At MarketingSherpa’s E-MAIL SUMMIT 2006 in Chicago, one of the most often asked questions was: “How do I convince IT they don’t want to manage e-mail?”

What MarketingSherpa President Anne Holland observed at the summit was:

THE PROBLEM FACING MANY MARKETERS isn’t necessarily their strategy, it’s the technology needed — and the awareness of this technology — that will allow their e-mails to get delivered to their target audiences’ inbox.

With a sound offer and a well-constructed campaign, marketers can effectively use e-mail, one of the most cost-efficient marketing tactics today, to achieve maximum ROI. In fact, JupiterResearch’s new report, “U.S. E-mail Marketing Forecast 2005 to 2010,” predicts growth in e-mail marketing spending from $885 million in 2005 to $1.1 billion in 2010.

The issue of deliverability
Spam has become the nemesis for consumers, businesses and legitimate marketers alike. A new study by EmailLabs reports that “82 percent of e-mail marketers say getting e-mail messages delivered is a challenge for their organization.” And the new report from JupiterResearch found that incorrectly blocked e-mail cost marketers $107 million in 2006.

Here are some basic questions to ask your e-mail service provider: Do you have good working relationships with ISPs? Do you partner with a reputable e-mail trust authority that certifies senders and monitors e-mail deliverability? Are you whitelisted? Are your e-mail marketing practices compliant with CAN-SPAM? Are you following established protocol? Are you familiar with all ISP policies and delivery optimization issues?

The good news is, ISPs are working on improving their spam filtering. According to senior Vice President of Research at JupiterResearch David Schatsky, “the next five years will see a more organized e-mail marketing arena. Delivery rates will rise because of marketers’ efforts to improve list management practices. And the greater control by ISPs over spam will mean a lot less waste.”

In the meantime, there are things marketers can do to fight the battle of the inbox due to spam’s current proliferation, the increasing constraints of spam filtering and, ultimately, the lack of consistent e-mail deliverability.

Roadblocks to e-success
MarketingSherpa’s 2006 E-mail Marketing Benchmark Guide states that, “A great deal of mail is being stopped by filters (especially that mail being sent to at-work e-mail addresses). The words you use in your copy, the order of words in your subject line, the quality of your HTML code … filters look at many factors that marketers control unless they use a full-service e-mail shop.”

Who delivers your e-mail?
In many companies, the IT department is making a bid to bring e-mail operations in-house. Yet getting through the e-mail filtering technology and navigating changing ISP requirements requires a level of expertise not often found in-house.

For leading marketers, one surefire solution is getting the backing of an industry-recognized e-mail marketing firm or service provider. This will greatly increase the chances of your targeted e-mail making it to the ever-elusive inbox.