Results from a study on how consumers evaluate the credibility of websites:
The data showed that the average consumer paid far more attention to the superficial aspects of a site, such as visual cues, than to its content. For example, nearly half of all consumers (or 46.1%) in the study assessed the credibility of sites based in part on the appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size and color schemes.
This is good for visual designers – an educated business owner is likely to appreciate this as proven value of our services. But, it’s not so good for consumers who should be taking more care with who they trust online.
Related links:
http://captology.stanford.edu/
http://www.webcredibility.org/guidelines/index.html