Site design is important, but don't get carried away

Mike Boyink points to a great study at Consumer WebWatch showing that consumers judge the credibility of websites (and by extension, the company behind them) primarily by design and architechture/navigation. I'm sure this applies to B2B sites. Great ammo to get $$ for next years budget to upgrade the website.

But don't get to carried away, the article warns:

Slick-looking Web sites frequently received negative comments. Participants seemed to make judgments about the people behind the site on the basis of the Design Look. Many comments were indicative of this attitude: "It looks like it's designed by a marketing team, and not by people who want to get you the information that you need."