REALTORS® who are braving the technology learning curve are being rewarded with an easy, inexpensive means of communicating with their clients. Email is hottest communication tool for Realtors since the cellular phone, but some Realtors using AOL aren't getting the service they deserve.

In order to enjoy the numerous features of America Online, one of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the world, many Realtors have chosen AOL as their ISP for business use as well as personal use. Enticed by such lures as free trials, chat rooms, and Web centers, including a large real estate center powered by Realtor.com, Realtors are justifiably attracted to such a feature-rich, easy-to-use ISP.

When Realtors join AOL, they will have many benefits, but if AOL is so great, why do Internet trainers such as Michael Russer, Allen F. Hainge and Saul Klein, among others, routinely advise Realtors to avoid using AOL email for business purposes?

According to Russer and Hainge, the problem lies in the functionality of the email software. Russer has stated numerous times in training seminars across the country that AOL is not a business ISP. Hainge agrees. "AOL is not a businessperson's email," he says. "in that it is too limited in what it can do from a marketing standpoint (signatures, filters, separate mailboxes, etc.). You need an ISP, not AOL, for your email."

Klein, who operates a large ListServe called InternetCrusade, a talk forum for Realtors, says that AOL has problems specifically with email management. Over the past 5 months InternetCrusade has documented over 30 cases where long time RealTalk members have failed to receive the RealTalk-Digest.

Repeated attempt to correct the disappearing digests through the AOL postmaster have yielded no results, says Klein. "AOL insists the problem is on YOUR end." He quotes the AOL Postmaster reply "the end user has obviously made changes in their preferences to block the email."

"Their reasoning is that if some of us are getting the Digest, then all of us should be getting the digest unless 'we' made a change," says a frustrated Klein.

"AOL's mail manager is primitive," he says. "When you go to mailbox, I have to click on it and open the email. That takes a couple of seconds. And if that doesn't sound like much, and I am sending out a lot of emails, the time adds up if your are sending or receiving and you have to open every one. It has email limitations, attachment size limitations, attachment problems, multiple attachment issues on pre-4.0 versions, and an AOL return address even if you own your own domain.

"AOL is an "edutainment" Internet ISP," explains Klein. "Realtors need a true business provider and they need to learn to use email software such as Outlook Express, Outlook, Netscape Communicator, Eudora or other powerful email managing software."

Outlining the problems, Klein continues, "I can tell you that as far as problems with email size limitations, that the allowed size isn't very big. AOL will turn "big" emails into an attachment. It is one thing to download an attachment when somebody sends you an email or with a document attached to it...it's another thing and frustrating when you send an email and you don't attach anything and AOL makes it an attachment. You'll get an email that requires extra steps to read it.

"Another problem is that some emails sent to AOL addresses aren't ever received. We have 7,000 Realtors on our email ListServes. Certain of those people, including my wife, have been mysteriously not receiving email. What they have in common is that they are all American Online users."

Scott Davis, a partner and Webmaster with Realty Times, has noticed a similar pattern of email failure with agents who have signed up to receive Daily Headlines. He says there are a number of reasons why an email could fail to be delivered. "A mailbox could be full, the server could be busy, or the server could be down. You have to look at the error messages and see if the problem is on your end or AOL's end. The problem we are seeing is that the AOL servers seem to be accepting the mail from the sender, but the intended recipient never just receives it. This appears to be a problem on AOL's end. What makes this problem so bad is that the sender gets no indication that their email was not received."

Klein says, "They (AOL) have told us that our Real Talk subscribers may have changed their settings and that is why they aren't receiving the ListServe. But my wife and I didn't change any settings and I stopped receiving my own email on my own account!"

"As a Realtor, I have to wonder, if AOL rejects that mail, what other mail is it rejecting? I would be concerned if I were depending on AOL for my business communications," warns Klein.

Klein believes another problem exists in the communication AOL has with other servers. "If I wanted to send a word document and I'm not on AOL, when you try to open the attachment it will be unintelligible. Encryption is the problem and that is because AOL has its own protocols, so people receive attachments that they can't read.

"If I am a Realtor, and we are going to be sharing loan documents, the frustration would be immense. And technology is frustrating enough.

From a marketing standpoint, Klein believes using AOL is a mistake for Realtors. "If you are into personal marketing, the domain concept makes a lot of sense. It doesn't make sense to build brand recognition for AOL instead of for yourself. When you advertise yourself you should put your email on your business card. You are advertising yourself and AOL. And you are training people to use that service and you are locked in. If I change brokerage firms, people can always reach me at Saul at Saul.com. But, AOL doesn't provide an email forwarding service and any email I send from AOL will always have an AOL return address. So you can't personalize the email.

AOL is a big part of the market and can't be ignored. About 60% of Real Talk's subscribers are on AOL. Davis estimates about 20% of Realty Times subscribers are. So what are the alternatives?

Davis explains you have to sign up with another ISP in order to get a POP based email account. POP stands for Post Office Protocol, the Internet standard email protocol. POP accounts can be accessed from almost any email client software, including Microsoft Outlook Express and Netscape Communicator. Some ISPs also offer Web access to your email account. An email address comes with these accounts, but most ISPs will allow you to forward your email and allow you to set up your own domain name and use it for your new account.

You don't have to give up AOL to do this. "Another choice is to have a business dial-up account with another ISP and then when you want to use AOL, dial up using your business ISP number and go into AOL and you can pay just $9.95. Just don't use AOL's phone numbers," says Klein. "The business ISP we use and recommend is Frontier Global, we have used a number of ISPs. ATT, Sprint, Earthlink, we like, too."

"The most important thing is no long distance charges. Get an ISP with local numbers all over the country."

Klein adds, "By adding a POP account from another ISP and keeping your AOL account, you (and perhaps your family) can enjoy the functionality and community of AOL and have more flexibility in managing your electronic business communications. I like Outlook Express. It is free with your Internet Explorer browser. The Netscape browser package is also free."