SUMMARY
Purpose: Clarify and communicate a compelling product vision through storytelling that resonates with stakeholders and aligns teams.
Design Thinking Phase: Define
Time: 30–45 min drafting + 1–2 iterations with feedback
Difficulty: ⭐⭐
When to use: Pitching a design concept to non-design stakeholders Aligning cross-functional teams on a product direction Translating user research into a persuasive business case
What it is
The Elevator Pitch method applies storytelling principles to UX and product design. It distils the core value of your idea into a concise, persuasive narrative that communicates who the user is, what their problem is, and how your solution benefits them — all in under 60 seconds.
📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.
Why it matters
Designs that speak for themselves are rare — especially when communicating with executives, engineers, or investors. Effective elevator pitches bring clarity to user problems, create emotional resonance, and make design solutions memorable. They also help design teams align behind a single, coherent value proposition. When executed well, an elevator pitch becomes a north star.
When to use
- Before stakeholder reviews or product council meetings
- After insight synthesis in a research sprint
- When defining a value proposition or product strategy
Benefits
- Rich Insights: Forces prioritisation of what matters most to users and stakeholders.
- Flexibility: Can be adapted for decks, prototypes, roadmaps, or executive summaries.
- User Empathy: Frames the solution around a real human need and clear outcome.
How to use it
- Identify the audience: Who needs to be persuaded — stakeholders, users, engineers?
- Frame the user scenario: What user type are you focusing on, and what task or pain point?
- Describe the value: What is the solution you’ve designed, and why does it uniquely solve this problem?
- Emphasise outcome: Describe the change you’re creating — what success looks like from the user’s point of view.
- Revise and refine: Cut jargon, read it aloud, and test it on someone unfamiliar with the work.
Example Output
Fictional example: Pitch for a redesign of a digital parking permit system
“For city residents spending hours navigating outdated permit systems, our redesigned app allows them to renew or transfer parking permits within minutes — eliminating queues at councils and removing paper forms. Unlike legacy systems, our tool uses postcode lookup and ID verification to reduce steps while remaining compliant with local policies. We’ve already reduced abandonment by 27% in pilot testing.”
Common Pitfalls
- Focusing on features, not outcomes: Stakeholders care more about outcomes than UX techniques. Anchor the story in the user’s transformation.
- Being too vague: Avoid buzzwords. Speak plainly with real, relatable user scenarios.
- Trying to say too much: Keep it short. A good test — can someone repeat it back after hearing once?
10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Elevator Pitch – UX/UI Edition
How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)
Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.
C.S.I.R. stands for:
- Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
- Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
- Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
- Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)
Level up your career with smarter AI prompts. Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results. Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence. First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member.
Prompt Template 1: “Craft a stakeholder-friendly elevator pitch based on research findings”
Craft a stakeholder-friendly elevator pitch based on research findings
Context: You are a lead UX researcher preparing to present insights to non-technical stakeholders.
Specific Info: You recently conducted 6 user interviews around [problem area], revealing key user frustrations and desires.
Intent: Translate findings into a concise pitch that explains user needs and proposed solution benefits.
Response Format: A 3–4 sentence elevator pitch in plain language, highlighting the user type, pain point, and outcome.
If the persona or pain point is unclear, ask me to clarify. Suggest one way I could tailor this pitch for funding or product buy-in.
Prompt Template 2: “Summarise product value in under 60 seconds for stakeholder presentation”
Summarise product value in under 60 seconds for stakeholder presentation
Context: You are a product designer preparing a quarterly update for company leadership.
Specific Info: You’ve redesigned [feature X] to address [core user complaint or metric drop].
Intent: Create a clear, persuasive summary that shows the problem, solution, and business value.
Response Format: A 60-second narrative aligning user benefit with company strategy.
If any business impact isn’t measurable yet, suggest how I could frame expected outcomes credibly in the pitch.
Prompt Template 3: “Frame a UX solution story around user transformation”
Frame a UX solution story around user transformation
Context: You are a senior UX designer preparing a case study deck.
Specific Info: You transformed a legacy experience for [target user], focusing on [task or process].
Intent: Build a compelling story showing the before/after emotional impact and usability improvement.
Response Format: A paragraph-style pitch that frames the user's journey and how your design changed it.
If results were qualitative, suggest a way to make emotional impact tangible.
Prompt Template 4: “Turn usability feedback into a compelling pitch narrative”
Turn usability feedback into a compelling pitch narrative
Context: You’ve just completed usability tests ahead of a critical product decision.
Specific Info: Participants struggled with [issue], prompting a redesign of [component].
Intent: Use the feedback to strengthen stakeholder support for the new direction.
Response Format: A storytelling pitch paragraph backed by one specific quote or finding.
Highlight any user quote that had a strong emotional or practical weight.
Prompt Template 5: “Write a value proposition pitch for a feature still in Figma”
Write a value proposition pitch for a feature still in Figma
Context: You’re presenting a Figma prototype during a cross-functional team sync.
Specific Info: The prototype enables [primary task] and reduces [pain point] for [persona].
Intent: Introduce the design with a succinct, persuasive pitch that sets context and shows value.
Response Format: A 3-sentence, user-centred value pitch aligning with product goals.
If the team audience is mixed (designers, engineers, PMs), suggest two wording variations.
Prompt Template 6: “Transform a product spec into a story-first elevator pitch”
Transform a product spec into a story-first elevator pitch
Context: You’ve received a technical spec for a new feature launch in 2 sprints.
Specific Info: The spec outlines [feature goal], [system limits], and [user group].
Intent: Translate this into a story that emphasises user benefit and use-case relevance.
Response Format: A clear elevator pitch grounded in human-centred value, not technical detail.
Check if the spec implies any user friction points to highlight or reframe.
Prompt Template 7: “Generate multiple pitch variations for A/B testing with stakeholders”
Generate multiple pitch variations for A/B testing with stakeholders
Context: You’re getting mixed reactions to early product storytelling.
Specific Info: You have a draft pitch focusing on [metric/goal], but it lacks emotional buy-in.
Intent: Create alternative pitch styles (benefit-first, narrative-first, metric-first).
Response Format: Three versions of the same pitch formatted as bullet points or numbered list.
Suggest how to identify which version works best for different audience types.
Prompt Template 8: “Build a UX pitch using a real customer quote”
Build a UX pitch using a real customer quote
Context: You’re sharing design rationale in a product roadmap review.
Specific Info: A specific user quote from [interview/test] captures a central pain point.
Intent: Use this quote as a narrative anchor to pitch the value of your redesign.
Response Format: A concise pitch that starts with the quote and connects it to product change.
Recommend how I might display this in a slide or executive summary.
Prompt Template 9: “Simplify your elevator pitch for non-design audiences”
Simplify your elevator pitch for non-design audiences
Context: You need to explain your UX work to marketing or operations stakeholders.
Specific Info: The solution involves [design change] to address [specific issue].
Intent: Create an easy-to-understand pitch using plain language and relatable outcomes.
Response Format: A single paragraph with no acronyms or jargon.
Ask me what background my audience has so you can tailor tone and vocabulary.
Prompt Template 10: “Co-create an elevator pitch starter using ‘Problem–Solution–Outcome’”
Co-create an elevator pitch starter using "Problem–Solution–Outcome"
Context: You’re brainstorming ways to introduce a tricky UX concept during team onboarding.
Specific Info: The team is unfamiliar with [UX method or product area], and you want a quick verbal way to summarise it.
Intent: Use storytelling to introduce the concept clearly and memorably.
Response Format: A fill-in-the-blank pitch scaffold (Problem–Solution–Outcome) with suggestions.
Clarify if the onboarding focuses on internal staff, partners, or end-users.
Recommended Tools
- Storyline Plugin for Figma
- Leonardo.ai — Visual storytelling with AI
- Pitch – Collaborative presentation tools
- ChatGPT – For co-creating pitch drafts
