Still, animated and walkthroughs are a more interactive way to show off your product, service or a location. Good examples are 360 degree images of landscapes or venues like stadiums, or a walkthrough tour of a villa you might rent, or house you are trying to sell.

So what are the advantages of still, animated and walkthoughs for a website?

• They are a fairly new concept, so a great way to get ahead of competitors.
• Increase the time a potential customer stays on a website (increase ‘stickiness’).
• Enjoyment for the user.
• Showcase features of your business in more detail than an image.
• They are useful for promotion on social media, getting more people to visit the website.
• Walkthroughs are proven to generate quicker sales.

Another great advantage of still, animated and walkthroughs is the possibility to overlay extra information such as text onto the image. For example, say the image was of a University Campus, an aerial 360 image could label all of the different buildings within the campus, and a walkthrough could take the user through the student union explaining all the rooms and activities.

Like everything in the digital world, there are a few negatives of still, animated and walkthroughs:

• Cost. Understandably there is a higher price tag than simple images.
• Distortion of images can occur. This can depend on the software used, but it is also important to think how much this could affect the end product. For example, you don’t want to give the wrong impression on the size of rooms in a high-end house you are trying to sell, as it will give the estate agents a bad reputation for misleading customers.
• If the intended audience are not very tech-savvy, they might have difficulty using the final product to its full potential.

Overall, still, animated and walkthroughs can offer a great user experience, and can often encourage sales, however the cost and audience need to be considered. If you think your business would benefit from any of these features, get in touch with Monster and find out our friendly, professional style can enable us to work together to get the best results.