On-campus housing is a key component of a student's decision and ranking for a particular university. According to ZeeMee, 73% of students report anxiety about living in residence (ZeeMee). Net Natives states that “The sooner students receive their housing assignments, the sooner they can start to visualize themselves on your campus.”
The University of Ottawa (uOttawa) is the world’s largest bilingual university with courses offered in both English and French), and is home to the first French immersion undergraduate program. With an average student body of approximately 48,000 learners, uOttawa offers a vibrant and diverse academic community.
The challenge
In 2024, uOttawa’s Recruitment and Housing teams collaborated make the residence application process as streamlined as possible. This would help them secure residence applications faster, strengthen student commitment with housing deposits, and ease student concerns about living away from home for the first time. One aspect of achieving this was to implement detailed virtual residence tours that would help students explore and select on-campus residence options.
The solution: uOttawa uses Circuit to elevate immersive housing tours
For many years, uOttawa has used Circuit to power tours that showcase life and learning on campus through amenities and program spaces. Extending to student housing options gives prospective students an engaging and informative look at on-campus residence options, and provides a comprehensive view of dorm life and housing features.
Residence tours were built with five key aspects in mind:
- Delivering an immersive, multi-format virtual experience. uOttawa combined 360° content, high-quality photography, and engaging video to bring their residence spaces to life online.
- Offering detailed visualizations: Floorplan illustrations provide an accurate sense of space and help students confidently plan for move-in.
- Sharing tips, personalized insights and authentic student stories. Videos and descriptions share real firsthand experiences, address common concerns about residence life and foster a sense of connection. For example, a story about first-year roommates Rachel and Katie shows how they manoeuvred first-year life together.
- Depicting options for vibrant campus living: The tour highlights a variety of dorm styles and the dynamic student community, making on-campus living appealing and approachable.
- Offering Calls-to-Action (CTAs) that assist users. Within uOttawa’s virtual tour, they also strategically integrated customizable Calls-to-Action (CTAs) to advance users towards next steps while exploring the tour. As part of their housing promotion, a CTA to “Sign Up For A Guided Tour” was used to drive registration for campus tour bookings that students could take to get answers about residence and other aspects of campus life.
The outcome: uOttawa successfully promoted housing applications with Circuit and drove outstanding results
uOttawa strategically integrated virtual tour content into their housing website, targeting future students with ‘deeplinks’ that take students from each residence webpage to relevant entry points on the residence tour.
To further boost exposure, an email blast was sent to students interested in residence, which drove over 4,000 visitors in March and April 2024—a 261% increase vs. 2023. Further, about 25% of these visitors returned back to the tour for two or more visits, revealing strong signals around student engagement and intent.
This promotion strategy resulted in 9,778 virtual residence tour starts, underscoring the tour’s effectiveness in driving student engagement. uOttawa’s virtual tour also achieved an impressive 79% engagement rate, with users spending an average of 7 minutes and 22 seconds per session and viewing 16.4 pages per visit. Additionally, the “Sign Up for a Guided Tour” button successfully connected users to uOttawa’s sign-up page, reinforcing the impact of clear call-to-action elements.
A successful collaboration between Recruitment and Residence
UOttawa transformed the housing application process into an immersive and engaging experience through a student-centred approach, bridging the gap between curiosity and confidence. By combining technology, storytelling, and seamless navigation, uOttawa didn’t just showcase their residences—they brought them to life.
