Measurement is what you should be basing all of your testing on, not what you "think" will help.
Looks and design matter, yes, but aren't the most important thing in conversions by far.
What matters much more is the offer and headline which creates the desire in the prospect. (Actually even more important than that are the target market and lead source)
Here are a couple examples of some more well known marketers and their offers:
John Alanis:
http://womenapproachyou.com/Dan Kennedy:
http://www.freegiftfrom.com/dankennedy/Perry Marshall:
http://www.perrymarshall.com/google/Eben Pagan (David De'Angelo)
http://www.doubleyourdating.com/channels/I wouldn't say that any of those have great design or format, but have fantastic offers, great appealing headlines that target their markets secret desires and needs.
These are doorways to multi-million dollar businesses.....
There are some great examples even from some of the instructors from here at better networker.
In the end though, don't rely on someone else and their idea of what will work, test it yourself and find out for yourself.