Mar 27, 2019
Immersive Content Integration Best Practices for Your Website
“What’s the best way to use TrueTour™ on my website?”
We get asked this question so often, we wanted to highlight specific do’s and don’ts to fully leverage TrueTour’s website integration opportunities.
The short answer to website integration — use your TrueTour™ APP put 360 and 3D experiences on your site wherever you reference a physical space, and anywhere you are telling a story with a sense of place. If they are making a decision to visit you or buy your product, TrueTour 360/3D visuals will increase conversions by helping them say ‘yes.’
Using Google Analytics, we’ve observed powerful conversion increases on sites which leverage our website integration best practices:
In order to start seeing these results for yourself, we’ve outlined detailed suggestions for you to follow.
First things first, what NOT to do:
Bury TrueTour in your navigation
The best way to see negligible ROI for your property is to bury the TrueTour in your navigation or on the footer of your website. TrueTour is meant to be shown, showcased, shared and leveraged, and in doing so, will become an essential part of your selling system and bring value to your property and product. Tucking the entire package away on your site somewhere behind a vague text link will make TrueTour as effective at selling as your Privacy Policy page.
![virtual-tour-nav-2]("data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAGQAAAABCAQAAACC0sM2AAAADElEQVR42mNkGCYAAAGSAAIVQ4IOAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC")
Hidden under the label “virtual tour” (since TrueTour is so much more than a virtual tour!)
A common misconception is that TrueTour is yet another virtual tour – where TrueTour is so much more! Simple virtual tours only provide a walkaround, open-ended interface where viewers can meander and get lost, with no lead capture, storytelling, or interactive booking elements within the tour itself. Instead of telling your viewer what TrueTour is (or is not!), why not show them.
TrueTour™’s Powerful Integration Features:
Keep in mind, the TrueTour™ APP is a sales tool built for salespeople! Inside a TrueTour™ APP you might find pdf’s, photos, videos, floorplans… all sorts of sales tools. When it comes to website integration we’re really focusing on the 360 photos and 3D tours inside a TrueTour™. In addition to being a powerful sales tool, the TrueTour™ APP acts as a CMS (content management system); using the ‘website integration options’ section insde the TrueTour™ ‘share’ functionality you can create links, embed codes and scripts for use on your website.
For example, if you want to place a 360° image onto your website, simply navigate to the 360° image in your TrueTour™ APP, then click the ‘share’ button in the lower right hand corner. Select ‘website integration options’ and then select either the embed code, or the ‘white label link’. Using these specific codes and links on your website automatically eliminates the left and right menus that show up inside your TrueTour™ APP along with the many buttons and other features not needed or intended when integrating onto a website keeping your visuals clean and focused on your branding.
Real Life Examples
Our clients continue to leverage TrueTour powered visuals in innovative ways on their sites, capturing traffic and increasing sales. We’re not only going to show you where to feature a TrueTour on your site, but specifically how you should showcase these visuals. Here are many examples we recommend to increase your ROI with TrueTour:
Hotel Website Integration
Hotel Suite Display Next to Each Room View (or, even better, display as the room view itself!)
You probably have a menu on your website listing your different levels of suites. Tell the full story and give the viewer a way to engage with the room itself by showing off the view, letting them feel the ambiance of the space, and make sure you’re providing exactly what they’re looking for. If you provide unique in-room amenities, be sure to highlight those within the room with specific TrueTour callouts to make your prospects take notice. The Archer Hotel Austin does a fantastic job of this on their site:
Advanced Tip: Use a button or graphic that launches a 360° or 3D experience in a pop-up modal over the top of the website.
Public Areas in Hotels to Showcase Your Amenities
Do you have a Michelin-starred restaurant on your property? How about an immaculate pool with a view of the ocean? A world-class spa or cleansing retreat with idyllic ambiance? Or perhaps a rooftop bar that attracts visitors and locals from all across your region? Each of these special amenities give your hotel character and differentiates you among your competition, so you should showcase and highlight each of these with immersive visuals. Add in storytelling audio and video hotspots, and links to book their experiences, and you’ve effectively eliminated the friction to book that comes along with regular galleries and multiple menus within standard websites.
Tip: if you have an experience at your property which uses its own website, such as a restaurant or spa, you can set your TrueTour to pop up in a new browser window to prompt a new customer journey.
Showcase Multiple Setups of Venue Spaces
Not only are you able to showcase your space in its most pristine time of day and season, but you can showcase multiple setups of your venue space – the versatility, the capacity, the decor flexibility, the scenery, and more. Go even further and display each view within any digital brochure or proposal you send out to clients, which provides for more lead capture opportunities!
See how the Meritage Resort implemented this method in a stylish and dynamic way.
Tip: Use a link inside a paragraph that launches a 3D experience or 360° in a pop-up modal over the website (please see the room grid down the page and the look inside or see inside link on the right column), like the Hotel Allegro Chicago has done:
Private Meeting Room Displayed to Encourage Booking of Higher-ROI Experiences
Be sure to orient your website to up sell your most exclusive experiences. Showing what’s beyond your velvet rope, allowing buyers to see what’s on the other side, will tempt many high-profile shoppers enough to instantly upgrade when budget is not a large factor.
Share Your Picture-Perfect Locations to Showcase the ‘Wow Factor’ and Increase Viral Reach
You know the places around your property that prompt guests to pull out their phone and take a picture? These share-worthy vistas start organically trending for a reason – they’re shared and seen over and over again. Your ‘selfie spot’ deserves to be captured with immaculate high definition and color clarity. Touting the best imagery in the business, we can showcase your expansive views and awe-inspiring architecture in a way that a simple image cannot. Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward and embed a view right on your website.
Tip: embed this TrueTour right into the website itself, to ensure your website viewers don’t miss out on the experience. These images are a part of your brand story, so you’ll want the immersive visual front-and-center.
Winery and Restaurant Website Integration
Transport your buyers to your source vineyards from your online wine store
As most wineries do, you probably source your wines from multiple vineyards spread out across a region, or from multiple regions. Transport your consumers directly to the vineyard their wine originates from. As if you were able to take a walk through the estate, or hop on a helicopter ride and taste wine sourced from miles away, give them a sense of the VIP experience directly from your website.
Invite consumers to see your most exciting Wine Club events of the year, and increase club sign-ups in the process
Don’t just tell them about your amazing events – show off a 360° view of the event setup, and include a gallery of event photos embedded in the tour, to let guests know what they’re missing! Invite them to sign up for the wine club from a direct link in the 360°, and let them buy tickets right on the spot from the comfort of their home.
Restaurants and the source gardens/farms on your restaurant page
“Farm to table” is a phrase that has been shared time and time again. Don’t just tell your customers of your farm-to-table practices, show them the gardens, rivers and pastures their food originated from. The authenticity you can proudly showcase will give you clout amongst your competition. (Read about our award-winning restaurant client who did just that, with high acclaim!)
Behind the scenes of the hustle and bustle of the kitchen at their private Chef’s Table
The Chef’s Table is the best seat in the house, and also the most exclusive. Upsell the uniqueness of being in the middle of the action by giving them a taste of where the magic happens. They’ll want to sign up for your waitlist right then and there, so add the link to book right within your TrueTour.
We want you to see success with your TrueTour, and are here to help get you set up today. If you have any questions about these integration best practices, and want to get started integrating your TrueTour right now, connect with our Support team who will get you on your way.
Additional Information: Rules of Thumb to Optimize
A few technical rules-of-thumb as you’re integrating, in order to speed up loading time and keep your website looking clean:
– Only show as many 360°s as are necessary to convey your space. Because you can integrate into multiple locations it’s critical that in each location you’re only displaying visuals relevant to that section (specific venues, roof top patio, guest rooms etc.)
– Turn off the sharing links to keep the image unobstructed and increase loading speed. By using the codes and links in the ‘website integration’ section of your TrueTour™ APP share feature these items will be automatically removed.
– Be sure to hide the right-and-left hand menus to keep your viewer from seeing unnecessary details. Again, these items are automatically removed when you use links created in the ‘website integration’ share section.
– Since the viewer has seen your branding on your page already, you can eliminate your logo displayed when loading the TrueTour, to further speed up load time. (again, 🙂 automatically removed in the ‘website integration’ code and links)
Click here for step-by-step details on how to apply all of these changes.
Further Reading:
Top 10 Ways Wineries Can Leverage TrueTour™ and Immersive Marketing Right Now!
Mar 27, 2019
Immersive Content Integration Best Practices for Your Website
“What’s the best way to use TrueTour™ on my website?”
We get asked this question so often, we wanted to highlight specific do’s and don’ts to fully leverage TrueTour’s website integration opportunities.
The short answer to website integration — use your TrueTour™ APP put 360 and 3D experiences on your site wherever you reference a physical space, and anywhere you are telling a story with a sense of place. If they are making a decision to visit you or buy your product, TrueTour 360/3D visuals will increase conversions by helping them say ‘yes.’
Using Google Analytics, we’ve observed powerful conversion increases on sites which leverage our website integration best practices:
In order to start seeing these results for yourself, we’ve outlined detailed suggestions for you to follow.
First things first, what NOT to do:
Bury TrueTour in your navigation
The best way to see negligible ROI for your property is to bury the TrueTour in your navigation or on the footer of your website. TrueTour is meant to be shown, showcased, shared and leveraged, and in doing so, will become an essential part of your selling system and bring value to your property and product. Tucking the entire package away on your site somewhere behind a vague text link will make TrueTour as effective at selling as your Privacy Policy page.
Hidden under the label “virtual tour” (since TrueTour is so much more than a virtual tour!)
A common misconception is that TrueTour is yet another virtual tour – where TrueTour is so much more! Simple virtual tours only provide a walkaround, open-ended interface where viewers can meander and get lost, with no lead capture, storytelling, or interactive booking elements within the tour itself. Instead of telling your viewer what TrueTour is (or is not!), why not show them.
TrueTour™’s Powerful Integration Features:
Keep in mind, the TrueTour™ APP is a sales tool built for salespeople! Inside a TrueTour™ APP you might find pdf’s, photos, videos, floorplans… all sorts of sales tools. When it comes to website integration we’re really focusing on the 360 photos and 3D tours inside a TrueTour™. In addition to being a powerful sales tool, the TrueTour™ APP acts as a CMS (content management system); using the ‘website integration options’ section insde the TrueTour™ ‘share’ functionality you can create links, embed codes and scripts for use on your website.
For example, if you want to place a 360° image onto your website, simply navigate to the 360° image in your TrueTour™ APP, then click the ‘share’ button in the lower right hand corner. Select ‘website integration options’ and then select either the embed code, or the ‘white label link’. Using these specific codes and links on your website automatically eliminates the left and right menus that show up inside your TrueTour™ APP along with the many buttons and other features not needed or intended when integrating onto a website keeping your visuals clean and focused on your branding.
Real Life Examples
Our clients continue to leverage TrueTour powered visuals in innovative ways on their sites, capturing traffic and increasing sales. We’re not only going to show you where to feature a TrueTour on your site, but specifically how you should showcase these visuals. Here are many examples we recommend to increase your ROI with TrueTour:
Hotel Website Integration
Hotel Suite Display Next to Each Room View (or, even better, display as the room view itself!)
You probably have a menu on your website listing your different levels of suites. Tell the full story and give the viewer a way to engage with the room itself by showing off the view, letting them feel the ambiance of the space, and make sure you’re providing exactly what they’re looking for. If you provide unique in-room amenities, be sure to highlight those within the room with specific TrueTour callouts to make your prospects take notice. The Archer Hotel Austin does a fantastic job of this on their site:
Advanced Tip: Use a button or graphic that launches a 360° or 3D experience in a pop-up modal over the top of the website.
Public Areas in Hotels to Showcase Your Amenities
Do you have a Michelin-starred restaurant on your property? How about an immaculate pool with a view of the ocean? A world-class spa or cleansing retreat with idyllic ambiance? Or perhaps a rooftop bar that attracts visitors and locals from all across your region? Each of these special amenities give your hotel character and differentiates you among your competition, so you should showcase and highlight each of these with immersive visuals. Add in storytelling audio and video hotspots, and links to book their experiences, and you’ve effectively eliminated the friction to book that comes along with regular galleries and multiple menus within standard websites.
Tip: if you have an experience at your property which uses its own website, such as a restaurant or spa, you can set your TrueTour to pop up in a new browser window to prompt a new customer journey.
Showcase Multiple Setups of Venue Spaces
Not only are you able to showcase your space in its most pristine time of day and season, but you can showcase multiple setups of your venue space – the versatility, the capacity, the decor flexibility, the scenery, and more. Go even further and display each view within any digital brochure or proposal you send out to clients, which provides for more lead capture opportunities!
See how the Meritage Resort implemented this method in a stylish and dynamic way.
Tip: Use a link inside a paragraph that launches a 3D experience or 360° in a pop-up modal over the website (please see the room grid down the page and the look inside or see inside link on the right column), like the Hotel Allegro Chicago has done:
Private Meeting Room Displayed to Encourage Booking of Higher-ROI Experiences
Be sure to orient your website to up sell your most exclusive experiences. Showing what’s beyond your velvet rope, allowing buyers to see what’s on the other side, will tempt many high-profile shoppers enough to instantly upgrade when budget is not a large factor.
Share Your Picture-Perfect Locations to Showcase the ‘Wow Factor’ and Increase Viral Reach
You know the places around your property that prompt guests to pull out their phone and take a picture? These share-worthy vistas start organically trending for a reason – they’re shared and seen over and over again. Your ‘selfie spot’ deserves to be captured with immaculate high definition and color clarity. Touting the best imagery in the business, we can showcase your expansive views and awe-inspiring architecture in a way that a simple image cannot. Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward and embed a view right on your website.
Tip: embed this TrueTour right into the website itself, to ensure your website viewers don’t miss out on the experience. These images are a part of your brand story, so you’ll want the immersive visual front-and-center.
Winery and Restaurant Website Integration
Transport your buyers to your source vineyards from your online wine store
As most wineries do, you probably source your wines from multiple vineyards spread out across a region, or from multiple regions. Transport your consumers directly to the vineyard their wine originates from. As if you were able to take a walk through the estate, or hop on a helicopter ride and taste wine sourced from miles away, give them a sense of the VIP experience directly from your website.
Invite consumers to see your most exciting Wine Club events of the year, and increase club sign-ups in the process
Don’t just tell them about your amazing events – show off a 360° view of the event setup, and include a gallery of event photos embedded in the tour, to let guests know what they’re missing! Invite them to sign up for the wine club from a direct link in the 360°, and let them buy tickets right on the spot from the comfort of their home.
Restaurants and the source gardens/farms on your restaurant page
“Farm to table” is a phrase that has been shared time and time again. Don’t just tell your customers of your farm-to-table practices, show them the gardens, rivers and pastures their food originated from. The authenticity you can proudly showcase will give you clout amongst your competition. (Read about our award-winning restaurant client who did just that, with high acclaim!)
Behind the scenes of the hustle and bustle of the kitchen at their private Chef’s Table
The Chef’s Table is the best seat in the house, and also the most exclusive. Upsell the uniqueness of being in the middle of the action by giving them a taste of where the magic happens. They’ll want to sign up for your waitlist right then and there, so add the link to book right within your TrueTour.
We want you to see success with your TrueTour, and are here to help get you set up today. If you have any questions about these integration best practices, and want to get started integrating your TrueTour right now, connect with our Support team who will get you on your way.
Additional Information: Rules of Thumb to Optimize
A few technical rules-of-thumb as you’re integrating, in order to speed up loading time and keep your website looking clean:
– Only show as many 360°s as are necessary to convey your space. Because you can integrate into multiple locations it’s critical that in each location you’re only displaying visuals relevant to that section (specific venues, roof top patio, guest rooms etc.)
– Turn off the sharing links to keep the image unobstructed and increase loading speed. By using the codes and links in the ‘website integration’ section of your TrueTour™ APP share feature these items will be automatically removed.
– Be sure to hide the right-and-left hand menus to keep your viewer from seeing unnecessary details. Again, these items are automatically removed when you use links created in the ‘website integration’ share section.
– Since the viewer has seen your branding on your page already, you can eliminate your logo displayed when loading the TrueTour, to further speed up load time. (again, 🙂 automatically removed in the ‘website integration’ code and links)
Click here for step-by-step details on how to apply all of these changes.
Further Reading:
Top 10 Ways Wineries Can Leverage TrueTour™ and Immersive Marketing Right Now!