For example, about 1 in 5 commercial e-mails do not make it into the recipient’s inbox. Depending on the company, that can mean up to 50 percent or even nearly 100 percent of the e-mails. Every undelivered e-mail is a lost lead, and the money spent to acquire that lead gets wasted. Companies can’t afford to waste money in this economy right now. Their lead-generation campaigns and technologies are more critical than ever because good leads result in more sales.

Reputation is everything

The world of e-mail deliverability has become quite complicated over the past few years. Simply avoiding certain words in your copy doesn’t get the e-mails to your recipient’s inbox anymore. The most critical factor is your e-mail sender “reputation,” which ISPs use to determine which e-mails get delivered. In fact, 83 percent of delivery problems today are caused by the sender’s e-mail reputation.

The technology used by your e-mail service provider is a top consideration when it comes to deliverability. For example, it’s critical for you to have a provider who uses capabilities such as automatic e-mail throttling based on ISP requirements, as well as smart bounce management to correctly categorize bounce codes into action. But beyond the technology, there are seven best practices that companies should follow so they can keep “delivering” according to their revenue goals. Let’s take a look at these seven best practices:

Read the rest of this article on eWEEK.com.