Beyond the Data: Research that Connects
Presented by: Mustafa Bagasrawala, Sr. Project Manager, Research & Strategy, Key Lime Interactive
Event Dates: July 23-24, 2025, New York
At Key Lime Interactive, we believe research is most powerful when it truly connects with people, not just decision-makers. In a landscape where customer experience (CX) quality is declining (Forrester’s 2024 CX Index score dropped to 69.3, the lowest since the index began), relying on assumptions is a failing strategy. Our session highlighted how research-driven insight is crucial to:
- Diagnose the root causes of CX friction.
- Halt and reverse experience deterioration.
- Build loyalty-driving experiences customers demand.
Did you know 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after just one bad experience? This underscores why “connecting” matters more than ever.
Key Session Takeaways:
- Explore how UX research methods build deeper consumer connections.
- Understand the role of empathy in driving innovation—not just efficiency.
- Humanize insights to expand your influence across the organization.
Success Stories Driven by Empathy:
Case Study 1: Building Authentic Consumer Connection – The Journey to Launch: A Partnership Story
- Business Question: Launch a mobile app to attract current members and Millennial prospects, drive credit card adoption, and build lasting customer loyalty.
- Our Collaborative Journey (Concept to Market):
- 2022: Credit Card company conceptualizes a new product.
- 2023: Key Lime Interactive (KLI) conducts Phase 1: Concept Evaluation (In-Person Concept Evaluation Triads).
- Key Takeaway: The app needed to define its value by offering high-demand features for security and a complete financial picture, and by delivering the personalized experience users expected.
- 2023: KLI’s research insights help finalize the app concept, and development begins.
- 2024: KLI conducts Phase 2: Usability Testing (In-Person Usability Testing – 1:1).
- Research Objective: Assess app appeal and usability for younger demographics, identifying features for sustained engagement and deeper customer relationships.
- Key Takeaway: The app was usable and liked, but needed more distinguishing features in the free version and more educational content desired by younger users to become essential.
- 2024: Successful Launch! The research-backed app goes live in stores.
- Impact: “Empathy moved us from optimizing screens to building trust—it changed what we built, not just how we built it.” – Director, Digital Products
Case Study 2: Moving Research from Slides to Strategy
- Business Question: A global enterprise IT organization engaged KLI for foundational research to understand how users manage major incidents and resolve underlying problems, establishing a baseline view of workflows, roles, and decision-making across Incident and Problem Management.
- UX Methodology Used: Remote, Moderated Sessions
- Empathy as an Innovation Advantage: 4 Concepts Tested
- Streamlined IA: 40% Efficiency Gain. The combined diagram, timeline, and report tools significantly increased incident analysis efficiency, saving participants an estimated 40% of their time.
- Maximizing ROI: Why to Invest in Concepts 2 & 3. The recommendation was to prioritize investment in Concepts 2 and 3, as they delivered measurable ROI by solving users’ most critical pain points and aligning with real-world workflows. Concepts 1 and 4 were not viable as standalone investments.
- Customer Quote: “Nice inputs were given from your research. It will be helpful for us in development and creating new products.” – Sr. Manager Engineering
Partnering with You to Uncover the Why
Key Lime Interactive (KLI) is a full-service Customer and User Experience (CX/UX) research & strategy agency. We focus on a human-first approach to creating outstanding experiences across brands, products, and services. We improve experiences at every stage, from Discovery/Ideation to Launch/Optimize, including Definition/Plan, Design/Development, Validation, and Benchmarking.
Our diverse team of 50+ mixed-method researchers, anthropologists, strategists, and thought leaders are committed to helping clients understand their customers and meet their goals. We’ve been conducting research since 2009 in 26 countries.