Deepening the Experience

That online feel extends to the interior of the mailer. Laid out in a website-like fashion, there is plenty of white space, so as to not overwhelm the prospect, and small bits of copy, such as two testimonials from high school teachers and a section that details a couple highlights from three cities Explorica students travel to.

On the bottom fold-down piece, Explorica displays its offer and calls to action. The offer, "Free Membership On Select Tours," is emphasized on both sides of this fold-out, with the copy "Don't Wait—Limited Time Offer!" when students sign up for select tours by Sept. 30, as well as a link to visit and a phone number to call. "Anyone who signed up in that time period would get the free membership, but there were details around the qualification for it, which is what the landing page talks about," details Poulin. "The call to action was to get more information on the landing page to draw engagement to our website, but also the call to action was to call us, where they could talk to a sales agent directly."

So far, the results have been good. Poulin says this mailing is performing better than other prospecting pieces from the past, and Explorica plans to run it again with updated images and a higher-grade paper stock-and perhaps even a little more white space "so the offer stands out that much more," according to Poulin.

Preprint for Ease
Sometimes, something as simple as filling out a business reply card can be the difference between response and recycling. Prospects often don't want to take the time to fill a form, and the longer the form, the less likely for response. So try a preprinted BRC that requires little effort to fill out, like education travel provider Explorica did in its back-to-school prospecting mailer. "The preprinted BRC is working great for easy response back," says Director of Marketing Alexa Poulin. The simpler, the better.