Virtual Tours that turn curiosity into commitment
Over the past year, millions of students and families have turned to Appily Tours to explore their college options. By combining immersive visuals, personalized pathways, and intuitive calls to action, Appily Tours transform exploration into meaningful engagement—and engagement into measurable enrollment impact.
Increase Student Engagement
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12k
Average annual visits per tour
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7:09
Average time on tour
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3.9x
Higher campus visit rate
Move Conversions Across the Funnel
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16%
Average inquiry rate
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49%
Average inquiry-to-application rate
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14%
Average inquiry-to-deposit rate
Go beyond physical spaces
Virtual tours are more than tours of physical spaces. To be highly effective, a virtual tour needs to function as an experience, one that helps prospective students connect with your school and envision their future there.
Augustana College noted evolving college-search trends, including a delayed timeline for in-person campus visits, reinforcing the need for an engaging digital experience students can access from home.
An immersive campus experience built for today’s recruitment reality
Facing a budget deficit and limited reach from a rural location, the University of Idaho partnered with Appily Tours to give prospective students an immersive way to experience campus from home, then promoted the tour across key channels (their Appily profile, university website, and social media). In 2022, the virtual tour generated 20+ more interactions per visit than the platform average, drove a 12% inquiry rate, and helped secure 3,000+ inquiries, with visitors spending an average of 6:12 on the tour. The university also received 408 virtual tour inquiries, 92% of whom applied; ultimately 31% of admitted students deposited, contributing to 1,951 enrolled students (their largest class to date) and YoY gains in first-year enrollment (+18%) and admitted students (+8%) from 2021–2022.
Choosing a new virtual tour platform?
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Evaluating Virtual Tours?
Assess your enrollment goals, student expectations, and budget to decide if now is the time to invest.
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Already have a Virtual Tour?
Use the Diagnostic to evaluate your current tour experience and identify areas of opportunity.
Turn every virtual tour visit into a smart, student-centered journey with our AI Tour Companion.
Far beyond a chatbot, the AI Tour Companion acts as a dynamic guide—anticipating question, surfacing relevant information, and collecting valuable data—making each tour feel unique and engaging.
Built into every Appily Tour, our Companion pulls information from both your virtual tour and .edu, allowing you to maximize your exiting content, mirror the support of a live student ambassador, and drive better enrollment outcomes.
Need help making the case?
Virtual tours are a major decision input
In EAB’s 2023 survey of 20k+ high school students, 24% cited virtual tours as a top source of information during their college search.
Engagement benchmark
7.2 minutes of engagement on average per tour visit.
Conversion benchmark
16% average inquiry rate and 3.9x higher campus visit rate for virtual tour inquiries.
Reach and yield impact via Appily
3.5M+ students use Appily for college search, and partners with a virtual tour on their Appily profile see, on average, a 16% higher application rate and 60% higher deposit among inquiries.
Personalization and AI capabilities
Personalized tour pathways can drive 48% greater time on tour; the AI Tour Companion (coming soon) is an embedded guide that anticipates questions, surfaces relevant information, and collects visitor data.
Inquiry capture and analytics
Our tour includes a progressive Conversational Inquiry Form that shows a 2x higher conversion rate vs traditional web forms, plus an analytics portal to monitor engagement and benchmark against the tour network.
Accessibility and global readiness
Appily Tours are as fully ADA-compliant and available in 130+ languages.
Public university proof point (University of Idaho)
Reported a 12% inquiry rate and 3,000+ inquiries; 92% of Appily Tour inquiries submitted an application; 1,951 students enrolled (their largest class to date).
Private college proof point (Augustana College)
Appily Tour inquiries showed an 85% admit rate vs 56% overall and a 34% deposit rate vs 12% overall. Additionally, 11% of EC24 deposits inquired through their Appily Tour.