This article provides considerations for the user interface (UI) of your website.

FACT: 75 percent of B2B buyers are influenced by social media. The new B2B buyer is educated, is social media savvy, and does not require face-to-face contact to decide on a purchase.

Your user experience (UI) on a website requires you to anticipate what your customers might need to do on your website by ensuring that your site is easy for consumers to access, understand, and use. UI brings together concepts from visual design and interaction along with information architecture (as part of UX) to allow you to create a functional and useful website. 

UI is defined by the creativity of your website. The branding of the products or services and the visual appeal of each page and its features play heavily into the UI of your site. UI is also closely tied to your site’s product information management practices. The more attractive your product descriptions are and the ease and comfort with which they are found and viewed on your site, the better will be your UI. Social media integrations, customer ratings of your site and company, and reviews of products listed on your site will also help to increase the UI satisfaction of your website for visitors and prospective clients.

UI involves a lot of creativity and time to craft the visually appealing content that will inevitably influence the prospective client to complete a transaction with your site. Professional designers are recommended for both UX and UI development of your site.User interface elements are important to your website design. They enable your visitors to interact with and find what they need from your website.
 

User interface elements include, but are not limited to:

  • Input controls—buttons, text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, toggles, and other elements
  • Navigational controls—breadcrumbs, slider, search field, tags, and icons
  • Informational components—tooltips, progress bar, notifications, and modal windows
  • Module containers—“accordion” style stacked lists of items that use a show/hide function that allows for section expansion to show content.

DISCLAIMER: Links to websites outside the U.S. Federal Government, or the use of trade, firm, or corporation names within the International Trade Administration websites (export.gov and trade.gov) are for the convenience of the user. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the U.S. Commerce Department of any private sector website, product, or service. When selecting links, be aware that you are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website. Prepared by the International Trade Administration. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.