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REBLOG MAUREEN MCCABE: Yikes Yahoo hijacked your CLIENTS email...

Reblogger Mike Jaquish
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Realty Arts NC Broker License #235526

Reblogged from Maureen's "Yikes Yahoo..." post.

How much will we eagerly offer up to the Gods of Free, and their minions and lackeys, before we realize that nothing is really free, even though "nothing aint worth nothing but it's free?"

"Free at last?"  Maybe?

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Original content by Maureen McCabe

Yikes Yahoo hijacked your CLIENTS email...

Not my clients... or maybe my clients too.  That is part of a title written by another ActiveRain member.  It is part of a Members Only post so if I told you what the post or comments say I'd have to kill you.  The ActiveRain Guidelines say so..  Or something like that.

Based on reading a Members Only (talking to peers... to only those who are members of ActiveRain) post I did a little experiment on Gmail and Yahoo mail to see what it looks like on the other end...  a clients email.

The "Yikes Yahoo hijacked your  CLIENTS email"  experiment

email from my business addressThe experiment - how do clients who use Yahoo email see an email if I send them addresses. Do they see a Yahoo map?  Ads?  Are they hijacked by Yahoo.

I sent an email to myself at both my Gmail and Yahoo accounts... I had to reopen an old, old, old Yahoo mail account that gets closed over and over again because I just don't use Yahoo email anymore.  My love affair with Gmail is only a few years old I believe.... that Yahoo address is old.   Yahoo offered to let me pay for an email  account... thanks but no thanks.

The Members Only post on ActiveRain is partially about friends don't let friends use free mail professionally...  I don't care to discuss that here.  Thanks.

The experiment I sent two property addresses from my business email  to a Yahoo email address and a Google email address.  No links in my company email as sent.

Yahoo did make the two addresses into clickable links.

addresses on Yahoo link to map search

First two lines above are links that Yahoo made.   The links are to maps and search links to the addresses on Yahoo.  The MaureendotMcCabe@RealLiving.com and the MaureenMcCabe.com are links in my signature.   I made those.  Yahoo email made links to the phone and fax offering the Yahoo mail user (me on a Yahoo account) the ability to save those in my Yahoo address book.

Y! SHORTCUTS  - Yikes Yahoo made the addresses links to a map and Yahoo search

Yahoo made the addresses clickable links to Maps and search, NOT to ads.  That is what the members only post says, perhaps Yahoo has sold ads in her market and not in mine.  Yours? 

 

 

Yahoo Shortcuts

Y! SHORTCUTS - Your clients email

Yahoo search or Ads?  In my experiment I am using two listings which are mine.  I am using three email addresses that are mine.  Mine, mine all mine!!!!  The Yahoo SHORTCUT shows links to my listing on RealBird, on my website, on Zillow... kinda where I would expect Yahoo search to show the address....

The "Yikes Yahoo hijacked your CLIENTS email"  experiment others listings

I did another test with a friends listing...  My business email sent a local address  to a Yahoo account (mine)  It shows up with a link: 

address in Yahoo email link to map search

 

The address becomes a clickalbe link to Y! SHORTCUTS.  There is a map of the address and search results.

Y! Shortcuts to a Worthington Ohio listing

The first search result is Real Estate Yahoo....  There were search results to other real estate agents NOT to the listing agent at least not on the first page of the Y! SHORTCUT search results.

Stay tuned for 'Good Gracious Gmail Got Greedy'  for how the addresses look on a Gmail account (mine.)

Do you have clients who use Yahoo email?  Gmail?  An AOL email addresses?  Hotmail addresses?  Other company or free email addresses?  Are the contents of the mail linked to ads or search? Or something else? Do emails that come from your MLS or company look any different?  How do your clients see THEIR email?

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This post was written by Maureen McCabe of Real Living HER

For information on Franklin and Delaware County communities including Clintonville, Columbus, Dublin, Gahanna, Grandview Heights,  Hilliard, Lewis Center,  New Albany, North Columbus,  Powell,  Upper Arlington, Westerville and Worthington 

Contact 614.388.8249

Website: MaureenMcCabe.com

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email: MaureenatMaureenMcCabe.com   @

 

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All information is deemed to be accurate but should be verified to your satisfaction.  The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice.  Opinions expressed are solely those of Maureen McCabe.

Posted by

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Scan the QR Code with your Smartphone to Email MeQR CodeMike Jaquish, REALTOR®

919-880-2769 www.RealtyArts.com

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Visit the Triangle Real Estate Forum for hassle-free answers to your questions and discussion of local Triangle Topics.

 

Independent Broker/Owner, Realty Arts

130 Towerview Court,

Cary, NC

Comments(9)

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Suzanne McLaughlin
Sabinske & Associates, Inc. (Albertville, St. Michael) - Saint Michael, MN
Sabinske & Associates, Realtor

That was a little difficult to follow since I have never had a Yahoo account.  But, it sounds odd.  I thought our members only posts were just that.  However, I will have to check not a client's email but a family members to see how this works.  I am looking forward to the Gmail Greedy post, too.

Sep 20, 2010 02:20 PM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Suzanne,

My take is that we expose clients unnecessarily when we use intrusive email providers.

I don't recommend Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail to anyone for business use, particularly for anything with any desired level of confidentiality.

Sep 20, 2010 02:28 PM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

It's not "when we use intrusive email providers." It is their email.  The clients email.  They chose free email. 

We only have so much control over what the client or prospect uses for email.

The emails were sent from my company email going to a Yahoo account.  The members only email she said the links were ads.  I think they are search (organic content.)

Does anyone choose anything but free email for their personal use?   Consumers use gmail, Yahoo,  hotmail, or their work email.

If I paid Yahoo the $20 a year? as a consumer (not to use as a real estate)agent would the links  in the emails I see go away?

The Members Only email, the client loved the map links.

Sep 21, 2010 12:14 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Maureen,

OK, I misread, maybe due to not having the Members Only post. 

Interesting that the client appreciated the map links.  I think it is a little creepy. 

I do know agents who use yahoo and gmail as their primary business email.  I do not use gmail or yahoo for much of anything I want to be confidential.  So I mingle some personal stuff with my private "work" email.

 

Sep 21, 2010 12:22 AM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

Here is the Members Only  post...

Real estate agents

Real estate agents have tunnel vision IMHO you have to separate out the agents from the general public to understand this really. It has nothing to do with agents should not use Yahoo, gmail, AOL etc. in the orignal post that is all some of us can focus on...

One of my best friends uses AOL as his real estate account.  His company provides an email address to him but he chooses to use AOL.   I am working a transaction with an agent who uses AOL right now and I have a very interesting story because of that, the first email I got came... odd and it came to my gmail account, rather than my business account.  I will not write about that until after the transaction closes.

It kind of makes me want to open an AOL  account to see how emails look for them... or perhaps I will email my friend some addresses and have him send it back to me to see if it links to maps, ads, organic search results (that is what I see, original Member Only post says ads) or if it has advertisements on the periphery.

Consumers

Consumers have free choice about who to use to receive and send email and they choose FREE. 

Members Only post

there is a point when the email changes from "my email"  to my client to something out of your control because of choices the client (customer, prospect)  has made.

 

 

Sep 21, 2010 12:42 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Thanks for the link, Maureen.

Hmmm...  Perhaps a Dialogue option on the agent's site would be more secure than email.

I was impressed by the number of respondents on the original post who use yahoo as their business email.

Sep 21, 2010 01:01 AM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

That is what our company has tried to get us to use for years.  Get the client (customer, prospect) to use MyRealLiving.com to communicate with us.  I am not sure how successful other agents have been with that.  I have had a lot of frustration with it.  

The listing emails  from the Columbus Board of REALTORS MLS gives "protection" too.. or some protection. The email comes to the client (customer, prospect) in whatever their choice of email is but the addresses are not in the email to become links, they are in a graphic... the information is on the clients MLS page.   Or I use the client gateway... if I was sending addresses to clients from MLS there would be a link to the address I believe.

Sep 21, 2010 01:24 AM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Maureen,

Are you using a proprietary solution, or a service like AR Member Dotloop.com?

My office is considering DotLoop, and it looks promising. 

But, I am getting paranoid enough that I am leaning toward a proprietary communications platform on my own server.

Sep 21, 2010 02:40 AM
Maureen McCabe
HER Realtors - Columbus, OH
Columbus Ohio Real Estate

"Are you using a proprietary solution, or a service like AR Member Dotloop.com?"

I would have to say that MyRealLiving.com is proprietary.. but then again I am not 100% sure.   Real Living either won or was nominated for an Inman award for it in 2006?  2007?  2005?  ancient history. Or maybe I am getting it confused with one of the other innovations they provided us very, very early which we take for granted or don't use for one reason or another.

DotLoop I noticed  (from Cinci area) and thought "hey what a coincidence they are selling MyRealLiving.com to other brokerages...)

I am not geeky enough to even understand "a proprietary communications platform on my own server."

as an individual agent.

Perhaps I need to revisit my commitment to getting clients to use MyRealLiving.com or maybe not.  I kind of think of it as a struggle to keep them in a bubble. 

Paranoia...

 

Sep 21, 2010 03:29 AM
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