Hi, I'm Álex Santos 👋🏻

Discovered web development by accident. I wrote a few lines in Notepad, saved the file as .html, opened it in the browser — and suddenly something clicked. Realizing that I could create things from nothing but text felt magical.

That moment became the seed for everything I’ve built since.

Started my first venture: Saints, a small clothing project where I designed and produced 50 t-shirts. I sold half — and learned far more than I expected. It taught me what building something from scratch really feels like: taking risks, making mistakes, and discovering how much I enjoyed creating and moving ideas into the real world.

Found Shopify and immediately got hooked. I wanted to understand how great online stores were built, so I went deep into its ecosystem — learning Liquid, theme structure, performance fundamentals, and the patterns behind high-converting shopping experiences.

It was the first time I saw how code, design, and business could converge in one place. That clarity shaped the direction of everything I’ve built since.

Worked with my first real Shopify client — a clothing brand launching its online store. I built the entire ecommerce from scratch, customized Liquid features, and shaped a cleaner, conversion-focused shopping experience.

It was the first time I saw my work impact a real business, and it confirmed that helping brands grow through better UX and smart design was what I wanted to keep doing.

Joined Merkle as a Martech Engineer, where I learned how large brands collect, structure, and activate data. I worked with analytics tools, tracking frameworks, CDPs, and real-world data flows — all of which shaped how I approach CRO today.

Understanding data at scale gave me a sharper intuition for user behavior, and helped me blend technical tracking with UX thinking.

Today I run RIQO, my conversion-focused practice for Shopify brands. My work blends research, UX, data, and development — all aimed at building stores that feel clear, intentional, and effective.

I partner with brands that want more than aesthetics: they want structure, reasoning, and growth that comes from understanding how people really buy.