Have you ever wondered how you could make your virtual tours more memorable, so as to give you a competitive edge? Professional voice over narration can beautifully complement your video content, converting a simple, silent (or non-professionally narrated) movie to a powerful story about a property that’s waiting for your viewer to buy it.
Your domestic and international clientele can’t always come to see your high-end properties. Did you know that some of your best leads can be obtained with a compelling and professionally narrated virtual tours? Are you comfortable with the idea that some of your most viable prospects are remote buyers who hope (or expect) to see a polished, professionally narrated video of your best real estate inventory before they travel to see it in person?
8 Reasons Why Narrated Virtual Tours (NVTs) are a good idea:
1. Expand Your Reach
Virtual tours allow real estate professionals to increase the number of potential buyers exponentially. Gone are those days when real estate business was only locally transacted.
Technology has changed everything. Doing business in real estate hasn’t been shielded from the revolution of technology. The playing field for brokers has undoubtedly broadened and, with it, so has the opportunity.
The most successful realtors and real estate professionals make savvy choices to market properties to a broader audience and with less effort. And it’s those investing in narrated virtual tours who are finding those precious inches that separate them from the competition. These creative thinkers have a growth mindset (not a fixed one). It gives them a willingness to try something new to satisfy their clientele and get the job done even in a volatile market.
2. Increase Your Chance of Selling.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), when done correctly, virtual tours dramatically increase a property’s chance of being sold. NAR’s research revealed that virtual property tours help buyers decide to purchase faster. It is said that 40% of buyers reporting that virtual tours were “very useful” when looking to purchase a home.
When buyers can take virtual tours of houses they are interested in, they are more likely to make an offer on the house, and faster. (Realty Times, 2020)
Notably, the article from Realty Times uses the words “when done correctly,” which alludes to a number of things, including the quality of the imagery used to create the virtual tour. I would like to suggest that, in order to be “done correctly,” a virtual tour should also be narrated.
Right or wrong, the 21st century has ushered in a flood of distractions to which even the most intelligent and highly functioning individuals are unwittingly addicted. We spend most of our on-line time consuming content that is accompanied by some sort of narrative.
Truth be told, most people don’t take time to read much any more. We either want to be spoon fed to keep from having to read, or we want to be fed enough information so that we can then decide whether a deeper dive (that would require some reading) is warranted.
This is not a phenomenon that is limited to the younger crowd. As the pace of modern life has increased, our attention span has declined. So the average real estate buyer probably lost their patience for the ‘silent movie virtual tour’ many years ago. And who could blame them when silent movie virtual tours require the viewer to stop to read about the property, before or after having taken the time to watch the virtual tour?
When a potential buyer can see an attractive narrated tour, it moves the decision-making process along more efficiently and can help facilitate a much faster sale.
3. Narrated Virtual Tours Sell Your Property for More.
A University of Iowa study of thousands of real estate transactions in southern California found that virtual home tours are a big factor in selling houses at prices 2-3% higher than similar homes without online tours. July 2020 article: “Trying to sell a house? UI study finds virtual tours will bring more $$$” (Radio Iowa, 2020).
Who knew?!
4. Attract High-End Sellers.
The same UI article also noted that virtual tours make realtors look more professional and therefore more attractive to high-end property owners. These sellers prefer to work with agents who use virtual tours because they showcase properties better and shield sellers from a parade of potential buyers trapsing through a property, which is something more affluent sellers feel is an invasion of their privacy and a compromise of security.
5. Create a Feeling of Possession and Ownership.
We know that people make decisions based primarily on how something made them feel. Narrated virtual tours target the buyer’s imagination, giving them a sense of how they can use a house and how they would feel. In other words, a narrated virtual tour helps potential buyers feel more connected to a property because without it. Buyers are left to figure out exactly how they could use the space on their own. When provided with practical ideas of how the space can be used, viewers can more readily see themselves using it.
Sellers are better equipped to make a decision to buy, long before they even set foot on the property for a physical tour. This is because the seller agent creates an expectation in the sellers’ mind through an imaginative and practical narrated virtual tour.
6. NVTs Make Agents Be Remembered.
People remember nearly 65% of the visual content three days later compared to written or spoken content (Jeff Bullas, 15 Visual Content Marketing Statistics That’ll Blow Your Mind, 2018).
Real estate professional are in a battle not only to capture the attention, but to retain it even after the content is seen. Like any well-read story, a compelling narration puts buyers inside the property being sold in a powerful way that isn’t easily forgotten in the flood of images and information viewers see every day. Again, the distinguishing edge is the voice that invites viewers to see themselves inside the story of a given property.
7. Narrated Virtual Tours Help You Save Time.
Narrated virtual tours are 24/7 open houses. It saves and multiplies realtors’ time because it frees them for other tasks because potential buyers are able to view and consider a property without having to physically visit it.
The great thing about narrated virtual tours is that it saves the viewer time because, as mentioned earlier, it can spare them additional reading by providing them with helpful information.
Buyers are willing to do their due diligence. But after a long day at work, many appreciate a virtual tour complete with a well-thought-out narrative to quickly educate them on the property. This gives them the gift of precious time.
8. Increase Traffic to your Website.
The ‘bounce rate’ represents the number of visitors who leave a website after seeing just one page. A website that only maintains visitors’ attention for a moment will have a high bounce rate. Who cares? A high bounce rate adversely affects search engine rankings and online exposure, which can’t be good. People watching narrated videos will stay longer on a given website than those clicking few a slide show or a silent virtual tour.
Not only will they stay longer, they will be more likely to share what they saw, which increases the website’s online authority through backlinks.
