It's not so much that pretty designs don't sell, or that ugly designs sell really well. It's that experienced online and direct marketers understand the crucial

It's not so much that pretty designs don't sell, or that ugly designs sell really well. It's that experienced online and direct marketers understand the crucial elements for a high converting page (i.e. the call to action, the bold headline, the right copy, the legible font, the right contrasting colors, etc. etc.), and they A/B test these elements till they feel the page is optimized. The result is often a hodgepodge of a page that looks disjointed, but converts really well. What these online and direct marketers tend to over look is the final step in which you keep these important marketing elements but work with a quality designer to smooth out the edges and iterate on the broader design, without losing conversions (the result if often an even better converting page). But there are four reasons that online and direct marketers tend to overlook this part: 1. It requires a little more effort/time and money (why go through the trouble if the page converts well as it is?); 2. They tend to overlook the long-term value of branding (Why care if we’re making a ton of money right now? This is even more the case among affiliate marketers who don’t even own the brands.); 3. Like Mr. Green, they think the page converts well BECAUSE it's ugly (Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, right?); and 4) These marketers tend to copy other marketers a lot as ethics isn't the highest priority for them, at least not more than making money. (If they're doing x, it must be working) Hence, they further reiterate the ugly design mindset.