In today’s automotive industry, retailing is leaning toward the digital world. You can find potential customers online if you have the proper tool in your pocket. One tool that is getting famous is the 360 car virtual tour. It’s the new-age way for customers to get the details of the car through a virtual environment. 360 tool can enhance your business presence, because of its engaging features. Providing a virtual 360 view to your potential clients will make them more engaged with your business. Now some of you might be hearing about a car virtual tour for the first time, don’t worry we got you covered.
What is a 360 Car Virtual Tour
360 car virtual tour is an innovative simulation that is made of video or still images, which then uses some editing from AI to generate a proper visually compelling 360 view of a car’s interior or exterior body. It is a digital experience through which a customer can interact and explore the car in a virtual environment. A customer can examine every detail of the car from every angle possible. A car virtual tour allows your clients and potential buyers to thoroughly explore a model in high resolution. It gives a big competitive advantage if one’s goal is to enhance its customer experience.
Car dealerships and manufacturers often use 360 virtual tours on their websites to showcase their cars and to attract their clients. You can find these virtual tours on car listing websites.
360 Car Interior Photography
The consumer’s purchasing journey has shifted to online shopping. Therefore, dealers need to use high-quality interior photos to grab their customer’s attention. 360 car interior photography allows consumers to check details deeply more than just simple static images. Consumers can zoom and inspect the surroundings of their desired car which allows users to feel that they are sitting in the car.
How to Take 360-Degree Interior Car Photos?
To offer a virtual experience and to showcase your vehicle’s appealing features, shooting high-quality 360-degree images of your car is required. Additionally, to win customer’s trust and enhance their purchasing experience, dealers to need fill the gap by providing the best car virtual experience. We have mentioned some steps you can follow to capture high-quality 360 interior car photos:
1) Arrange the required equipment: Arrange a highly efficient 360-degree camera with a stable tripod to begin your 360 car virtual tour shoot. You should ensure having good lighting, so you can highlight vehicle features.
2) Ready your car model: Clean the car model from top to bottom in-depth and choose the perfect spacious location with a simple background.
3) Place your camera: Set up the tripod, and ensure managing the car photography settings in your camera as per the lighting and weather conditions.
4) Capture photographs: To get a detailed view of the interior of your vehicle, capture multiple images from different angles.
5) Editing: Use highly efficient software to stitch the photos into flawless 360-degree images and adjust the quality as required.
6) Publish: Ensure the correct display and post the final photos to the platforms that support 360 content. Following these steps will improve your online car listing and will increase the user’s experience.
Features of Having a Car 3D Virtual Tour?
3D Virtual tours have allowed car buyers to examine vehicles on their devices. It creates a virtual realistic 3D environment that allows users to interact and explore digital models of vehicles. They can walk through the car and its surroundings to inspect the details of the car’s offerings and looks. We have listed some features of having a 3D car virtual tour below:
1) Animation capabilities: Some 3D visualizers offer animated features to the users. This allows users to have a virtual test drive of the vehicle and a close look at a moving vehicle.
2) 360 degrees and zooms: Car buyers surely want to check the detailed view of their desired vehicle, like the material used for seats, interior touch, and many more. Therefore, 3D visualizers allow users to check vehicles in 360 degrees and they can also zoom in or out vehicles interior or exterior according to their preference.
3) Customization: 3d virtual tours allow users to customize the vehicles like, by changing their color paint, changing seat designs, wheels, rims, addition of other accessories, etc.
4) Accurate representation of car models: Users can easily inspect the vehicle’s true condition. 3D car visualizers help buyers to be stress-free regarding any visual fraud. This also builds a strong reputation for the company.
5) Lighting and background control: To judge the vehicle’s actual glance in different weather conditions, daytime, and night. Users can control the lighting and background as per their choice.
Top 15 Benefits of a Best 360 Car Virtual Tour
In this period everything is available online, so why not a virtual cars tour? Car buyers prefer checking the vehicles online before visiting the stores and giving them a 360-degree virtual tour is like a cherry on the cake that grabs their attention and comes out to be a benefit for the car dealers. Let’s discuss what could be the top benefits of Google 360 virtual tour.
- Building up your customer’s engagement: Keeping an individual engaged with your product means 1 step closer to making them your potential customer. Therefore, providing a static image or a video is out of trend and a bit less attractive, a 360-degree virtual tour keeps your client more engaged and builds up their interest.
- Increased Website Traffic and Conversions: Everyone in the market is to generate revenue and to spread awareness about their brand and its products. Swotting has analyzed that providing a virtual tour is more likely to generate traffic on your website and also leads to generating more conversions.
- Availability: This virtual tour is available over the internet every single time, basically 24/7. A customer’s interest can surely be awakened any time any day, and if your physical store is closed that results in losing a client, whereas providing a virtual tour of your cars online makes your availability any time a client searches it.
- Improves information delivery: The 360-car tour delivers detailed information about the vehicles they are searching for, you can highlight the special features and specifications of the vehicle installed in it. Therefore, which generates interest in clients and educates them about the features offered.
- Diminishing physical visits: Providing a car virtual tour online can be an optimized way to generate qualified leads, which helps the sales department deliver information and input their valuable time to potential leads.
- Demonstrating USPs: 3D car viewer can flaunt the points that are unique and a bit difficult to catch the attention via stilt videos or photos, like virtual tours of a panoramic sunroof, and 360 inside car finish. It surely gives a physical feel to the clients.
- Cost Effective: 360 Car View is cost-effective as it saves the cost of the expensive photoshoot of different vehicles, as there is a huge inventory of cars and their models available, which consumes a lot of budget.
- Data Collection and Customer Insights: A 360 view car tour can help you analyze the buyer’s preferences. This allows you to gain valuable insights and tailor your marketing strategies as per buyer’s requirements. Demonstrating these points will lead to generating more conversions and revenue for your brand.
- Time savior: This virtual tour saves buyers and dealers time. Buyers used to visit physical stores repeatedly, this 360 tour allows them to check the detailed information while sitting at their home. It takes a lot of time to shoot photos or videos of different vehicles which is a complication for the dealers. However, they can save time by optimizing this 360 car virtual tour.
- Enhances brand image and reduces bounce rate: This virtual tour makes your brand look more professional and modernized. Having a huge bounce rate on your website could be negative. Additionally, Car virtual will engage your buyers and will result in a decrease in bounce rate.
- Greater ROI: Car dealers can invest in 360 vr cars to make their look appealing and attractive. Implementation of virtual tours will surely increase their sales and ROI.
- Stand out from the competition: In this competitive market, you can stand out from the crowd by making your product glance flawless from your competitors.
- Boost confidence: You can train your sales team to pitch car virtuals to your potential buyers. This will improve their confidence and can close more deals and bring more conversions to the company.
- Boost revenue: Virtual tours would be a source to create excitement for potential buyers. A product with its tempting looks will surely have a demand and you can grab this opportunity to boost your revenue.
- Social media presence: You will find a wide audience of potential car buyers on social media platforms. Therefore, providing car virtual tours on your social media will engage more users. You can improve your social media presence and drive traffic to your showrooms.
Why Car Dealership Sites should have 360 Car Virtual Tour?
Virtual tours make your product or services more interesting and appealing. To grab your potential buyer’s attention, the first look at your product or service should impress and create excitement for your buyers. Therefore, the experience of inspecting vehicles from different angles virtually by accessing them from any part of the world is an immersive experience for buyers. Car dealerships look for ways to boost their sales and hunt for better returns when it comes to marketing. If you own a car dealership and are thinking of using virtual tours. We have mentioned some benefits and importance for dealerships having a car virtual tour on their site below:
1) Boost your online presence: Virtual tour keeps your viewers on your website more engaged and creates a desire to learn more about the information of your products and services. Whereas, by creating a fascinating presence on your website, your viewers are more likely to remember it and share it with others.
2) Attract a wide audience: Virtual tours attract those customers who are not looking for a purchase. However, because of the tempting look they offer. It creates a desire for your buyers to learn more about it. Once they are attracted to your products, you can make them your potential customers. People can explore your product from their houses, who can not make a physical visit which makes it more convenient for them.
3) Enhance visualization: As per traditional methods, we used to provide some static images and videos on our sites which were not appealing or informative. Therefore, virtual tours allow viewers to examine the product from different angles. Improved visualization helps buyers to make their purchasing decisions.
4) Users spend more time: Virtual tours allow buyers to inspect the vehicle. Whereas, it checks the detailing of the vehicles because it is engaging and easily accessible. This makes buyers spend 3-6x more time on your website or any other platforms. The longer they spend time, the more they are likely to narrow their purchasing decision.
5) Increased ROI: Virtual tours are a single-time investment for car dealerships. However, most of the inquiries come from the car virtual tours. Car buyers get attracted towards virtual tours, and to increase vehicle sales virtuals could be the best investment, dealers can invest in.
How to Create a 360 Car Virtual Tour for Your Website
Selling a car on an online platform, while standing out from the competitors could be tough. However, you can set up virtual tours on your website for your car models to make their looks flawless. To get that 360-degree view of the website, you need to take photographs of your car from all proper angles because the proper angle and height of the camera play an important role in capturing 360 views of a car. The whole process can be lengthy and you might need some
expert guidance from a professional photographer to click the photographs of the car interior virtual tour and exterior too. You should place your camera in a stable position so it doesn’t capture any blurry images.
Let’s first understand how you can get a 360 exterior car view:-
1. Find yourself a proper studio
To click photos of a car, you need some space. It can be a garage or warehouse, or you can look for a studio that will give you a professional look. It is better if you can find a car photography studio in your locality so that you don’t have to worry about bad backgrounds.
2. A Turntable
Now you can install a turntable which will make the work easier, or you can ask the photographer to take photos from different angles.
3. A Proper Camera and Photography equipment
In car photography, you need to click photos, so it is obvious that you need a good-quality camera and lighting equipment. Ensure you place the camera and equipment in the right place at the right time.
4. Background
Make sure you have a background that gives a professional and aesthetic look to the car. A professional-looking background with a clean look will get more attention from the customers. You can also remove the background after clicking photos, but that will take extra effort and time.
5. Post Photography
After you are done with all the photography work and have clicked proper photos. You need to finalize it with proper editing and for that, you might have to use software like Adobe Photoshop.
How to Capture Images of a 360 Car Virtual Tour?
You have to follow these tips, no matter what body of a car you are capturing. It could be 360 interior or exterior. Therefore, these tips can make your visuals more engaging and interactive. To leave a flawless impression on your potential customers. It is important to capture some great 360 images of the car.
1. Appearance adjustment
The surfaces of a car can vary and are dynamic. Some cars will have shimmering bodies and some might have different kinds of reflections. Therefore adjust the blaze according to the car and which part of the car you are capturing. So, have proper lighting equipment and adjust it accordingly.
2. Camera Angle and adjustment
The height and angle of the camera play a vital role in capturing a 360 virtual tour. It is important to capture images from proper angles to create a proper 360-degree car virtual tour. Therefore, for each angle, the camera should be stable so that it doesn’t capture any blurry images.
Future of Shopping Cars with Virtual Tours and Beyond
As car buyer preferences are evolving, technology is constantly revolutionizing and filling the gap in online shopping. Therefore, 360 car virtual tours are taking the game to new heights and in the future they will provide some flawless opportunities for dealers and buyers. We have mentioned some future forecasting trends below:
1) Fascinating showrooms: Buyers would be able to explore different vehicle models in an exceptional digitalized showroom. Therefore, virtual tours would be installed in showrooms to provide better information about the vehicles to buyers in depth.
2) Virtual test drives: Buyers would be able to have virtual test drives in the future to experience the performance and handling of the vehicles. Potential buyers can virtually drive vehicles in different weather conditions, cities, daytime, and night because of virtual reality.
3) Augmented reality: Buyers surely wish to examine, how their desired car will look in their garage. Therefore, virtual tour transformation can revolutionize and fulfill this experience for car buyers.
4) AI design solutions: By examining customer’s tastes and budgets. AI can customize vehicles according to their preferences in the interior, vehicle color, rims, wheels, etc.
5) Interactive features: In the future, car virtual tours might not be limited to give the virtual experience of the vehicle. Therefore, buyers might be able to adjust windows, open boots, and doors virtually which will give them a personalized and interactive virtual experience to examine car features.
6) Increase sales with virtual reality: Traditionally, dealers used to ask buyers to imagine the looks of the vehicle with customized wheels, accessories, rims, e
tc. However, virtual reality will help dealers, by showing buyers a virtual image of their desired vehicle with all the preferred customizations. Virtual reality can help users examine their vehicles before making a purchase.
Incorporating 360 Degree Car View In Your Website
By now, you have understood that adding 360 car tour will make the customers more immersed and interested in your website. Therefore, you know how to create 360 car photography, but it will all be a waste if you can’t incorporate all of this on your website. Here are some steps that will help you:
1. Choose a 360 viewer
After you have created a seamless 360-car tour view. You need to add a viewer on your website through which the customers will interact with 360-degree content. Some popular options are A-Frame and Pannellum. However, choose the one that best suits your website.
2. Integrate the viewer into your website
Once you have chosen your viewer, you need to integrate by using HTML or CSS, and JavaScript. For such work, you might need assistance from a web developer.
3. Optimize the content
360-degree content can be heavy for the website because the images used are large which will eventually slow down the website. To avoid such problems, compress the images or use a video codec that can provide proper compression of 360-degree view content.
4. Include Additional Function
To make the customer experience more immersive and interactive, you can add hotspots on your 360 car viewer, which after clicking will provide additional information.
5. Testing
After including a 360-degree view of your website, remember to test it to check whether the website is functioning properly on all browsers or not.
Conclusion
360 car virtual tour surely deserves some limelight. It not only boosts the dealer’s business or makes them more modernized, but it is way more than that. It surely embraces the buyer’s requirement and gives them a new outlook, because that is what they need and require. Therefore, 360 automotive walkaround provides a resolution to have a physical feel of the buyer’s favorable vehicle. That will make them more engaged and likable to be your potential client. With the AI tool of Spyne you can fulfill their demands and can scale your business to the next level. Our tool is not only just limited to a virtual 360-degree car tour, we surely have more to offer with some amazing deals and outstanding results for your business.
