Pitching A Better Website To A Well-Known Online Company

What if I approach a well-known online company with a better website I designed that has better UI and features than theirs? Will they buy me out or employ me?

While it’s not impossible, it’s not very likely to happen for several reasons.Better Website

Features and UI Are Not Everything

A beautiful platform with tons of features doesn’t necessarily work better. There’s user experience, conversion optimization studies, and other industry-specific elements that come into play.

Also, a beautiful design may contradict with other areas that bring business. One example is SEO — most wonderful designs are either minimalistic (low on content) or image-heavy (performance implications and still insufficient content). That’s one of the many reasons why certain design decisions are being made in the first place.

Also, platforms are made with market research in mind. Designing a cool hip store for teenage girl clothes and bags is one thing. Creating a non-profit for veterans or elderly people is a completely different experience.

Top creative folks keep the complete digital experience in mind. If their audience uses Pinterest and a dozen sites with a similar look-and-feel (including navigation and forms), they will likely stick to this trend for consistency reasons.

Migrations are really complicated. This concerns both users and staff. A new design plus features will result in a different content management experience and will push back some of the loyal fans. Some of the most popular web projects have undergone thousands of tiny iterations until they deliver a new feature or a UI improvement — gradual ones, barely noticeable, only to avoid discomfort and surprise by their loyal followers.

A Cold Pitch Won’t Do Much

Popular organizations get blasted with offers all the time. It’s extremely hard to sift through the spam and find something of use.

Being able to meet some team members in person may help. Think of conferences, business events, and other ways to build a stronger connection with the team before pitching them a certain solution.

Also, it’s likely that you pitch to the wrong decision maker. Finding the right person in the organization to review your proposal is challenging. And some organizations are really resistant to change. Others have long-term contracts with creative companies or dev studios and are not interested to engage in a conflict of interest.

And what about your credibility? Can you testify that your unique UI and the new features you pitch can increase conversions or grow traffic significantly over the course of a few months? A chief creative designer with a strong portfolio of similar-sized businesses and shining testimonials may succeed. But, it’s extremely tough without all that credibility.

At the end of the day, it’s not impossible. But everything and anything you can do to increase your chances, including meeting the team, finding the right decision maker, and building a strong case, would be paramount to increase the odds of success.