The other day I bought a bouquet of yellow roses for my mother, for Mother’s Day. I ordered them from FTD —name recognition, good setup. I’ve sent flowers once in my life, and I don’t remember who I used then. The FTD process seemed straightforward. They even asked the occasion, and I responded via drop-down menu, Mother’s Day, easy.

But two days later, they’ve already emailed me two advertisements about sending my mother flowers for Mother’s Day. What did I give them that information for? Did they ignore it? I feel that my information is being used in a numbers robot way when it could be used in a human helping way, to better my experience. Why on earth would they miss that opportunity?

Also, did I mention the obnoxious advertising routine they went through once my order was confirmed, pop-ups and automatic sound files, incredibly alarming? Scared my cereal off my lap. Why would they want to do that after my purchase is confirmed? (To be honest, if they’d done it before the purchase, I likely wouldn’t have bought the flowers from them.)

The flowers, incidently, got to my mother just fine. She loves them, says they’re beautiful. She’s very happy. But I want to give my money to a company who, in return, gives me a good experience. Is this what’s made FTD so recognizable? Thoughtless advertising?