Designing Banners for Acura's Vehicle Search Results Flow
If you’re short on time, just skim through the details below…they’ll give you a quick sense of the problem and the solution I designed.
ROLE
I was part of a 5 member team, working as the Product Designer alongside a product manager, developer, and other stakeholders.
IMPACT
Overall monthly lead generation increased by 5.2%
DATE
Jan - Feb 2025
DELIVERABLES
OVERVIEW
Acura is Honda’s luxury car division, the website receives 2M+ visits per month.
The problem was that users couldn’t easily find key actions like Book a Test Drive or Request a Callback on the VSR (Vehicle Search Results) page.
These options were only visible on the VDP (Vehicle Detailed Page), which led to high drop-offs between the two pages and fewer leads.
Only 38% of users who visited the VSR page continued to the VDP.
We decided to bring these options directly onto the VSR page to capture user intent earlier.
After introducing targeted lead-generation banners on the VSR page, overall monthly website lead conversions increased by 5.2% (without any major rise in traffic).
Reading time: 5-7 mins
Final Solution: The goal was to make these key actions more visible and accessible earlier in the journey.
Problems in the Acura (Honda) Website
The data showed a clear drop in website leads. We had couple of meetings with stakeholders from Acura to understand what was happening in the platform.
A large portion of visitors were dropping off from the VSR page. Only 38% of users who visited the VSR page continued to the VDP.
This led to missed opportunities and overall lower website leads.
We wanted to understand why this was happening.
The process
At first, we didn’t even know why users were dropping off. There wasn’t any clear pattern pointing to the problem. Just a noticeable gap between visits on the VSR and on the VDP.
So, before jumping into solutions, we decided to to see where the experience was breaking down…
Watching the User Recordings
To better understand what was happening, we initially started watching multiple recordings of users browsing the Acura website (especially in which users dropped off from VSR and did not visit VDP).
Here’s what we found:
Users hesitated on the VSR page.
Lot of visitors scrolled through the inventory but rarely clicked on individual VSR cards. They spent time interacting with filters, comparing prices and trims visually, then exited without interacting further.
High bounce points
Recordings showed that users often dropped off after scrolling halfway through the listings.
Action confusion
Recordings showed that many users scrolled halfway through the listings, paused briefly, often hovering around near card areas or top sections of the page. Their cursor movements often paused near CTA-like regions, showing intent but no clear path forward currently.
What we learned from talking to users?
To validate the problem, we conducted focused user sessions with existing and prospective Acura customers across different stages of the car-buying journey.
This is what we heard:
Not everyone is ready to dive deep.
Many users, especially first-time buyers, visit just to explore price ranges or color options. They’re curious but not yet committed. They prefer simple, low-effort actions at the first step instead of going inside the funnel or filling long forms.
Some users prefer human reassurance when buying cars
Some users said they’d rather talk to a dealership first before exploring detailed specs or booking test drives online. These were often mid-age buyers or those transitioning from offline dealership experiences.
Understanding user behavior in automotive retail
Car buying is multi-stage. Users oscillate between curiosity, comparison, and decision.
Not everyone is ready for a vehicle detailed page.
When users can’t easily find a more “human” option (assumption: like Request a Callback), they abandon rather than explore deeper.
Trust plays a major role in the automotive space.
Digital-first users wanted efficiency
Even tech-comfortable users expected direct actions on the VSR page. They wanted to move faster, not navigate multiple pages just to book a test drive.
The CTA placement broke user flow
Having key actions only on the VDP meant users had to commit to a model/trim before expressing interest. For casual browsers or early-stage researchers, this step felt premature —> causing drop-offs.
The Solution
After going through all the research findings and user insights, we presented them to the internal team and finalized an initial direction to solve the problem.
We realized that the friction wasn’t in intent but in visibility.
By making lead actions visible earlier, we will capture these “warm” leads who would otherwise vanish from the funnel.
That’s when we decided to bring key actions directly onto the VSR (Vehicle Search Results) page.
Deciding what needs to be shown
Before jumping into design, we aligned internally on what information the action should communicate. The goal was to keep them purposeful and not clutter the browsing experience.
We started by listing all possible actions and data points we could show:
promotions
finance offers
trade-in options
book a test drives
request a callback
But after reviewing research insights, we narrowed it down to two key lead generating actions:
Book a Test Drive: targeting users who are ready to experience the car.
Request a Callback: helping users who prefer direct interaction with a dealer before deciding.
It was also a strategic business move, since more leads ultimately meant more sales/revenue for Honda.
Once we had this clarity, we moved into layout exploration and banner behavior design.
Early Experiments and Iterations
We started by exploring multiple directions to make lead actions more visible.
The First Approach: Filler Cards
Research shows that a uniform card grid can reduce engagement and users were dropping off without engaging with the vehicle cards.
The first approach we took was to replace a few VSR cards with Filler Cards (that highlighted key actions).
Pros:
Breaks Grid Pattern and Increased Visibility
From a UX standpoint, Filler cards break the visual rhythm of identical vehicle listings, creating a moment of pause that naturally draws attention to key actions or information.
Mobile-Friendly
On mobile devices, the filler cards adapt naturally to the existing VSR grid structure. No separate component or layout is needed, making it responsive by default and consistent across breakpoints.
This design simplified the layout and immediately improved key actions visibility, but came with its own trade-offs.
During stakeholder reviews, feedback pointed out a few risks — users primarily browsing vehicles found these banners distracting, and overuse of filler cards reduced the overall focus on cars. It was clear that we needed something more subtle and integrated.
Cons:
Interrupts Vehicle Browsing
Users who are primarily interested in vehicles might find this approach a little bit disruptive, as it shifts their focus away from what they came for (VSR cards) to Filler cards.
Banner Blindness
Users who are purely vehicle browising may develop "banner blindness" over time, especially if they feel these filler cards intrude on their browsing experience.
Too much real estate
While testing the filler card approach, one of the key challenges we noticed was space efficiency. Each filler card occupied the same real estate as a vehicle card, which reduced the number of vehicles visible at a time. We didn’t want to give that much visual weight to these key actions. While it was important to surface them, doing so at the cost of a vehicle card was a big no from the stakeholders.
The Second Approach: Inline Banners
Internal research showed us that full fledged inline banners did have a good click conversion rate on other pages in the website. People did interact with CTAs inside banners.
Pros:
Efficient Use of Space
The inline banner takes up less space, allowing users to continue browsing vehicles without major interruptions.
Maintains Existing Browsing Flow
Users can access key actions naturally as they scroll, reducing friction in the browsing experience compared to filler cards that occupy full grid space.
Cons:
Limited Content Space:
This format restricts how much context or detail can be shown for each banner, which might be a constraint in the future.
Visual Overlap Risk
If not well designed, banners might blend too much with surrounding content (VSR cards), reducing their discoverability.
Visual Noise
Frequent appearance of inline banners might still create light cognitive interruptions for users scanning purely for vehicles.
Improving the design for Inline Banners
We agreed that the inline banner was a stronger approach than filler cards. It took up less space and blended naturally into the vehicle grid. The next step was solving for its limitations and refining the design.
Solving for Limited Content Space
If you remember, we decided early on that these banners should have a 2nd priority in the Vehicle Listings page. The vehicle cards would always remain the primary focus. So we kept the banners intentionally lightweight. Just a title, a short description, and a CTA. This fit our goal of surfacing key actions in a subtle way.
Solving for Visual Overlap Risk
In early iterations, the banners blended too much with the VSR cards. To fix this, we explored multiple variations in layout and contrast. The final version followed Acura’s visual language. Premium and distinct enough to draw attention without stealing focus from the vehicles.
Solving for Visual Noice
We decided not to display both banners together. Instead, we alternated them at regular intervals:
The Book a Test Drive banner appeared after every 3rd row.
The Request a Callback banner appeared after every 6th row.
The Solution
This approach struck the right balance
the inline banners felt integrated
they guided users toward key actions at the right moments
and satisfied the stakeholders’ need for visibility without compromising the browsing flow.
Our original goal was to make key actions more visible & accessible earlier in the journey. And that’s exactly what we achieved.
In the coming months, we were able to capture “warm” leads that previously dropped off mid-journey.
After introducing targeted lead-generation banners on the VSR page, overall monthly website lead conversions increased by 5.2% (without any major rise in traffic).
Final Solution: The goal was to make these key actions more visible and accessible earlier in the journey.
Want to See More?
Unfortunately I can’t post all the details online, but I’d be happy to walk you through the work if you drop me a message!