<p>An email is effective only if it is successfully delivered to the recipient. Moreover, getting the email to the inbox, versus the spam or junk folder, increases the chances of the message being read.</p><p>Deliverability is a crucial element in the overall success of an email program. It can also be frustrating, since Internet service providers continually change rules and algorithms that ultimately affect your email reaching the inbox. In this article, I will address email deliverability basics, offering four tips on reaching the recipient's inbox, which will lead to higher open and click rates. Understand the Domain Breakdown of Your Subscribers</p><p>Every subscriber list is different. Depending on the ecommerce business, you may have a higher representation of a certain domains in your list than another. For example, if you sell school supplies, you will like have a larger number of school and organization-based domains, such as the .edu domain. For the majority of consumer products, however, most subscribers likely have email addresses from Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, and AOL.</p><p>Your email service provider may have a function that allows you to analyze your database by domain. If not, simply export your database to an Excel spreadsheet. Then separate the email address at the @ symbol, and sort the domains alphabetically. You can quickly get percentages for each domain.</p><p><a href="http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3880-Email-Marketing-4-Tips-for-Sending-to-Hotmail-Gmail-and-Yahoo-">Keep reading...</a></p>