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Does a virtual tour really sell faster? What research across 75,000 sales shows

You will have seen the numbers. "87% more views." "48% more bookings." "5 to 10 times longer dwell time."

We went looking for where they come from. Most lead back to vendor decks with no methodology, to studies from 2015 and 2017, or to sources that no longer exist.

Since we sell virtual tours, we have every reason to repeat them. We are not going to.

Instead, here is what serious academic research shows, including the part that does not suit us.

The 75,178 sales study

Researchers at Harvard Business School and Ivey Business School analysed 75,178 home sales in Los Angeles, from March 2019 to March 2021.

The finding you will not see in any advertisement: the effect of a 3D tour on sale price becomes statistically insignificant once photo quality and listing description quality are controlled for.

In other words, a large part of what gets credited to the tour is really down to the fact that whoever commissions a tour usually takes care of everything else too.

The study is presented on Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.

Where it genuinely still helps

The same research does not say tours are useless. It says where they work.

Screening. Fewer pointless visits, because whoever turns up has already seen the space.

Remote buyers and guests. When the buyer is in another city or country, the tour replaces something that otherwise would not happen at all.

Markets where few people use them. The advantage is larger where you stand out, not where everyone is doing the same thing.

Those are real benefits. They are just not "double the bookings".

How to check a statistic before believing it

Three questions are enough.

Who measured it, and when? A number with no date is advertising, not evidence.

On what sample? Ten properties is not research.

What was compared with what? If the listings with tours also had better photographs, the comparison is not measuring the tour.

One example we ran into while checking. The very well travelled "520% more calls" is often attributed to Google. It is not Google's, it comes from BrightLocal research. It has been repeated so many times that it now circulates as official.

We would rather you trusted the numbers we do use than were impressed by ones that do not survive a check.

#Στατιστικά, #Έρευνα, #Virtual Tour

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