How Campus360 is Providing a Personalized Experience
The newest update to Campus360 combines curiosity with intention to take students on a personalized, memorable journey à la self-guided tours. Students can select a combination of academic and social interests that produces a curated virtual experience that prioritizes relevance and efficiency. Instead of clicking through menus or navigating long lists of stops, students simply choose from a focused set of interest tags such as residence halls, sports facilities, libraries, academic spaces, and more, and instantly receive a guided route built around what they care about most. Every virtual tour becomes its own tailored experience.
Research from Deloitte and leading higher ed marketing firms shows that guided, low friction digital pathways can increase user engagement by approximately 15 to 25 percent. When prospective students feel that a tour reflects their priorities, they are more likely to stay engaged, explore longer, and take meaningful next steps, whether that is submitting an inquiry, scheduling a visit, or applying.
Curating the Student Experiencee
Above: Students select areas of interest to generate a unique tour path. Virginia Tech University.
For many students, virtual experiences take the place of traditional tours as a way to save on time and financial costs. However, these experiences are often generic and uniform, lacking the individualized touch that an in-person visit might afford; for example, major-specific programming hosted by a students’ department of interest, or the experience of having a campus tour guide who is also following your professional track.
Campus360’s self guided tours aim to bring students the best of both worlds, offering the easy access of a virtual immersive experience along with the personalization of a tour that reflects their individual interests. High school students who are balancing coursework, prepping college apps, simply won't have the time to visit every campus on their list. Furthermore, aligning with the notion that Gen-Z's average attention span is just 7-seconds, having that added layer of engagement is a necessity. With self guided tours, Campus360 delivers on both needs, supported by features like embed videos, popup stories, green screen guides, and other interactive elements that introduce stronger engagement throughout the experience.
Why it Matters to Institutions
Above: The Reich College of Education shares its mission to develop student leaders. Appalachian State University.
Each recruiting cycle, administrative and admissions teams can gain many critical insights on which of their programs students are most interested in learning about, as well as the social and personal factors that potential applicants prioritize. Based on interest data, admissions can tailor follow-up messaging to match what the sort of content that students want to see, increasing meaningful interactions between students and colleges.
Campus programs are given the opportunity to tell their own stories with description features that highlight the history, key facts, and can’t-miss features about each tour stop. This allows increased visibility for departments beyond their individual pages or brochures, offering opportunities for dynamic storytelling that can attract students to a school’s specific program.
Bottom Line: How Self-Guided Tours Bring Value to Students and Campuses
For students, self-guided tours increase personal relevance and provide an efficient means of conducting college research that builds campus love when they are able to picture how a school can fit into the context of their lives. For campuses, new data on student interests and preferences allows branding and marketing teams to craft messages that allow for more targeted conversations that bring value to both applicants and admissions boards.
Campus360’s self-guided tour feature provides all the time and cost-saving benefits of a virtual touring experience without sacrificing personalization or the opportunity for campuses and prospective students to really connect.