impression of something’s size, shape and overall feel

When giving a virtual tour, there are two dangers with lighting. Firstly, dim or overly “moody” lighting can make a space look smaller or less inviting. Second, inconsistencies in lighting from room to room can create a jarring experience that’s far from immersive.

In response, we send out a skilled lighting crew to accompany our 360° photographers. We ensure that all light levels are consistent throughout every shot and that all areas are well-lit to make a home feel spacious and inviting. We also pick optimal times of the day for shooting based on the home’s cardinal orientation relative to the sun’s position.

By combining beautiful daylight with subtle but high contrast light, we give an accurate view of the space that reads well in every single image.

3. Make the Tour Self Guided

Anyone taking the virtual tour should have full control over each view. They should have the ability to move around between rooms at will and control their viewing angle within each position. For this reason, linear tours like videos do not qualify to us as a true virtual tour.

Giving people control not only improves their experience, it also encourages them to dwell within the virtual tour longer. Longer dwell times generate higher levels of buyer interest while increasing memorability of your listing compared to others.

4. Choose Viewpoints That Reflect a Natural, Human Perspective

We are very picky about the 360° shooting locations we choose. Every position reflects a natural stopping point that a person would have when taking an in-person tour of a home. This approach differs from, say, always positioning in the exact center of a room.

The effect is that the “virtual” tour really does duplicate the in-person experience. People viewing homes tend to linger when standing on landings overlooking other floors or standing near windows offering interesting outdoor views.

Keeping this in mind, we will choose shooting locations in hallways or at different corners of the room, letting people have options as they feel out a space and decide if it’s right for their personal needs and aesthetic preferences.

5. Let Each View Stand on Its Own

Every position chosen for 360° shooting has some connection to other spaces within the home. In other words, you feel like you are learning about not just the space you’re “standing” in but how each space in the home flows into the next.

That may sound obvious, but the alternative is to shoot in places like a secluded corner of a room. People may become disoriented if all they see are walls. Similarly, we try to select views where outdoor visibility is high, demonstrating how connected to nature and the outside world a property is.

6. Isolate Unique Niches and Features Within the Home

We’ve already touched on this a few times, but we’re going to put it bluntly: don’t overlook opportunities to capture unique features of a home during a virtual tour. Some spaces don’t seem terribly important to the function of a home, but they do help reveal its personality. Again, little touches like these help people feel like they really “know” a home and create stronger memories for a listing.

7. Capture Outdoor Areas to Emphasize Curb Appeal and Liveability

Some virtual tours miss the opportunity to highlight the home’s outdoor areas. A tour isn’t a true tour unless it starts with a view from the street! That way, people can know what it feels like for guests arriving at their home. For the types of properties typically showcased by virtual tours, making a statement is as important as functionality.

Taking a look at other outdoor areas of a home makes it feel for versatile. In outdoor settings, its important to highlight the unique effect evoked by both the staged area with patio furniture and the more unexpected joy of standing next to the beautiful planting areas created throughout the space.

8. Double, Triple Check for Continuity Errors

As a final tip for shooting virtual tours, do everything in your power to prevent changes to the staged objects or movement near the cameras while they capture the space. Movement shows up as an ugly blur in all panoramic photo shots, especially 360° ones.

Shooting can be difficult when trying to capture things outside in high winds or when animals are about, so you may need to schedule reshoots if outdoor views are marred by these aspects.

9. Reference the Virtual Tour in Collateral Materials

Moving away from shooting tips, ensure that the virtual tour is showcased within your home listings. Reference it repeatedly to encourage views, and make sure that the viewer knows they can use their smartphone and a device like a Google Cardboard or Daydream to explore from a true first-person perspective.

You can also reference the virtual tour in assets like room descriptions or photos. For instance, you can say, “if you take a look at the virtual tour at position X, you will notice…”

Having the ability to switch instantly between 2D and 3D views like SnapHouss Virtual Tours does further facilitates and enhances the synergy within listing assets.

10. Optimize for Mobile 360° Video and Common Smartphone Accessories

Speaking of mobile viewing, ensure that your video is compatible and loads quickly on a variety of different devices. Include both standard phones like the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S8 as well as larger feature phones, like the iPhone X and the Pixel XL.

These phones can accommodate a “VR” mode using devices like the Google Daydream, Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, and others. Test with these devices, and strongly encourage those viewing listings to try them out for the best experience possible.

11. Reduce Load Times, Latency and Crashing to Almost Zero

It’s nearly 2018, and people have zero patience for technology that doesn’t work. Optimize your files so that they can load quickly yet have great resolution. Work with your web hosting company to ensure that your virtual tours load quickly and can be navigated without errors or hitches.

12. Let Other Listing Assets Like Photos and Floor Plans Complement the Virtual Tour

If your 2D photos and other assets can work in concert with your virtual tour, all the better. For instance, SnapHouss’ technology lets you switch from the 3D view to see multiple professional 2D photos. Each works together to give the viewer a more accurate and immersive idea of the property.

Providing a floor plan of the home can similarly help the buyer or agent connect their walkthrough experience to the technical dimensions and exact layout of the building.

13. Back Up Your Virtual Assets With Digital Marketing Campaigns

The way to get the most ROI out of your virtual tours is to promote the living daylights out of them. Share the tour on Facebook, and include a mention of it to every interested lead. You

can even create ad campaigns on search engines or websites retargeting those actively looking at home listings in your area. “Take a virtual tour of this gorgeous property at ___ address” can drive clicks and interest to your listing in effective ways.

14. Survey Home Owners and Other Agents to Track What Worked and What Didn’t

If you can get an extra moment of time from your clients and those they sell to, you can gain tremendously valuable data that allows you to make incremental improvements to your approach over time.

For instance, asking the following questions to someone who ultimately bought the home can tell you a lot about how to improve performance:

·       Did you view the virtual home tour provided on the listing?

·       How many times did you view it?

·       What type of device did you view the tour on?

·       If using a mobile device, what was the brand name and model?

·       What was your favorite or most memorable room/view on the tour?

·       Etc

You can also track analytics based on clickthroughs from your website or other campaigns you ran. By looking to data, you can draw conclusions and notice patterns that make your creation and promotion of virtual tours more effective than ever before.

Want to Try Doing Virtual Tours the Right Way?

We have years of experience exploring and innovating the way people sell luxury homes as well as a proven track record of successes. For virtual tours, drone fly-bys and other premium real estate listing services, take a look at our website and then contact us today to see what SnapHouss can do for you!