Table of Contents
- What Are Real Estate Walkthrough Videos and Virtual Home Tours?
- Real Estate Walkthrough Videos Are 5.5X More Popular Than Virtual Tours
- Why Are Walkthrough Video Tours More Popular?
- Use PhotoUp for Both Video and Virtual House Tours!
Can’t decide whether to use a real estate walkthrough video or virtual home tour to market a new listing? Then read on, for this article is for you!
Both of these real estate marketing tools have their uses and benefits. The challenge is to know when to use each one.
However, top-selling agents prefer real estate walk-through videos over virtual tours when marketing a home for sale.
Therefore, in this post, we’ll explain why videos are 5.5x more popular than virtual tours to market homes.
However, let’s first explain what these two powerful real estate marketing tools are.
What Are Walkthrough Videos and Virtual Tours?
A real estate walkthrough video tour uses video and photos to showcase a home or commercial property. The viewer is guided by the camera through each room and space, usually accompanied by narration and even music.
A virtual home tour is similar but is based on a 3D virtual floor plan or a 3D rendering of the property. The virtual tour uses hot spots that when clicked provide the buyer with more information on a room, feature, or space.
Both marketing tools have their particular uses and benefits. For example, consider the following benefits of real estate walkthrough video tours:
- The real estate agent can easily focus on a home’s best features
- Buyers find walkthrough videos easy to use – simply hit play
- The tour is shot from eye level so the buyer actually feels like they are walking through the property
3D and other forms of virtual home tours also have particular uses and benefits, such as:
- The buyer determines the pace of the tour and how much time they spend in each room
- Most virtual tours contain measurements and dimensions so a buyer can see if their current furnishings will fit
- A virtual tour allows a buyer to look at a room or space from any angle or perspective
As you can see, both technologies have their benefits. Which tool to use depends on what the listing agent wants to highlight about the property.
A savvy real estate sales agent might even use both to market a listing!
Walkthrough Videos Are 5.5X More Popular Than Virtual Tours
HomeJab, a provider of real estate photography and marketing services, just released 2022 data showing the overwhelming popularity of video tours among real estate sales professionals.
Their study focused on which services sales professionals opted for to help sell a listing. According to the data, in 2022:
- Agents ordered real estate walkthrough videos 5.5 times more frequently than 3D virtual tours when given both options
- For orders that included either video or virtual tours, a video was the more popular choice in every category
The actual number of orders for each tour type is quite interesting, too:
- 4,676 orders included real estate walkthrough videos but not virtual tours
- 855 orders opted for virtual tours but not video
- And 463 orders included both video and virtual tours
This data shows that sales professionals prefer real estate walkthrough videos over 3D virtual tours by a large margin.
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Why Are Walkthrough Videos More Popular?
The basic reason why real estate walkthrough videos are more popular than virtual house tours is that buyers prefer them because they are easier to use.
The founder of HomeJab goes on to explain this preference further:
“Video is preferred since it’s mobile-friendly and has the ability to connect with viewers on an emotional level, unlike 3D tours … video is the most effective choice for real estate marketing.“
Founder of HomeJab Joe Jesuele
And you don’t just need to take his word for it. Real estate walkthrough video tours are proven effective for selling homes. For example, consider these facts:
- Real estate listings that feature a video receive 403% more inquiries than listings without one
- Zillow’s data shows that a listing featuring a video walkthrough sells on average 14% faster than listings without one
- Buyers are interested in bathrooms, kitchen area, and overall layout and a real estate walkthrough video shows them these features, quickly
- And easy sharing! By putting videos on YouTube, the second most popular search engine behind Google, your listing is likely to be seen by more buyers
So, real estate walkthrough videos are popular and effective. But this doesn’t mean that virtual house tours aren’t also useful marketing tools.
Buyers like 3D and virtual home tours, too, especially when they want to know a room or space’s dimensions in detail and from various perspectives.
Okay, now you know that both marketing tools have their uses and benefits. Real estate walkthrough videos may be more popular, but 3D virtual tours are often needed as well.
Smart agents know which tour type to use when trying to sell listings.
The Ultimate All-in-One
Real Estate Photographer Business Platform
Grow a successful real estate photography business with PhotoUp.
Use PhotoUp for Both Video and Virtual House Tours!
PhotoUp provides superior real estate walkthrough video tours as well as 3D virtual tours.
Prefer a walkthrough video? PhotoUp makes it easy to get a stunning, professional-looking real estate walkthrough video in just 2 simple steps.
1) Upload
Upload all your video footage, logos, and/or custom audio files to Dropbox, Google Drive, or another delivery link, and include that link in your order form.
2) Delivery & Approval
We usually deliver your edited walkthrough video for approval within 24-36 hours, if uploaded on weekdays and before 9:00 PM on a Friday, local time.
And PhotoUp’s expert walkthrough video editing includes:
- Clip review, trimming, and arrangement
- Your business logo, an intro, and an outro
- Custom titling
- And, commercially licensed music for a more professional, finished video
Think a virtual tour might be better or also needed? We offer 3D virtual house tours, too!
With PhotoUp, a professional and compelling virtual tour can be created in as little as 5 minutes! And we make using 3D virtual house tours, as easy as possible:
- No special camera needed – Use any 360 camera that shoots JPEGs
- AI enhancement – Let AI enhance and perfectly stitch your photo edges
- Simple pinning – Customize your tour with simple image pinning for each scene
- You choose the highlights – You control what the buyer sees and can point out a home’s amenities, updates, and unique features
- White-labeled – Virtual tours can be white-labeled for a premium viewing experience
You can also add other tour features, such as floor plans, 3D virtual stagings, or single property websites to any of your orders.
So, why wait?!
Sign up for a free PhotoUp account, and we’ll help you take your real estate marketing to the next level!
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post on why videos are 5.5x more popular than virtual tours to market homes. Also, please feel free to explore these other related resources, too:
