360 VR Tours vs Cine Video for Property Listings the Elite Realtors Pros and Cons

360 VR vs Video which is better for your listing?

360 VR vs Video which is better for your listing?

Are you better off as a Realtor using a cine video tour for your geo marketing campaigns, or a 360 virtual tour? We will answer that definitively for you.

We at Elite offer both and there are pros and cons to both.

Let’s look at 360 VR Tours first:

A 360-degree virtual tour is a circular photograph that the user can spin around and look in every direction of a property assembled in an API platform that you can click from one hotspot to the next to virtually walk through the home.

The biggest selling point of these types of 360 tours is that you can see the layout and flow of the home, which is what a perspective buyer is seeking online.  Although that is also the reason our video tours have been so successful as they lead you through room to room in a consistent flow.

Mostly the VR Tours only show you the internal property so exteriors, neighbourhood, etc aren’t shown, and if they are usually not well.

With VR goggles tho it will feel like you are standing there yourself, that is pretty cool. Highly recommended for the techy buyer although a very small percentage of the people will actually have VR goggles.

What is a Cine Video Tour?

A cine video tour is a motion video showing a property, it walks you through where it feels like you are walking around the home, but we structure it in a story telling manner so that the buyer is more attracted with the details of the home, which includes exteriors, and even neighbourhood amenities. The added bonus is as a realtor or with professional talent you can do a voice over to tell the property neighbourhood story as well as even appear in the video in a walk and talk cameo, which helps boost your geo neighbourhood profile.

Our feeling at Elite is that a walk-through video tour gives a better view of the property and layout, not to mention the views of the exterior and community. Our ability to tell the homes unique story, especially since we also do lifestyle videos with a demo targeted cast who show off the home and its community living at its fullest. Overall, an infinitely better user experience.

My favourite part is that you lead the buyer through the home and control their viewing angle, so unsightly issues can be avoided as you tell the properties story.

Videos can also be posted to tour gallery sites as well as 360 VR Tours.

 

What are the MAJOR differences?

TIME ON SITE

360 VR Tour: Takes considerably longer to capture. 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a 1500 sq ft home.

Full Cine Video: 45 minutes with exteriors and no neighbourhood footage.

COVERAGE

360 VR Tour: Mostly covers interior imaging.  Exterior imaging (when available) is a 360 degree spin tour of the house only, sometimes drone if allowed can give you a 360 of the area.

Full Cine Video: Covers interior, full exterior and immediate neighborhood and its amenities, such as restaurants, shops, schools, and local parks, etc.

EASE OF USE

360 VR Tour: From the heat maps and usage stats I have seen can cause frustration for the buyer as it can be aggravating to navigate and time consuming to learn especially when there are so many different platforms and UI’s in the field.  It’s easy to make the wrong “click” and end up in stuck in a corner looking at the dated wall plugs.

Full Cine Video: Real estate is an emotional purchase you all as Realtor’s know this, tears are shed, high fives and hugs given out on closing. Buyers buy homes based on emotion.  That’s a fact and we specialize in bring footsteps to the door, telling an emotional property story through video is the most impactful way to deliver multiple offers, even during tough times, and especially in high competition in your local market. Besides high-quality photos it is the most impactful tool you can use in your realtor marketing chest.

360 VR Tour: Takes many clicks and time to navigate through a home on average 5 to 10 mins if they don’t have UI issues.

Full Cine Video: Takes one or two clicks, then play. They can then relax and enjoy. Video is a very popular medium and is driving the most powerful channels on the internet, including Google, Youtube, Instagram, Vimeo, Tik Tok, and Tinder.. sorry swipe left on Tinder for marketing your properties. Ha ha

VISIBILITY ON PROPERTY SITES REALTOR.ca/Zillow ETC

360 VR Tour: Not all real estate sites make it easy to find these tours.  Some do allow direct access to one or two platforms but usually you are hunting for a link.

Full Cine Video: The #1 real estate site on the internet, ZILLOW.com, rewards listings with video by ranking those listings with video at the TOP of their search for a neighboruhood.  They also place a prominent video link on the main photograph so it’s easy to find. 

COST

360 VR Tour: Due to the time to scan a property, costs are higher, usually starting at $200 for a 500 sq foot home to $1000 plus for 4000 sq ft and above properties.

Full Cine Video: For homes under 4,000 square feet, a full walk through video starts at $250 and ranges up to $500 with some extras.

SEARCH ENGINES

360 VR Tour: VR is not SEO friendly. Your 360 tour will never be found on a search engine such as Google one of the first places a buyer goes to search for a home and will be hidden on a link mostly from MLS to a site with photos first and the 360 at the bottom of the page in order of importance on most tour platforms.

Full Cine Video: Video is the hottest thing on the web, and videos get indexed by all major search engines within hours, and most rank near the top of searches. Videos also appear on tours just below the photos, and above 360 tours because of their importance.

SOCIAL MEDIA

360 VR Tour: Isn’t effective on social media because of the external links they get ranked lower in the algorithm.

Full Cine Video: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter all promote video.  Facebook videos begin playing as you scroll down a timeline, grabbing the interest of a viewer instantly you can also share them easily through social or email.

VIDEO SITES

360 VR Tour: 3D tours are interactive 360 spaces, so can’t be uploaded to video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, or Instagram.

Full Cine Video: YouTube is the #2 most visited search engine on the planet. Facebook has video and believes in it so much they launch IGTV for Instagram to boost traffic.

 

Here are some recent stats on video usage:

 

VIDEO STATS/HIGHLIGHTS

  • 71% of people watch more video than they did a year ago. (HubSpot)

  • 6 out of 10 people would rather watch online videos than television. (Google)

  • Mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year. (Insivia)

  • YouTube is the second most popular website after Google. (Alexa)

  • Users view more than 1 billion hours of video each day on YouTube. (YouTube)

  • 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. (HubSpot)

  • 75% of all video plays are on mobile devices. (eMarketer)

  • 75 Million people in the U.S. watch online videos every day.

  • Merely mentioning the word 'video' in an email subject line, the click-through rate increased by 13%.

  • Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic (eMarketer)

  • 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video. (HubSpot)

  • 92% of users watching video on mobile will share it with others. (Wordstream)

  • 65% of people use YouTube to help them solve a problem. Want to build a house or remove weird parasites from your eye? YouTube might have the answer. (Google)

  • Social media posts with video have 48% more views. (HubSpot)

  • Facebook has over 8 billion video views per day. (TechCrunch)

  • 75 million people visit Facebook’s video platform every day. (Adweek)

  • Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. (G2 Crowd)

  • Videos attach 300% more traffic and help to nurture leads. (MarketingSherpa)

  • A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video. (Insivia)

  • Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%. (Unbounce)

  • Nearly 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. (Hubspot)

  • 85% of consumers want to see more video content from brands. (HubSpot)

  • Adding video to your emails can increase click rates by 300%. (HubSpot)

  • On average, people spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than without. (Wistia)

  • YouTube video kills it with over five billion views every day VideoNitch

 

Should you use 360 tours???

NAR (National Association of Realtors – US) states that 89% say you need great photos, 81% of listing tours are viewed on a mobile device (VR does not play well on mobile, video does if your connection is good).

What do we recommend to our Elite Realtor’s?

  1. First you need stunning photography without that it might as well be listed by the owner (Which is a horrible idea with your largest investment). Most great photos are accompanied by a Gallery tour, ours at Elite is one of the best and most responsive to different media devices, so that your photos always look great whether you are on a Mac or are a power user with a liquid cooled PC with multiple SSD drives and some disco lights constantly twinkling.

  2. Second on the list of property priorities for an Elite Realtor (that is you) is a toss up for now between accurate floor plans and cine video. Both carry a huge impact if your budget can handle it. Video drives more to the door, floor plans are useful for serious buyers that intend to purchase. Note: Future plans are that builders and MPAC floor plans will no longer be allowed on MLS because they are inaccurate and include Condo Corp exterior walls in their measurements. This is already happening across Canada and the US, check with your local board for when they will be implementing this, as that will definitely make floor plans number 2 on the list.

  3.  Third (or Fourth as we grouped floor plans and video into 2) would be 360 VR Tours for their impact on the sale.

We work with hundreds of agents and thousands of vendors, 360 VR tours after speaking with and demonstrating the technology, the effectiveness on listings, the response and results weren’t that impressive, it has only helped in 10% or less of our listings. Most potential users found it aggravating to navigate the UI or had a device that would just lock up on them. For the tech savvy vendor tho it is a must, and they will request it first. You are the pro, it is best to educate your client, forward them to this Blog post from YOUR elite property experts, if they message us we can answer any of their queries.

We do both so are unbiased, but video is exponentially better than 360 tours for your marketing dollar and is why we recommend that first to our clients. It is also the best option in ease of use for Buyer’s and at the end of the day, we want our properties sold and our clients and vendors loving us.

We are ELITE and so are our REALTORS and their CLIENTS. We are only in business if you succeed.