On January 10, Suzy Flowers spends half of the day designing a postcard and a special page in her website for Valentine’s Day. She writes a feature story about the history of Valentines Day and prepares an “Index of Flower Meanings for Sweethearts” . She also writes a short story about the care and handling of roses. Suzy then prepares a “Sweetheart’s Gallery” of her special arrangements for Valentine’s Day.  A rich four color photograph and complete description is included with each arrangement.

Suzy prepares the order form and details “early order” and “last minute” prices for each. On January 15, Suzy mails postcards to all 4,000 of her “active” customers. The postcard is very simple. Red & White, Hearts & Flowers. The copy says “Don’t Forget Your Sweetheart on Valentines Day”, “Order Early and Save”, and “Check This Website for the Most Beautiful Flowers in Town”.

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On January 17 Suzy checks the “hit counter” of her web site. Already, she has had 163 hits (visits) on the “Sweethearts” site. Then she checks her order folder to find a total of 33 new orders. “Not a bad start” she whispers to herself, “Not bad at all”.

www.samblooms.com

On September 7, at 12:01am, PST while Sam Blooms is sound asleep in his Portland, Oregon home, his computer is running database exception programs. The computer program identifies that one of Sam’s best customers, Bill Bucks, has a wedding anniversary in 10 days.  The computer automatically sends a previously prepared e-mail message to Bill Buck’s office e-mail address.