As schools and businesses have worked to gain digital relevance over the last few years, the importance of virtual tours has grown and evolved. Then 2020 came along, and suddenly the virtual environment became more important than ever before. Of course, that’s only good news if you’ve got an interactive experience that doesn’t frustrate your users more than it helps them. When virtual interaction becomes the only interaction, it’s vital that it’s a successful interaction.
Elements
The most common element of virtual tours are walkthroughs, digital maps that allow a user to click on what they’re interested in and learn or view more. These can hold any number of other elements, such as videos (sometimes live-streamed), photos, 360s, audio, maps and interior layouts, 3D imaging, timelines, and whatever other “you are(n’t) here” goodies a designer can dream up.
All of these can be effective (although it’s good to be aware of the fact that more isn’t necessarily better). The best tools to use really depend on what you’re presenting, and the key is finding the right balance between user control — say, StreetView — and immersive learning content such as videos which offer no more control than “play” and “pause.”
The ideal balance gives the user control over their own pace of exploration and how much attention they want to give to any particular aspect of the tour. An enhanced campus map can be much more specialized than embedding a Google map or a printable PDF map. A prospective student might want to explore the Student Center while their parents might prefer to spend more time learning about the library (or the financial aid office). Giving the user a chance to follow their own inclinations will keep them engaged, which in turn keeps them learning about your institution and interested in seeing what you have to offer.
Only you can judge which elements make the most sense for your audience, but whichever ones you choose, be sure to test drive them and consider the UX needed to make the virtual tour easy to navigate. This is a first impression, and you don’t want to sour prospective students with unusable technology tools.
Some of our favorite elements to use are videos from expert tour guides; historical information about the building or location in question; and pictures of students interacting with the location, such as students living in their dorm rooms. These are proven ways to show off your institution in the best possible light from the first time people stumble across your world, even from a distance.
Pitfalls
Remember, it’s not only important to be able to navigate the basic “map” structure that you create, but also to be able to easily move from one element to another. Some tours allow users to open videos or info pop-ups, but navigating back to the main map is hidden in the text. If the back button takes them all the way back out of the tour, instead of just out of the video, they may decide they were done with the tour and move along.
It may seem like a 3D rendering of a space would be an obvious and intuitive way to move through a virtual tour, but navigating StreetView and similar tools can be frustrating and unclear if not woven into the experience in a logical and easy to understand way. Too many controls are just as frustrating as confusing controls. People want to learn about your institution, not about how far the Virtual Reality modules have (or haven’t) advanced — especially not from their 2D actual-viewing computer access. Nobody is physically present so navigation should be simple and hybridized with the fact that they are looking at a computer/website and even more so now with the increasing possibility that people are doing this from their phones.
2020 Virtual Tours
Whatever you’ve done up until this point, now is a great time to create or upgrade your virtual options for prospective and current students. Especially as physical visits to campuses are practically shut down right now, this allows you to give that tour from a distance. COVID-19 is absolutely a problem, yes; but it also creates an opportunity to up your digital marketing presence in a way that will benefit you beyond 2020. A virtual tour can be a welcoming way to give a first impression that’s high tech, comprehensible, and gives a real sense of your institution.