It's a statistic that demands our respect -- and action.

Fully 74 percent of American consumers today use the Internet to begin their searches for homes for sale and other real estate-related information.

Let's ponder this for a moment: What this means is that three-quarters of your potential customers will already have turned to the Internet to do research -- including possibly finding an agent -- before you ever come in contact with them. And the way things are going, it won't be long before the remaining 26 percent get on board as well.

It is an understatement to say that it is in our best interests, as Internet-savvy professionals, to use the tools available to us to provide online consumers with the information they request. It's a smart way to establish a relationship which we then can cultivate via email and an occasional phone call until they are ready to buy and/or sell.

There are several widely accepted maxims regarding the behavior of Internet consumers, including:

• going online to gather information;

• using the Internet because they want information NOW;

• wanting information for FREE;

• using their knowledge of and familiarity with the Internet to test agents' ability to use the medium to respond to their needs and inquiries.

Given these maxims, isn't it ironic that Internet consumers are often reluctant to provide us with accurate contact information so that we may provide them the information or services they requested?

This phenomenon manifests itself in a way I'm sure everyone reading this column is all too familiar with: email bounce back. You know what I'm talking about: Those annoying returned emails that bear the electronic postman's stamp: "Undeliverable."

At a recent HouseValues agent seminar in Dallas, many agents wanted answers to the question, "What's the best way to deliver mail that comes back undeliverable?"

First, let's explore some of the possible reasons potential customers sometimes provide less-than-reliable contact information.

For starters, they're hesitant to engage an agent online, even if the agent simply wants to answer questions or direct them to another source who can help them get the information they're after. This behavior is human nature and certainly is not limited to the Internet.

For example, at Nordstrom (a retailer widely considered the industry leader in exceptional customer service), sales associates always ask shoppers, "May I help you?" But even if shoppers have an urgent need to buy something, so many of them reply, "No thanks, I'm just browsing." Many Internet consumers approach their online ventures the same way. Whether they need information to buy or sell in a few days or in a year, they're often coy about providing their contact information.

Second, many consumers seem to like the perceived anonymity of the Internet. They want details on homes for sale and tips on selling their homes, certainly. But because they're in (or at least claim to be in) the "thinking about it" stage, they're hesitant to take that next step and provide their contact information. Often at the core of this hesitancy is the mistaken impression that they will be pressured once they provide their name and a valid email address or other contact information.

Third, there's the curiosity factor -- those consumers who are simply checking out this whole online home-information-gathering process to see what will happen. ("Will they want my name and phone number? Will I have to submit my email address? Are they going to want to meet with me in person?" etc.)

Finally, let's not forget that simple technical glitches often are to blame for undeliverable email. These glitches take several forms, including:

• The consumer's email account is invalid and truly does not exist;

• The email account is full (this happens most often with free accounts such as Hotmail and Yahoo);

• There are network errors or the ISP (Internet Service Provider) server is down.

And now the good news. As I mentioned, there are a few easy things you can do to reduce, if not entirely eliminate, the number of undeliverable emails you have to deal with in your earnest efforts to serve online consumers.

• Review the email and see if there are any obvious errors, i.e., @alo.com or incorrect syntax like @aol without the .com, etc. If so, just make a quick fix and resend.

• If the email looks good but is marked undeliverable, make a simple change to the email address, save it, then change it back to what it originally was (this will reset the undeliverable flag and you can try to send it out again).

• If the email is clearly undeliverable, then use the additional contact information (i.e., phone and street address) if you have it. Call the consumer and/or stop by. You may do so if they have specifically requested information from you, perhaps via your website. The "Do Not Call" rule states that you must do so within 90 days to be in compliance. Check with your broker and abide by his or her policies.

• If there is no valid contact information, waste no more of your time: Delete it and move on to the next prospect.

If the consumer has requested information and you'd like to go a step further to fulfill their request, there are a number of Internet sites you can use to research both email addresses and phone numbers. The sites I hear most recommended for email addresses are:

• bigfoot.com

• whowhere.lycos.com

• people.yahoo.com

The sites I hear most often recommended for phone numbers are:

• anywho.com

• bigyellow.com

• whitepages.com

• reverseaddress.com

• searchbug.com

And there's a new fee-based site that provides fairly extensive contact information on individuals:

• zabasearch.com

One final "hot tip" -- you may want to check your email subject lines against common spam filter words to make sure you're not dooming your emails before you ever hit the "send" button. You could be sending out emails that consumers are not receiving. The following are two sites you can use to check your words against spam blockers:

Published: September 14, 2005

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Claudia Wicks is Director of Real Estate Training and Content for HouseValues Inc. Her blog, AgentCEO.com, offers agents and brokers tips gleaned from her decades of real estate industry experience. Claudia is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Washington, where she has worked for the last 28 years as an agent, broker/manager and Director of Training for Coldwell Banker and John L. Scott. Learn more about HouseValues at AgentSuccessNetwork.com or call toll-free 866-952-5042.