A well-crafted elevator pitch is a versatile tool to have throughout your professional career. It’s meant to be interesting, captivating, and unforgettable—and delivered with confidence in 30 seconds or less.
...No pressure, right?
Fortunately, crafting a pitch for your UX career is a fairly straightforward process. It simply requires knowing what to include, and what to cut out.
Let’s get started.
What’s an Elevator Pitch?
An elevator pitch is a short description of what you do and why it matters.
Simplicity is key here: the general consensus is that a great elevator pitch sits at 75 words or less, and takes approximately 15-30 seconds when spoken out loud.
Why You Should Perfect An Elevator Pitch
I’ll be honest: my gut reaction to the phrase “elevator pitch” used to be those stereotypical, sleazy salespeople. The ones who flag you down so they can spout off a list of products, and why you should absolutely buy them, right now, ASAP.
And honestly, if you’ve ever searched for elevator pitch templates online, that’s exactly what you’ll end up sounding like. So let’s take a step back and reframe the entire concept:
An elevator pitch is NOT meant to “seal the deal”
30 seconds is simply not enough time to introduce yourself and convince someone to buy a product, or hire you for a position.
An elevator pitch IS meant to open a conversation
A good elevator pitch should be so fascinating that it makes the other person want to respond with: “Tell me more!” When viewed this way, your pitch stops being an uncomfortable sales tactic.
It’s transformed into an invaluable tool to have in your pocket, whether you’re interviewing for a new position, doing some professional networking, or pitching a product design to stakeholders.
6 Steps to Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch
1. Include the Fundamentals
Traditionally, elevator pitch templates include 3 elements:
- Introduction: Introduce yourself (or your product/business)
- Problem/Solution: What’s the problem & how do you solve it?
- Value Proposition: What are the results of this solution?
We’ll use Alexa, a UX designer, as an example:
- Introduction: Hi, I’m Alexa. I’m a UX designer
- Problem/Solution: A lot of people struggle to use software products, especially on their phones. I conduct user research and create wireframes that help optimize the mobile usability of your app interfaces
- Value Proposition: so that software companies reduce their churn and make more money
It's a good start. And also: very bleh.
2. Eliminate the Introduction
The first edit you can make is to delete the introduction. This is a practical edit, since introductions should take place, regardless.
"Hi, I’m Alexa. I’m a UX designer. A lot of people struggle to use software products, especially on their phones. I conduct user research and create wireframes that help optimize the mobile usability of your app interfaces, so that software companies reduce their churn and make more money."
A little better, but still rambling.
3. Focus on the Benefits, not the Features
When I get nervous, I am the literal queen of conversation killers. My gut reaction to the question “What do you do?” is to tell them, quite literally:
“I’m a copywriter. I write and edit marketing copy for companies that want to connect with their audiences. So not only do I work on blogs and email newsletters, but I also track the effectiveness of each article with Google Analytics to make sure it’s connecting with the right audience.”
To that, the listener responds with…crickets. No one cares about your task list (except a project manager, and that’s only because they get paid to look at it). Instead of listing out what you do, focus on how and why it matters. Since conducting user research and creating wireframes are items on my task list, we’ll cross those off. Reducing churn and making money are technically success metrics, not true benefits. Delete.
"A lot of people struggle to use software products, especially on their phones. I conduct user research and create wireframes that help optimize the mobile usability of your app interfaces, so that software companies reduce their churn and make more money."
4. Skip the Jargon
Every business, niche, and career path is cluttered with jargon.
While you might be dying to have a good conversation about prototyping constraints, those terms don’t belong in your elevator pitch. Sit down with someone who’s basically familiar with your line of work and ask: “How would you explain what I do?”
Likely, you’ll hear phrases like:
- Makes it easier for me to use the app on my phone.
- Meets with people to find out whether they can actually use X software, or if it’s too confusing.
- Makes X program easier to use.
Right away, you’ll notice that “usability” and “interfaces” aren’t terms that the average Joe throws around.
So instead of saying:
"I optimize the mobile usability of your app interfaces."
you could say:
"I make your software easier to use on mobile devices."