Virtual Tour Software

Virtual tour software is designed to render a space in three-dimensional form. This makes it viewable to computer and mobile device users remotely at 360°. Readily embraced by increasingly tech-savvy users, virtual tour applications have also been widely accepted by businesses of all sizes. They are primarily used within real estate, industrial, hospitality, tourism, and culture industries because they can create immersive, interactive environments to showcase physical spaces. So, these tools enable viewers to access obligation-free room and venue viewings quickly. All this without the need to travel, without speaking to agents and representatives.

Also known as VT software, video walkthrough applications, or a 3D visualiser, these tools can be used as a marketing device, helping boost consumer interest with engaging visuals. Alternatively, they can be deployed as a sales tactic to demonstrate product or service features and address the buyer's hesitations. The range of applications includes real estate listings, retail premises, wedding venues, hotel facilities, bars, restaurants, and student accommodation. But virtually any physical space can be showcased with VT software, including medical facilities, laboratories, plant floors, and logistics space.

This software benefits businesses and prospective customers in a variety of ways. Businesses can minimise the time and resources wasted on dead leads, focusing solely on prospects who have a genuine interest in the product or service. They don't need to send as many representatives on the field, address as many queries, or prepare the properties for viewings, shop fittings, and showroom displays. They can also reach a much wider audience than a conventional sales pitch, as the tours are accessible around the clock to people of all abilities and all degrees of computer literacy. Likewise, customers can view the space themselves, in the comfort of their home, in their own time and at any time of day or night, without booking, travelling, or preparing for their viewings.

As virtual tour software incorporates a variety of technologies with a diverse range of practical uses, it can overlap with related software categories, such as VR software, 3D architecture software, and Augmented Reality software. Some businesses can use several of these types of tools together with VT software to enrich their product offering and make their customer experiences even more memorable.

The functionality of VT software tools can vary, but most of these applications come with a few typical features, which tend to set them apart from other virtual environment software. Users have come to expect a few basic functions from a virtual tour software application, including, but not limited to:

• Create an interactive and engaging virtual experience with computer-generated material that incorporates video and audio footage
• Virtual floor plans and maps that replicate the real environment and provide directions using digital signposting
• Drag-and-drop elements that enable content creators to set up their tours without writing code
• Hotspots on rooms and maps that are hyperlinked to act as triggers when touched or clicked on
• Social sharing options for promoting the content to the general public

What is Virtual Tour Software?

Virtual Tour Software is an application used by businesses to showcase physical spaces to PC and mobile device users. It can be deployed on a company's on-premises servers or the Cloud. Once it goes live, the VT software gives prospective customers access to virtual content from their desktop browsers or their smartphone apps. This enables companies to streamline their marketing and sales operations while also empowering prospective customers to carry out self-guided property tours on tablets, smartphones, laptops, or PCs. So, customers can allay their worries and doubts about the products on offer without requiring assistance.

Aside from providing self-guided tours, VT software can display the company's contact details, facilitate messaging and calls between viewers and agents, and communicate feedback. It can even promote proprietary hardware, such as self-sufficient tripods that capture and render the footage without any user input. As it doesn't require code writing or any advanced skills, this type of software can be used not just by professional photographers but also by salespeople and agents trying to showcase a venue or room. Ultimately, the users are made up mainly of professionals in real estate, hospitality, tourism, cultural, and industrial sectors.

Virtual tour software relies on internet connections between content providers and viewers to send the data. This process is storage and bandwidth-intensive. With cloud services, users enjoy faster and more reliable connections. Also, with on-premises storage, access to virtual tours can be limited by power outages, maintenance work, and data loss. But whether they opt for in-house or cloud storage, companies are far more likely to meet the demand for property tours and avoid wasting their resources when they opt for virtual instead of conventional, in-person tours.

What are the benefits of virtual tour software?

The benefits of virtual tour software tie in with the simplicity and accessibility of these tools for both the content provider and the viewer. For both the company and the customer, the software is a self-service product, so neither the producer of the content nor the viewer requires assistance. But there are many other benefits to using virtual tour software that have more to do with financial aspects than with user-friendliness, and it helps to break them down as follows:

• Boosts visit, viewing, and click counts: Virtual tours can reach a far wider audience than conventional tours. Content providers can also tweak their marketing campaigns to target specific online users and avoid dead leads, maximising their chances of bringing the right kind of user to their tours. From the moment prospects access the content, virtual tour software can also guide them through the viewing automatically with pop-ups and chatbots, ensuring that they click the contact links at the end. Then, armed with statistics showing the efficiency of each marketing tactic, content providers can perfect the service so that even greater proportions of viewers follow up their tour with a call.
• Offers permanent access: Offering a fully functional self-service tool around the clock is a major plus point. When it comes to hotel rooms, restaurants, bars, wedding venues, and student accommodation, there's no way of telling where prospective customers might live, what their lifestyles are like, and what time zone they operate with. Being able to offer virtual tours around the clock makes it easy for content providers to generate interest, clicks, queries, and revenues at all times, regardless of staffing resources. So, using virtual tour software for continuous online access can help lower costs and boost profitability.
• Improves SEO and social media coverage: Virtual tour software can share content on search engines and social media platforms, speeding up the process and sometimes even automating it, so that content providers don't need to rely on professional marketers. As visuals tend to draw in more viewers than text ads, virtual tour software can maximise viral potential and bring the property tour to an even wider audience through social media.
• Offers interactive features: One of the greatest advantages of VT software tools is that they enable viewers to interact with the environment and make choices that improve their experience. So, not only do viewers see themselves within that space and picture themselves settling into it, but they can also customise it, see it from the outside, or trigger actions that showcase facilities and amenities (e.g. hover over hotspots to display hotel amenities, press buttons to access lift controls, touch windows to take in the scenery, click on a roof to reveal aerial views).
• Requires very little hardware and skill: When it comes to capturing the footage, storing it, and enabling access to it, not many businesses have the resources to rent professional filming equipment, secure the manpower, or purchase computer hardware at scale. Thanks to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers and self-service cloud computing options, companies can set up a vast infrastructure to support all these processes without breaking the bank. They can also manage vast property portfolios with a single virtual tour application that features the functionality of a content management system (CMS).

What are the features of virtual tour software?

The features of virtual tour software tools vary from one software developer to the next. Cutting-edge technologies include support for text, audio, and video comments, as well as a live webcam overlay for face-to-face interactions with the tour guide or sales representative. For those in the manufacturing, logistics, medical, or chemical sectors, features like these are a must. However, real estate agents, landlords, restaurateurs, and publicans have very little use for such capabilities. For them, basic features will do.

So, the common denominator to every type of virtual tour software is that it gives a sense of depth to the images that display spatial relations between surfaces and objects. All users, regardless of industry, have come to expect these capabilities. Here are some of the most common and sought-after features of virtual tour software:

• Interactive floor plans and maps: Produce complex maps, plots, and plans for every room, floor, building, or layer. The space layout is to scale, ensure the 3D rendering is crisp, and the transitions between 2D and 3D content are seamless. Wayfinding comes naturally, with signage that points viewers to the right locations. Itineraries are marked to enable viewers to select their preferred route between rooms or buildings (e.g., student campus tours). Some tools go further, offering full-fledged building information modelling (BIM) solutions for builders and architectural designers to create the entire environment, with 3D models, elevations, sections, and details from scratch.
• Spherical and full spherical panoramas: Showcase the vastness of the room and the scenic beauty of its natural surroundings using panoramic photography. Spherical panoramas offer a 360° by 160° view, so users enjoy a full surround experience horizontally, but there is less visibility vertically. Content providers often use the bottom 10°-20° (i.e., the nadir) as the tripod cap, displaying the company logo or contact details on it. The second option, full spherical panoramas, covers a 360° by 180° view and tends to be more expensive to produce. The nadir is patched seamlessly, giving users an interrupted view of the floor beneath or the natural scenery. This option is ideal for confined spaces, such as car interiors, aircraft cockpits, museum exhibitions, and wide-open spaces such as; riverscapes, cityscapes, and landscapes. With time-lapse footage showing the scenery at different times of day and adaptive HDR that adjusts the lighting to make the iris adapt, these panoramas can mimic the real thing to a tee.
• Virtual reality support: Turn a virtual tour into an immersive experience. Tours that are optimised for virtual reality give viewers the option to switch to a head-mounted display (HMD) at the push of a button. Whether it's a cutting-edge gadget like the Oculus, VIVE or Gear VR headset, or a DIY cardboard box that holds a smartphone in front of the eyes (e.g., Google Cardboard), an HMD is a stereoptic device that transports the user into the space they're viewing. It allows them to navigate both the real world and the virtual one at the same time. As the images are usually to scale, every movement they make corresponds to an identical movement in the virtual space, giving them the impression that the virtual space is their new reality. This option works best with full spherical panoramas because they have fewer blind spots and a seamless floor.
• Drag and drop interfaces: Produce high-quality tours even without the programming expertise to customise content through code writing. Developers make it very easy for users to move frames and sections of their content around on the user interface so that they can structure the content and adjust the sequence. But this functionality can also extend to the viewer, with various app providers allowing viewers to store their virtual tour collection on a reel, dragging and dropping their favourite ones to make them more accessible.
• Hotspots: Trigger a variety of actions with hotspots. The lifeblood of a virtual tour can consist of links, images, icons, info points, and wayfinding signs. Clicking, highlighting, or hovering over a hotspot can trigger pop-up images, 3D models, websites, file downloads, audio play, video, or augmented reality (AR) content. It can cause a virtual guide to interact, make a fireplace light up, or cause a kettle to start boiling. Peppered across gamification samples, medical training tours, and animated real estate presentations, hotspots give users access to more information and make interactions more authentic.
• Social media integration: Make it easy for viewers to access the content and share it on social media platforms. Content providers can tailor the experience to the viewer, sharing tour stops and content relevant to them on social media channels. For instance, a university showcasing its campus could share a tour stop that features specific facilities for students interested only in business school, law, engineering, etc. Content providers can also condense the footage using screen recording tools alongside their virtual tour software. This way, they can offer viewers a brief preview and share it on social media, with links in the video captions. VT software usually comes with options to post virtual tours to Google and social networks automatically, with add-ons like logos, audio, text, and video built-in.
• Voice-over and audio support: Add narration to virtual tours and help guide viewers through the property, introduce them to the features of the tour, and add a human touch to the experience. This simple feature can add a great deal of value by making curated walk-throughs an option for museums, real estate, medical facilities, student accommodation, and industrial spaces.
• Live broadcasting and annotations: Turn a simple virtual tour into a live meeting. By allowing viewers to dial in, agents, brokers, and sales representatives can interact with them in real time. Viewers can look around unhindered while also following the agent's screen as they point out details, perks, and key highlights. They can interact with the space, testing smart home features and expanding the window view. They can also offer their feedback in real-time, just as they would on a live stream, or make annotations on hotspots. Using Capterra's software directory, readers can explore the highlights of every virtual tour application featured to inform their decision-making. With the filters provided above, users save time and effort narrowing down their list of options to find the tool that's right for their business and the results they want to achieve.

What should be considered when purchasing virtual tour software?

When purchasing virtual tour software, it's worth weighing up all the options because the choice of software will have a significant impact on the quality and functionality of the virtual tour. Every user should consider a few key questions before they make their final decision:

• Which virtual tour software is best? The importance users place on specific features will determine what software tool is best for them. For instance, property developers and real estate agents might prefer stereo tours with full spherical panoramas, voice-overs, and downloadable files. Restaurateurs and publicans might opt for basic panoramas and video animated hotspots instead. Influencers and professional reviewers would probably opt for live tour software. Businesses with an industrial or scientific background might focus on VT software that can offer fully immersive VR experiences rich in 3D models, drag-and-drop menus, and pop-ups.
• Why invest in virtual tour software? As restrictions ease up, it may well be that SMEs go back to their old habits and put virtual tour projects on the back burner. So, most agents and brokers will probably make do with basic VT software. But forward-thinking companies will likely try to keep their edge with more sophisticated applications. It stands to reason that businesses trying to scale their operations this year should focus on more advanced VT software. Aside from core features, like VR, full spherical panoramas, and interactive maps, content providers should focus on social media integrations and live broadcasting as a way to set themselves apart.
• Is free virtual tour software futureproof? There is no reason not to try free virtual tour software versions or trials before signing up for a full-featured application. But sooner or later, users should expect to pay for a good quality software application with all the trimmings, such as integrated marketing tools, AR hotspots, HDR dynamics, API linkage, and viewer statistics reports. While freeware may be able to address basic needs, users can't expect the same level of data privacy and security as they do from a paid service.
• What is the best free virtual tour application? There are countless options for free virtual tour software to look up free demos and trials on Capterra, each with unique features. For example, users who want to scale their business quickly may want to consider cloud-based tools. Real estate agents and property managers, however, might opt for an app that can create dollhouses, while marketers may prefer the ability to post to Google, add CTAs, and benefit from Google analytics. It all depends on the industry, the scope, and the scale of the operation, but it should be noted that no application worth its salt comes as freeware and that users will eventually need to upgrade to the paid version.

What are the most relevant virtual tour software trends?

The most relevant virtual tour software trends relate to the evolving needs of consumers. It's important for virtual tour creators to not just keep up with these trends but also think ahead before they invest in virtual tour applications. Understanding how the tours will be used and how viewers' lifestyles are changing is essential as businesses weigh their options and decide what features they can safely opt out of due to budgeting constraints. Here are some of the most relevant trends for VT software:

• A shift to cloud-based software: Many businesses are turning to cloud computing for their virtual tour software to take advantage of automated backups, unlimited storage, and high-speed data transfers. But in doing so, they hand over their valuable data. Where possible, on-premise alternatives may be used instead—or in tandem—to prevent data leakage. At the very least, mentioning the company's data storage facilities would put risk-aware cyber viewers at ease.
• Growing demand for chatbots: For forward-thinking museums, medical facilities, and universities, chatbots are part and parcel of a good customer experience. They can guide viewers through the space, showcase important details they might otherwise overlook, deliver a CTA, and help connect them with the space and the content provider. It's only a matter of time before even run-of-the-mill property tours come with chatbots built into the user interface.
• The rise of predictive analytics: Being able to reach wider audiences but not using the data is a wasted opportunity. Clever applications can monitor the customer journey, intervene to enrich their experience, and report back to the content provider so that they keep improving the content. This information can show real estate agents, property developers, restaurateurs, student registration officers, marketers, and other professionals how best to draw the viewer's attention and what deals to offer if they're trying to promote their space or upsell.
• The shift to mobile browsing: Smartphones have come to match or exceed the capabilities of PCs in terms of display. They can be used to capture the footage that goes into a virtual tour, as well as watch that footage. As younger generations access content from anywhere across the globe, at any time, using mobile web browsers, businesses aren't wrong to consider cloud-based virtual tour software when producing their content. Alternatively, they would do well to check that the software they use can optimise the content for mobile display.