Welcome to Key Lime Interactive‘s new quarterly series, “UX Visionaries: Shaping Tomorrow’s Experiences”! Each quarter, we’ll spotlight five influential UX professionals. This series will dive into their perspectives on emerging trends, key challenges, and the evolution of UX, bringing you insights to stay ahead in an ever-changing landscape.
Kicking off this exciting series is a special guest: Eugenio Santiago, President of Key Lime Interactive.
Eugenio is a pioneer in user research with over 20 years of experience helping top brands optimize digital and product experiences. He’s excelled in both executing research projects and leading skilled teams in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches. Eugenio also developed the methodology for industry-specific competitive indices, expanding from a single report to over 10 annual releases across five industries. His innovative contributions have truly elevated user research’s role in shaping business strategies, making him a trusted leader in the field.
What is one emerging trend in UX you’re most excited about right now, and why does it matter?
I’m most excited about the profound “Consumer Reset” and the subsequent focus on creating trustworthy and inclusive digital experiences. Consumers today have fundamentally shifted their expectations due to factors like the pandemic, economic pressures, and evolving social dynamics. They now demand seamless, transparent, and personalized interactions. This matters immensely because brands that fail to adapt risk losing engagement and loyalty, making trust and inclusivity business imperatives.
What is the biggest challenge or pain point you see UX teams facing today?
The biggest challenge for UX teams today is the “research without action” problem. While consumer insights teams tirelessly uncover key user behaviors and pain points, too often this valuable research remains underutilized—stuck in reports or forgotten presentations. In a competitive landscape driven by digital transformation, organizations can no longer afford for insights to inform without actively influencing change. The core issue isn’t a lack of data, but rather a failure to effectively operationalize research and translate it into measurable business outcomes that leadership will act on.
How do you see UX evolving over the next few years, and what advice would you give teams to stay ahead?
I see UX evolving to become far more action-oriented and integrated directly into business operations, moving beyond merely informing to actively transforming business outcomes. For UX teams to stay ahead, they must make three critical shifts:
- Frame research as business impact: Translate insights into tangible metrics like revenue or conversion rates, ensuring objectives are tied to financial or operational impact for leadership engagement.
- Embed research into business operations: Integrate it early in workflows, deliver insights in actionable, bite-sized formats, and test and iterate quickly within agile sprints.
- Prove ROI and measure success: Tie research to key performance indicators, track adoption of findings, and showcase before-and-after performance metrics. The value of research ultimately lies in its impact on improving business decisions, driving growth, and minimizing costs.
Conclusion
As we wrap up the inaugural post in our UX Visionary Series, we hope this has sparked new ideas and provided valuable insights. Our aim with this quarterly series is to foster a vibrant dialogue around the ever-evolving landscape of User Experience, bringing you perspectives from the brightest minds in the field. We’re excited to continue this journey with you.
Nominate Your Next UX Visionary
Who do you believe is shaping the future of UX? We’re eager to hear from you! Nominate individuals whose perspectives you’d love to see featured in an upcoming post. Please send your nominations, along with a brief explanation of why you think they’d be a great fit, to marketing@keylimeinteractive.com. We look forward to your suggestions!