In 2023 we were getting 10 to 1 return on our investment in Google Ads. That’s a pretty impressive statistic.
Alex Catchpoole
Co-owner & COO
Rail Explorers founders Alex Catchpoole and Mary Joy Lu ran a successful visual effects agency in NYC before they made an abrupt switch. Mary Joy was watching TV when she saw the actors climb onto “a strange contraption on the railroad,” pedaling off into the sunset. It was a rail bike. “I said to Alex, ‘This is brilliant! This is what we’re doing next,’” she recalls. In 2015, the couple left city life behind and founded their first Rail Explorers site in the Adirondacks; today, the company has six sites across the U.S. Visitors of all ages and abilities can enjoy a leisurely ride through unique landscapes as they pedal rail bikes on restored tracks. “It caught the imagination of so many people. Business just took off,” Alex says. “And now we have some fantastic groupies who try to ride in all of our locations.” They have 30 full-time employees–190 during peak season–and have two more sites planned for 2024.
Rail Explorers began using Google Ads in 2017 to bring customers to their website, which handles 80 percent of their bookings. They use AI-powered Performance Max campaigns to reach locals and travelers alike across Google channels. “The return on investment is astounding,” says Alex, noting a 30-percent increase in ROI in 2023. Each site has its own Google Business Profile, with reviews, photos, and maps to the often remote locations. Alex and Mary Joy are deeply committed to eco-tourism: “The Rail Explorers experience requires minimal new construction, with no new roads or development through sensitive ecosystems,” Alex explains. They’re also creating local jobs, and are proud to be driving tourism and economic development at each of their locations, which attract tens of thousands of riders a year. “Communities are coming to us now asking us to put in a Rail Explorer division,” Mary Joy says. “They can see from our history the impact we have in a community.”