Well i think there is a fine balance between content and the interface to that content.
It all starts with knowing who your end user is.
Know them, be friend them, and learn how to continually improve how you deliver what they want, that you have.
If your a organic soap buyer, so obviously their design/interface is not gonna be aimed at you.
But yet design can’t be too unusal, that it detracts new customers from using it.
So it’s a balance. But so much of this feel of balance is just instinct, intuition, it’s hard to put factual basics into it.
I believe in informational architecture, how the page is structured, easy to read, easy to find what i need to find or want to find.
If i can’t find it, easy access to help or support.
The only reason to make it difficult is if that is part of the allure, like orkut, hidden or hard to get access to.
That can be fun at the start, but in the end if the users can’t figure out how to get hte products/services they want in an easy enough way, your competitor will easily snap them up.