Are You Misunderstanding Elevator Pitches?

As UX professionals we should be adopting the idea of an elevator pitch and expanding upon it in the work we do.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

​ ​ ​ ​ Hello Indiana,​ How are you doing? I never ask about you in these emails. That isn't polite of me! Before I jump in today, I just wanted to mention the How-To Guides I am writing on my blog because I am really chuffed (British term for pleased) with them. They are short, step-by-step guides to common tasks. For example, my latest is how to run a card sort. You might want to check them out. Anyway, I want to talk to you today about elevator pitches. You know, the concept that you should pitch your idea in the time it takes to have an elevator ride with somebody. The idea of condensing a concept down to its absolute core has always appealed to me, especially when working online. However, I have two problems with the traditional idea of elevator pitches. First, we only seem to think of them in terms of pitching a business idea. Second, picturing an elevator ride is the wrong analogy for the web. Let me explain what I mean and why this matters to you as a digital professional. Elevator Pitches Apply to Everything The idea of an elevator pitch is that you only have a few seconds to communicate your big idea to a prospective investor and grab their attention. However, I would argue that everything online is an elevator pitch. User attention is so short and being pulled in so many directions that everything can be considered an elevator pitch. Your homepage or the landing page you are working on; is an elevator pitch. Sending a marketing email? Think of it as an elevator pitch. Working on an online video for Youtube or your website? Position it as an elevator pitch if you want people to engage with it. Heck, even social media updates have to be mini elevator pitches. When you are working on a digital project, it becomes big in your mind. It is important to you and has lots of nuances that need explaining. Our elevator pitch quickly turns into a lecture, and our user's attention is lost, and the moment is gone. So if you create content, either for yourself or as part of your work, remember to make it an elevator pitch. If you don't create content but have stakeholders who do, use the elevator pitch to communicate the importance of being succinct. But, although the elevator pitch analogy is useful shorthand, it is fundamentally flawed. The Elevator Pitch Is the Wrong Analogy An elevator pitch assumes you and the person you want to impress are in an elevator together. You have a captive audience for the length of the trip and have their full attention. Unfortunately, online, nothing could be further from the truth. On the web, users are not stuck listening to our pitch for the length of the journey. They can exit the elevator as soon as they want. They are also surrounded by distractions jostling for their attention. Listening to our elevator pitch is just one of the things they will be doing. If anything, trying to communicate online is less like an elevator pitch and more like trying to chat somebody up in a nightclub. Not that I can really remember what that was like! You are in a noisy environment full of distractions, where the person you are trying to talk to is experiencing information overload. Also, at any point, they can wander off if they don't like what they hear and get lost in the crowd. If you describe it like that, it becomes apparent just how hard what we are trying to achieve is. UX professionals like myself talk a lot about making an online experience usable and accessible, but in truth, that is nowhere near enough. We have to make it engaging, concise, and appealing. So next time you are working on a new digital campaign, project, or piece of content, ask yourself how you will metaphorically chat the user up in the nightclub of the web! Thanks, ​ ​ If you no longer want to hear from me, I completely understand and you can unsubscribe from all emails here. Alternatively, if you need to update any of the information about yourself you can edit your profile here. ​ ​