The ROI of Virtual Apartment Tours

Most operators see ‘ROI’ and think occupancy or rent growth: ‘I pay X, so I expect Y increase.’

With virtual tours, the financial ROI is unquestionable. Vacancies cost hundreds per day—far more than the cost of producing virtual tours, investing in an AI chatbot, or hiring more leasing staff.

And each signed lease resulting from a virtual tour represents a return many times greater than that.

But with virtual tours, there's more to ROI than just dollars.

Virtual tours deliver an operational ROI that's harder to track in a spreadsheet—but arguably more valuable.

They make:

• Leasing teams → happier and more efficient
• Renters → more qualified and lease-ready
• Marketing → more effective across channels

Let's look at why virtual tours are a worthy investment.

Virtual Tours Empower Leasing Teams

Leasing agents juggle countless tasks (many they never imagined having to do) and the pressure of maintaining a community's performance, revenue, and reputation.

So when it's finally their moment to shine and give a tour, but it's clear in the first few moments the prospects aren't interested, it's demoralizing.

(No wonder we're seeing such a high amount of burnout and turnover within leasing teams.)

Virtual tours prevent this by making your leasing staff's jobs easier and more productive.

Having virtual tours on your website and other marketing sources means:

• Fewer wasted in-person tours or no-shows. Renters can self-qualify before reaching out or stepping on-site because they can see the inside of your floorplans online via a walkthrough video tour and photos.
• More time spent with serious prospects (and better closing rates). Your leasing staff will interact with more prospects who are ready to lease because they already know what units look like and only schedule tours as a formality to validate their interest before signing. Your agents will gain confidence closing more deals, achieving performance benchmarks, and seeing their impact on improving occupancy and revenue. Each day becomes more fulfilling and they become invested in their roles, which is needed to avoid employee turnover.
• 24/7 leasing. Your leasing staff can actually go home when the leasing office closes! Virtual tours of your floorplans give renters the ability to see inside your apartments anytime, helping you generate more qualified leads after hours.
• Additional support for in-person showings. Leasing teams can leverage virtual tours before, during, and after in-person showings. Roommates or family who can’t attend still get a clear look at the unit—helping everyone decide together.

The ROI here is more time and satisfaction for your leasing staff, more qualified leads, and more options for renters to see your apartments without having to drive there in-person.

Virtual Tours Reduce Vacancy Durations

Think about the last time you rented an apartment, bought a home, or booked a hotel. You wouldn't decide without seeing the inside first.

That's why renters expect apartment communities to offer comprehensive virtual tours showing the inside of each floorplan.

With virtual tours:

• Prospects make decisions faster. Featuring walkthrough videos and photos of each floorplan will make your apartments stand apart from the competition. Renters will feel more confident about pursuing a lease from you because you're addressing one of their basic needs.
• There's less friction in the comparison stage. Renters begin their apartment search with certain prerequisites—location, floorplan, price, availability—and there could be dozens of options that fit their needs. When it comes to evaluating those options, communities with virtual tours will compare more favorably to communities that lack helpful photo or video content.
• You establish expectations online that prevent disappointments in-person. Virtual tours, done well, help renters clearly understand the space, appearance, finishings, and features of a unit in the floorplan they're eyeing. That sets an expectation for what they would see in an actual visit, leading to faster leasing decisions.
• Out-of-town renters can lease with confidence. Before virtual touring options existed, much of the foot traffic at communities came on the weekends when prospects had time to travel there. Out-of-town renters who are interested now don't have to wait days or weeks to find time to get to the community in-person. Virtual tours give every renter the ability to see, decide, and apply confidently without visiting, thus avoiding longer vacancies. 

The ROI here is that virtual tours help renters choose your apartment community over others, ultimately making it easier for you to lease units faster and avoid lengthy vacancies.

Virtual Tours Improve Marketing Efficiency

Apartment shopping is a visual experience—and communities will either qualify or disqualify renters' interest based upon the appearance of photos and videos on their websites, digital ads, ILSs, Google Business Profiles, and other marketing channels.

Low-quality, missing virtual tour content makes marketing an apartment community harder and more expensive. That leads to longer vacancies, more rent discounts, and lost revenue.

So from a marketing aspect, the ROI of virtual tours impacts both dollars and the rest of a community's operation.

Virtual tours makes marketing work more efficiently by:

• Increasing website engagement. High-converting apartment websites are centered on floorplan-specific walkthrough videos and photos that create the virtual touring experience renters expect and act on. Renters stay on the website longer and are more likely to apply.
• Improving conversions from ads. Attractive photos and videos of an apartment community displayed in its search, display, and video ad campaigns prompt more clicks. When those ads drive prospects to relevant landing pages featuring virtual tour content where renters convert, it improves ad bidding, visibility, and performance.
• Elevating a community's presence across multiple online channels. Wherever renters search for and discover apartments, communities with high-quality media will create a memorable impression. And as renters do more research or evaluation, the more they're able to see a community and its floorplans via virtual tours, the more familiarity they gain—a huge reinforcer of trust that elevates apartment communities from potential contender to top candidate.
• Giving you photo and video content that's reusable and flexible for multiple marketing efforts. There's much more value to virtual tours than just showings. Upgrading your videos and photos is an investment in the appearance of your digital ads, social media posts, Google Business Profile, and other marketing sources.

The ROI here is that virtual tours create a strong visual representation of your apartment communities, making websites, ads, and all channels more effective at engaging and attracting renters—ultimately improving qualified traffic and conversions.

Conclusion: A Broader View of ROI for Apartment Virtual Tours

The true ROI of virtual apartment tours is that they completely change a community's operation for the better.

• Leasing agents get their time and confidence back dealing with prospects ready to lease.
• Vacancies shorten because renters can see inside floorplans without delays, helping them take action faster.
• Marketing performs better at generating qualified leads and leases.

If you're debating about investing in or upgrading your apartment community's virtual tours, don't just think about if it makes sense from a financial perspective; think about how it makes sense for your leasing teams, future renters, and your operation.

And when you're ready, choose RentVision's Virtual Tours—the standard for floorplan-specific walkthrough video tours that renters want.