5 important things to consider when choosing a virtual tour creator

Are you looking for someone to create a virtual tour for your company? If so, you are in the right spot! Because I will share with you in this blog article 5 important things to consider when choosing a virtual tour creator and even more.

So that you will not make a silly mistake in choosing the right fit.

Introduction: Finding the right virtual tour creator for you

Virtual tours are becoming a more popular tool how to showcase any type of space to your customers.

And whether are you a real estate agent who wants to sell more apartments, a travel agency looking for promoting their destination, or a museum curator showcasing an art exhibition. Or whoever else wants to showcase their business space effectively to a broader audience, choosing the right virtual tour creator is crucial.

So, before we get into the 5 important aspects you should consider when choosing a virtual tour creator.

I would like to talk about why virtual tours are not homogeneus products and why every virtual tour can be different according to the creator and the needs of the client.

Are you looking for a virtual tour creator? But do you even know what a virtual tour can do?

Although it does sound obvious.

Some people, unfortunately, don‘t know the full potential of a virtual tour. And they would love to order „one virtual tour please“.

As if we talking about buying a banana or a orange in the supermarket.

But the thing is, virtual tours are heterogeneous products, which means that every virtual tour will be different.

What do I mean by different?

Every virtual tour made by a professional virtual tour creator or agency will look and works differently because it was created to solve the specific needs of the client.

Every virtual tour should be different because it was created for a different purpose, different audience, and different budget.

Are you looking for a simple and easy interface or does your business demand special functions, which will enrich the virtual tour experience?

Are you creating a virtual tour for a real estate, hotel, museum, gallery, car dealership, or different space?

Also what types of audience will the virtual tour be created for? Will it be for students, sellers (buyers), visitors, or customers?

Of course, what type of budget are you able to invest in a virtual tour solution? So, that the return on investment (ROI) is the highest possible.

After understanding all these requirements of your virtual tour needs, you will be able to make a well-informed decision when choosing a virtual tour provider.

Remember that finding the right virtual tour creator not only will save you a lot of time and money, but also provide virtual tours more suitable for your audience.

With that being said, we can continue straight to the list.

List of the 5 important things to consider when looking for a virtual tour creator or agency

So, if you already can answer all these questions mentioned.

Now is the time to talk about these 5 things to consider when choosing a virtual tour creator.

1.         Reputation and experience of the virtual creator or agency 

First on the list is the reputation of the virtual tour creator or the agency.

When it comes to choosing your virtual tour creator, it is important to make an informed decision. So, verify the creators if they are reliable and can create an awesome virtual tour according to your preferences.

The best way how to do so is to talk to friends and colleagues who have experience working with virtual tour creators. But if you do not have the possibility, the second best option is to look at reviews and ratings from past clients.

Also, a project portfolio on the creator (agency) website is a great indicator, of how great he or she (agency) is. Every case study looks for a reason, why the client wanted to create a virtual tour, and how they help and customize the virtual tour according to the client’s needs.

You can also check out their social media accounts (like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn) to get a better understanding of whether they are suitable for your specific use case.

Creation of an effective virtual tour solution is not simple as just taking a few pictures and linking them together. A lot of planning, stitching, editing, creativity, and technical knowledge is required to create an interactive and user-friendly experience. And here an experienced virtual tour creator comes into play.

Experienced creator knows how to highlight specific areas of your space, which features to choose from, and how to create a virtual tour optimized and compatible with all devices to suit your specific needs.

2.         Quality of 360° content and other multimedia elements

The quality aspect is really important because it is in the end what you or your customers will see when opening a virtual tour.

The quality of the virtual tour experience largely depends on the overall quality of 360° images or 360° videos. And that is why you want to choose a virtual tour creator who can create high-resolution photos, which can capture every possible detail.

This can be done by 360° cameras or professional DSLR (or Mirrorless) cameras. In most cases the output capture with a DSLR (Mirrorless) camera will be much better in terms of image resolution (image quality), keep this in mind.

Furthermore, loading speed in virtual tours is also a thing to bear in mind. If the virtual tour takes ages to load, it can frustrate the viewer and lead to leaving the tour before fully exploring the space. And that is for sure something a proper virtual tour should not do!

And that is why professional virtual tour creators use cloud hosting and CDN to faster the loading time around the globe.

3.         Interactivity and customization

Properly made virtual tours should allow visitors to interact with the space and let them explore it at their own pace and preferences.

Virtual tours with better user experience tend to have interactive elements implemented (such as hotspots, audio, video, floor-plan, navigation buttons, etc.). So, to enrich the user experience you should choose a virtual tour creator who can provide more value to your potential customers.

Also, customization is a really important part of the whole virtual tour creation. Right customization can differentiate your virtual presence from your competitors and enhance the virtual tour experience.

Choose someone who can create custom features, a user-friendly interface, and interactive elements such as hotspots and other multimedia elements according to your preferences.

I always recommend to companies create a virtual tour consistent with their brand identity. This advice can be particularly beneficial to companies that are looking to create a professional and cohesive digital presence.

An example of that can be choosing the same brand colors, fonts, icons, and other design elements. Of course, using a logo is beneficial also.

But, please, do not overdo it. Have in mind that you creating a virtual tour for your target audience. Adjust the settings according to it!

4.         Technology and Integration

When choosing a virtual tour creator, it is important to consider the device compatibility and technology behind the output.

If you thinking about getting a web-based virtual tour, it should be working across any screen sizes, operating systems, and web browsers. Also, do not cooperate with a virtual tour creator who uses Adobe Flash player and not HTML5 outputs (Flash player is the past).

If you think of creating VR virtual tour, it should be working great on every VR-glasses or headset. A professional virtual tour creator can even create a web-based virtual tour with VR possibility in one.

If the creator tells you that this is not possible. You should consider looking for a different virtual tour creator because it is. Believe me.

Also, for reaching a broader audience online, you should consider the possibility of embedding your virtual tour into your website. Virtual tour creator should help you upload it straight to your CMS website (e.g. WordPress, Drupal, or Jumla) or even a non-CMS website.

5.         Customer Service and Analytics

Moreover, you have to choose a virtual tour creator or agency that will be easy to talk to and will help throughout the process of creating an immersive virtual tour of your space.

You should be able to get updates, feedback and request revisions and changes if needed.

A huge benefit of having a virtual tour is the ability to measure the reach of the virtual tour. Statistics is not just about opening a virtual tour, but about every single metric you would love to measure. To see if you reach the goal.

We use Google Analytics in our virtual tours, but other virtual tour creators can use different analytics which will have similar features in most cases.