Prospective students have long used in-person tours of campus as a way to gauge their interest and fit for a school. Families plan junior and senior year road trips around these opportunities. However, many of today’s students first seek out virtual immersive experiences with their potential campuses before they ever step foot on the grounds because of all the benefits of virtual tours and online resources.
Potential students are essentially potential buyers. Just like with other customer experiences, investing in technologies like virtual reality can help your organization stand out. The benefits of virtual tours allow your marketing team to showcase your school’s strengths with different target audiences in mind. As a result, you can reach further and connect deeper as you encourage new students to apply.
Why Do Prospective Students Like Virtual Tours?
A high-quality virtual tour of your campus provides prospective students with a meaningful sense of college life and the key features of your school from the comfort and convenience of their own home.
In-person tours of potential college campuses can be prohibitively expensive. Also, the travel is often time-consuming, making it challenging for busy high school students (and their equally busy parents) to fit them into their schedules.
But a virtual tour experience allows students to explore areas of interest at their own pace and even grab glimpses of real-time campus life, no matter their time zones. With the help of this virtual experience, students can make informed decisions about whether the school is the right fit for them.
7 Benefits of Using Virtual Tours on Your Website
Adding a high-quality virtual tour to your school’s website can be an excellent marketing tool. This move provides potential students and their families the chance to conveniently walk through campus from their own homes while showcasing specific school strengths. Consider each of these benefits of virtual tours:
1. Increased Familiarity and Comfortability With Your Facility
Familiarity is key to helping students literally see themselves on campus! There are numerous benefits to providing 3D virtual tours that help students picture themselves studying in the library, eating in the cafeteria, sitting in the lecture halls, and hanging out in the dorm rooms. This chance to explore at their own pace will make interested students more comfortable booking an in-person visit and getting closer to applying.
2. Competitive Advantage
There are different types of virtual tour options. Investing in a high-quality, immersive experience can help set you apart from other schools that may lack such robust options. Students have a lot of schools to choose from, and their first line of exploration will be the website. But if they can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll likely move on to the next choice.
Give prospective students the chance to dig deep into what your school has to offer with interactive 3D views that showcase your best amenities and stand out from the crowd. Make sure that students have plenty of opportunities to engage meaningfully and in individualized ways. What matters to each student is going to be unique. But an immersive virtual tour allows them to choose the path that makes sense for their own needs and questions.
3. Highlighting the Unique Attributes of Your School
What sets your school apart from others? Whether it’s amenities like gyms and food courts, gorgeous campus views, world-class researchers, or unsurpassed student engagement opportunities, your virtual tour can show it off!
These “extras” aren’t really extra when it comes to students choosing their home for the next four to five years. They want to see the spaces they’ll inhabit and know that they’re choosing a place that provides comfort, fun, and a social life that fits their needs. The benefits of virtual tours that your organization can access depend on how much detail you put into it.
4. Higher Engagement Than With Photos
Showing photos of your campus is great, but virtual tours allowing click-through exploration are much more engaging. A photo album is easy to scroll past. But an immersive experience of the campus invites students to explore the areas that are most interesting to them. It can also give them opportunities to access embedded details and further explanations right where they want them.
Interactive virtual tours keep prospective students on your site longer. They also make it more likely that students will follow links to even more information.
5. Increased Professional Presentation
Prospective students are looking for a positive user experience and a clear level of professionalism when they visit a university website. Especially since the pandemic, young people are used to virtual experiences and expect them as a normal part of their experience.
Even though in-person experiences (including in-person tours and college fairs) have largely risen back to pre-pandemic levels, the virtual tour remains a deciding factor for many students. In fact, Higher Ed Today reports that students’ use of virtual tours during their application process has increased. Having a high-quality virtual tour on your website shows an embrace of modern technology and a sense of credibility.
6. Offering a More Memorable Experience
Students are making strategic choices about where to apply to college. That means they’ll be exploring many websites as they narrow down their list of options. Along the way, these sites can start to blur as many features and highlights look the same.
Make sure your school sticks in their mind with a unique experience that stands out as memorable and meaningful. Virtual tours help leave a lasting impression — especially if they’re designed to highlight your school’s most unique features.
7. Cost-Effective Marketing
Traditional campus tours are costly for both prospective families and your administration. With transportation, training, staffing, and other expenses, in-person tours require a lot of logistical planning and resources.
A virtual tour provides many of the same benefits as an in-person option but with lower costs for all involved. Students can get a good sense of whether the school is a fit before deciding to schedule a physical visit. That’s great for students, but it also provides universities with additional benefits of virtual tours. You can focus your in-person resources on the students who are most engaged and likely to enroll.
How to Make the Most of Virtual Tours on Your Website
Deciding to include a virtual tour on your website is the first step. But implementation is key for accessing all the benefits of virtual tours. Here are steps to making the most of your virtual tour to ensure it reaches your target audience and leaves a positive impression.
Highlight the History of Your School
Students don’t just want facts and figures. They want a story. Show them that choosing your school will make them part of a rich, vibrant history by showcasing traditions. Give students a deeper connection to the community they’ll join when they enroll.
Embed fun facts about your campus into the tour itself, and include videos from past students talking about their campus experience or what they went on to do with their degrees.
Show the Full Picture of Your School (Not Just Where Classes Take Place)
It’s definitely worthwhile to include lecture halls and labs in your virtual tour, but don’t neglect the less academic spaces. Help students imagine themselves decorating their dorm by including floor plans of the room layouts. Allow them to picture ordering their lunch by featuring the cafeteria. Encourage them to envision their new workout routine by showing off the elliptical machines in the gym.
It can also be helpful to showcase videos of campus features like fountains or natural landscaping. Provide an immersive experience of the library, social spaces, and recreational centers. With all the benefits of virtual tours, you can really help your students see themselves in the spaces they’ll call home!
Use a Virtual Tour in Connection With Genuine Testimonials
Your virtual tour can have many layers that allow users to dig as deep as they’d like into the school. Take advantage of this customizable feature by including genuine testimonials.
Include student and alum testimonials to talk about real campus life experiences. These clips will add authenticity, credibility, and a personal touch, giving students a deeper connection to your school and why others have chosen to attend.
Promote Your Virtual Tour
Once your virtual tour is up and running, make sure you promote it across your various social media channels, email lists, and other resources. The more your virtual tour is viewed and shared, the more you’ll be able to get a sense of prospective students’ interests and engagement.
Ensure Mobile Compatibility
Many students will access your website (and thus the virtual tour) through mobile devices and tablets. It’s very important that your virtual tour experience have full mobile compatibility. Otherwise, users will have a frustrating experience that will leave a negative impression and miss out on the important and interesting information your tour would have shown them.
Boost Student Engagement With Virtual Tours With Concept3D
When you’re ready to bring your campus to life for students near and far, let Concept3D help you create a virtual tour that will impress and engage.
The features and benefits of virtual tours through Concept3D include hotspots where you can embed content and points of engagement throughout the immersive experience. Concept3D also offers 360-degree video. Create dynamic views that put users in the middle of the action—whether that’s the football field or the middle of a bustling food court.
Our customized branding allows you to seamlessly integrate your virtual tour into your own marketing strategies. Also, accessibility features like audio transcripts and alt-text ensure that your virtual tour is accessible and engaging for everyone. Learn more about our virtual tour features and contact Concept3D to schedule a demo today!