Increasing Quality Leads
My role
UX Design
UX Research
UX Strategy
User Interviews
Project length
4 months
Project Overview
Mercedes-Benz USA needed more than just more leads coming through mbusa.com — they needed leads that actually converted into dealer contact and, ultimately, vehicle purchases. Rather than starting from assumptions, we went straight to the source: visiting dealerships and talking directly with the sales staff who work these leads every day. What we heard reframed the whole project — the problem wasn't lead volume, it was lead quality and follow-through. I led research and design on a redesigned lead form system, tested across multiple formats and placements to find what actually got prospects to submit — and stay engaged afterward.
Mercedes-Benz USA needed more than just more leads coming through mbusa.com — they needed leads that actually converted into dealer contact and, ultimately, vehicle purchases. Rather than starting from assumptions, we went straight to the source: visiting dealerships and talking directly with the sales staff who work these leads every day. What we heard reframed the whole project — the problem wasn't lead volume, it was lead quality and follow-through. I led research and design on a redesigned lead form system, tested across multiple formats and placements to find what actually got prospects to submit — and stay engaged afterward.
The Problem
Leads didn't stick.
Whether a shopper connected in person at a dealership or through their own online browsing, dealership employees told us the same thing: initial interest rarely turned into a real, sustained connection.
Forms asked for too much, too soon.
A long, detailed form up front felt like a wall between a curious shopper and a dealer — especially for someone who was still early in deciding what they wanted.
No clear next step after submitting.
Once someone submitted a lead, they had no sense of what would happen next or when — leaving them, as one team member put it, feeling like they were "in a waiting game."
Fluctuating, uneven lead performance. Leads dipped in late 2022/early 2023 due to economic pressure and site changes, and performance varied significantly by vehicle class — some classes (like the GLE) were surging while others (like the GLC and C-Class) were declining.
Leads didn't stick.
Whether a shopper connected in person at a dealership or through their own online browsing, dealership employees told us the same thing: initial interest rarely turned into a real, sustained connection.
Forms asked for too much, too soon.
A long, detailed form up front felt like a wall between a curious shopper and a dealer — especially for someone who was still early in deciding what they wanted.
No clear next step after submitting.
Once someone submitted a lead, they had no sense of what would happen next or when — leaving them, as one team member put it, feeling like they were "in a waiting game."
Fluctuating, uneven lead performance. Leads dipped in late 2022/early 2023 due to economic pressure and site changes, and performance varied significantly by vehicle class — some classes (like the GLE) were surging while others (like the GLC and C-Class) were declining.
Project Opportunities & Goals
The goal was directly tied to Mercedes-Benz USA's 2025 targets: 25% of sales through eCommerce, 50% of offline sales digitally triggered, and stronger conversion on EQ/TEV (electric) vehicle interest. To get there, we needed to redesign the lead form experience to reduce friction at submission and give shoppers clearer confirmation and next steps once they'd submitted — while testing enough variation to know what actually moved the needle, not just what looked better in a comp.
The goal was directly tied to Mercedes-Benz USA's 2025 targets: 25% of sales through eCommerce, 50% of offline sales digitally triggered, and stronger conversion on EQ/TEV (electric) vehicle interest. To get there, we needed to redesign the lead form experience to reduce friction at submission and give shoppers clearer confirmation and next steps once they'd submitted — while testing enough variation to know what actually moved the needle, not just what looked better in a comp.
Our Process
Started with dealership visits, not a whiteboard.
Before touching a single wireframe, we spent time at dealerships hearing directly from the people fielding these leads — where their best leads actually came from, what a typical lead interaction looked like, and where connections broke down. That grounded every design decision that followed in what dealership staff actually experience, not just what the analytics dashboard showed.
Tested form length as a spectrum, not a binary.
Instead of picking one "right" form, we built a range — from an expanded version capturing detailed vehicle and contact preferences, to a very simple, low-friction version — and A/B tested them against each other to see how much information shoppers were actually willing to give before dropping off.
Tested how the form was presented, not just what was in it.
We ran a second A/B test comparing a pop-up modal against a slide-in panel from the right of the viewport, to see which presentation style kept shoppers engaged rather than feeling interrupted.
Designed for context, not just one form.
The same underlying form needed to work across very different entry points — global navigation, a specific model page, a generic special offers page, a special offer tied to a specific vehicle, and vehicle listing/detail pages. Each variant kept the same core fields (vehicle, dealer, contact info, preferred contact method) but adjusted framing and pre-filled context — like already knowing which vehicle and dealer a shopper was looking at when they came from a VDP.
Anchored every decision in the KPIs.
Every design choice — CTA copy ("Get a Quote," "Schedule a Test Drive," "I'm Interested"), whether to encourage account registration via a Mercedes me ID, how much vehicle detail to surface on a lead tied to a VIN — was weighed against the business's actual conversion goals: submit lead, contact dealer, purchase.
Started with dealership visits, not a whiteboard.
Before touching a single wireframe, we spent time at dealerships hearing directly from the people fielding these leads — where their best leads actually came from, what a typical lead interaction looked like, and where connections broke down. That grounded every design decision that followed in what dealership staff actually experience, not just what the analytics dashboard showed.
Tested form length as a spectrum, not a binary.
Instead of picking one "right" form, we built a range — from an expanded version capturing detailed vehicle and contact preferences, to a very simple, low-friction version — and A/B tested them against each other to see how much information shoppers were actually willing to give before dropping off.
Tested how the form was presented, not just what was in it.
We ran a second A/B test comparing a pop-up modal against a slide-in panel from the right of the viewport, to see which presentation style kept shoppers engaged rather than feeling interrupted.
Designed for context, not just one form.
The same underlying form needed to work across very different entry points — global navigation, a specific model page, a generic special offers page, a special offer tied to a specific vehicle, and vehicle listing/detail pages. Each variant kept the same core fields (vehicle, dealer, contact info, preferred contact method) but adjusted framing and pre-filled context — like already knowing which vehicle and dealer a shopper was looking at when they came from a VDP.
Anchored every decision in the KPIs.
Every design choice — CTA copy ("Get a Quote," "Schedule a Test Drive," "I'm Interested"), whether to encourage account registration via a Mercedes me ID, how much vehicle detail to surface on a lead tied to a VIN — was weighed against the business's actual conversion goals: submit lead, contact dealer, purchase.
Impact
OneWeb leads climbed 36% month-over-month (+344 leads), even against an 8% decrease in total site traffic — a sign the redesigned forms were converting a higher share of the traffic that did arrive.
Visit-to-lead conversion rate rose 40% since April, with August posting the highest conversion rate of the year.
Class-level data showed exactly where the wins were landing: the GLE Class gained 861 leads (+95%) and Full Line gained 421 (+22%), giving the team clear signal on where to focus next, versus classes like the C-Class and GLC that were still declining.
The A/B testing framework we built — on form length and on pop-up vs. slide-in presentation — gave the team a repeatable way to keep optimizing the lead experience going forward, rather than a one-time redesign.
OneWeb leads climbed 36% month-over-month (+344 leads), even against an 8% decrease in total site traffic — a sign the redesigned forms were converting a higher share of the traffic that did arrive.
Visit-to-lead conversion rate rose 40% since April, with August posting the highest conversion rate of the year.
Class-level data showed exactly where the wins were landing: the GLE Class gained 861 leads (+95%) and Full Line gained 421 (+22%), giving the team clear signal on where to focus next, versus classes like the C-Class and GLC that were still declining.
The A/B testing framework we built — on form length and on pop-up vs. slide-in presentation — gave the team a repeatable way to keep optimizing the lead experience going forward, rather than a one-time redesign.
