I'd say there's three main reasons:
1) Clever psychological manipulation. Iago knows exactly what to suggest, and when to suggest it. He says things briefly, succintly - those four devastating words "look to your wife" start a whole battery of thoughts in Othello's mind. He also (note the way he makes Othello force him to keep speaking, by making a suggestion and then dropping it) makes Othello demand to know things from him - allowing him to seem more honest and innocent. And because Othello thinks him honest, Iago can easily lie to him.
2) Othello's own insecurities. Othello makes a telling speech after Iago has exited, about why Desdemona might have cheated on him:
Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that's not much—
She's gone. I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her.
Othello is a foreigner (note that Iago emphasises that he knows all about Venetian woman - implying that Othello doesn't), he is racially different, and he is older. He feels insecure, I'd argue, about each of this things, and Iago's suggestions activate that insecurity, which in turn defeats his better judgement.
3) Good luck. Iago does seem to have ideas and plans, but some crucial turns - Cassio getting as drunk as he does, Desdemona dropping the hankerchief - are just down to good fortune.
Hope it helps!
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