Virtual Tours

The Power of Media Rich-Reach Map Listings: reach more customers & bring more business with Google Maps and 360 Virtual Tours

Choosing the right restaurant, cafe or hotel is often tough. Build trust with a high-quality virtual tour that lets people experience your location before they arrive. These immersive, virtual experiences inspire greater confidence among prospective guests and patrons. A trusted professional for hire can help you more easily create and publish your virtual tour.

When searching for businesses, consumers use mapping products 44% of the time.

On average, 41% of these place searches result in an on-site visit.

Listings with photos and a virtual tour are twice as likely to generate interest.

STUDY DETAILS

Quantitative market research was conducted in July 2015 by an independent market research firm to understand the impact of virtual tours on increasing consumers’ interest in local businesses (specifically in booking a reservation at a hotel or restaurant).

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  • An online survey was conducted with consumers who had searched online for a restaurant or hotel within the previous 30 days (using any device).
  • A total sample of 1201 respondents was collected between July 21st and August 2nd, 2015.
  • Different versions of a local business listing (one for a hotel, the other for a restaurant) were created to include basic info, photos and/or a virtual tour (the same media were used to create each version).
  • Respondents were asked to view one of the different versions for each business (in a randomized order). Each respondent viewed:
    • 1 hotel listing + 1 restaurant listing; and
    • 1 listing with a virtual tour + 1 listing without a virtual tour.
  • Note: Presentation of alternate listings were randomized evenly and consistently throughout the field.
  • After viewing each listing, respondents were instructed to rate their interest in booking a reservation.
  • Ratings for alternate listings (with a tour versus without) were aggregated to understand impact of virtual tours on interest in the featured business.
  • Source: Study by IPOSOS for Google Maps, 2015