Building a branded advertising experience at mobile.de: Brand page & entry points

Overview

At mobile.de, Germany’s largest online vehicle marketplace, advertising is one of the biggest revenue drivers. However, our data showed growing banner blindness and frustration with ad density. At the same time, OEMs had limited ways to showcase new models through traditional placements.

I led the UX for a new branded advertising experience, introducing a dedicated Brand Page and contextual entry points designed to balance user needs with advertiser goals.

Role & team

Product Designer leading end-to-end UX, collaborating with Product, Engineering, and Data.

Timeline

April - September 2024

 

The Brand Page drove +25% leads and +10% configurator
referrals, while entry points exceeded traffic targets by 30%.



Understanding user & business goals

The challenge was creating an experience that was valuable to car buyers while delivering meaningful value for OEMs.

Business goals

  • Drive qualified traffic to configurators

  • Promote new vehicle models

  • Increase visibility of certified listings

User Testing

We tested the initial Brand Page with 5 users.

  • New models and certified listings provided the most value.

  • “Certified” was unclear and needed explanation.

  • Users expected listings to be relevant to their location.

 
 
 


From insights to design

SKODA was our first Brand Page partner. User testing and SKODA’s business goals shaped three key iterations before launch.

Prioritising configurator traffic

SKODA wanted to drive configurator visits for the new Elroq, so I gave it the top promotional slot with a prominent CTA.

 
 



Making certified listings clearer

Users didn’t understand what “certified” meant and expected listings to be nearby, so I added benefit highlights and location filtering.

 
 



Focusing on what adds value

Testing showed that sections such as statistics and reviews added limited value, so I removed them to focus the experience on new models and certified listings.

 
 
 


Building contextual entry points to the Brand Page

With the Brand Page defined, the next challenge was driving qualified traffic to it. I explored contextual entry points across the car-buying journey, starting with two high-traffic areas: Search Results and Vehicle Info.

1. Search Results Page

The production experience relied on generic banner ads placed above search results, without relevance to the user’s search criteria.

 


Hypothesis

Entry points aligned with the user’s search criteria would increase engagement compared to generic banner ads.


Experiment

We tested two contextual placements for users searching for SKODA or similar brands:

  • Variation A: large banner above search results

  • Variation B: smaller placement between vehicle listings

 
 

Variation A increased CTR by 10% vs. production, and Variation B by 5%.
Visibility still mattered alongside contextual relevance.



2. Vehicle Info Page

The production experience used side banner ads that competed with core vehicle content and lacked contextual relevance.


Hypothesis

A contextual entry point integrated into the page content would increase engagement compared to traditional side banners.


Experiment

We tested the contextual placement against the existing side banner.

  • Variation: contextual entry point integrated into the page

  • Control: side banner ads placed next to the vehicle information

 
 

The contextual entry point achieved a 6% higher
click-through rate than the control banner.

 


From MVP to scale

The successful SKODA launch led to additional Brand Pages for Hyundai, BMW, and Volkswagen. We continued scaling the concept by optimizing existing entry points and exploring new touchpoints across the journey.

 
 
 

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© Esin Ozcan 2026