The Weather Company Way: Turning UX Research into Organizational Muscle

As the leading platform for insights and innovation in user experience research, UX360 North America 2026 brings together the brightest minds shaping the future of UX. In this edition of our speaker interview series, we are excited to welcome Liz Freeman, Director of UX Research at The Weather Company.

Learn about Liz’s perspective on transforming UX research from a tactical function into a strategic driver for product and business decisions, providing actionable advice for professional researchers, UX designers, and market insights leaders.

The speaker emphasizes that research must be actionable, helping leadership make informed business and product decisions rather than being treated as a “nice-to-have.” Liz’s session at UX360 North America 2026, “Research to Revenue: Three Actionable Ways to Align UX Research with Business Strategy”, will focus on practical strategies for integrating research into decision-making and demonstrating its value to leadership.

Reflecting on the current state of UX, Liz notes that while awareness of its importance has grown, teams now face the challenge of proving their strategic relevance alongside product and engineering functions. She observes that when UX is not recognized as essential, organizations risk making decisions without considering user experience, leading to negative outcomes.

Liz shares her career journey in Atlanta, starting in marketing research, discovering usability, and progressing through different roles, before joining The Weather Company. She highlights how each step reinforced her focus on consumer products, understanding user behavior, and the importance of a strong UX network in Atlanta’s tech community.

She identifies a common challenge in UX research: stakeholder expectations around speed. High-quality research requires time for recruiting participants, conducting studies, and analysis. To address this, Liz recommends scoping studies realistically to meet timelines, prioritizing objectives, and balancing rigor with efficiency. She also emphasizes the growing role of AI tools in accelerating discussion guide creation, thematic analysis, and exploring AI-assisted moderation.

Liz stresses that UX research should not only deliver findings but also clearly communicate business impact and ROI. Networking and peer learning are key sources of inspiration for Liz, from following insights on LinkedIn to engaging with peers at meetups—a level of professional exchange that UX360 North America 2026 will make possible for all attendees.

Her key message for professional UX researchers, designers, and insights leaders is that UX research must be positioned as a strategic partner, actively influencing product decisions, shaping strategy, and ensuring that insights translate into meaningful outcomes for users and organizations alike.

The above is an AI-summarized overview and may include inaccuracies or errors. 

Conversations like this are exactly why UX360 North America exists

As UX continues to evolve, the need for thoughtful, experience-driven discussions has never been greater.

UX360 NA 2026 brings together practitioners, leaders, and educators to explore not just what is changing in UX research, but how we adapt without losing sight of the people we serve.

By bringing voices like Liz Freeman’s, UX360 highlights the real UX research challenges — from building organizational influence to translating research into business decisions — and provides practical guidance.

 Join us at UX360 North America 2026 | April 21–23 | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. 

Gain hands-on insights, explore cutting-edge UX techniques, and learn from leaders at Google, Amazon, Meta, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Yahoo, HelloFresh, ADP, The Weather Company, and more.

The event is next month — register now!