Any grower who works with MasterTag has the option to print plant labels at their own growing operation using My Print. The online printing tool gives growers the flexibility to make changes to their plant labels on the fly.
“The My Print tool allows you to quickly print the label items MasterTag has created for you or take advantage of some of our other built-in features online,” says Gregg Minnebo, Digital Systems Lead at MasterTag. “It can be really helpful for growers.”
Here’s an example of what the system looks like in practice: A grower has already ordered and received their plant labels, only to find out that they need to make a price change the very next day. If the grower has My Print, they can easily change the price on the label and print them on-site in seconds.
It nips a potential garden center mishap in the bud.
How the My Print System Works
Once growers set up their printer—an Epson 6500, 7500, or 8500—all they have to do is navigate to the label they’d like to print on MasterTag Online. As soon as the feature has been enabled for the grower, a “My Print” button would appear. The grower clicks that button, chooses how many labels they want to print, and the printer takes care of the rest.
“It’s a basic computer-based solution,” Minnebo says. “You don’t need print servers or anything like that, just the printing tools that are already on their PC.”
The process is simple by design, but that simplicity comes with some important trade-offs that growers should understand before committing.
Who Should Use the My Print System
My Print isn’t meant to be a grower’s primary, one-size-fits-all printing solution, and Minnebo is the first to say so.
He recommends the My Print system to all growers, but thinks small- to mid-size growers might see the greatest benifits—he also encourages growers to purchase their labels through the MasterTag Online store for greater efficiencies. Using the My Print system is ideal for an unexpected price change or printing a few hundred labels at a time.
“It’s not the tool to use if you’re planning to do all of your label printing on-site,” he says. “If you do the math, it’s not financially viable. You have to consider what your input costs are.”
From the start, My Print was designed as a solution for growers who need to make last-minute changes, not a total replacement for ordering through MasterTag Online.
If growers are already ordering pre-printed labels from MasterTag, Minnebo says, the My Print system serves as a great supplement if something goes wrong with their original order.
“It’s really helpful if a grower were to come up 100 labels short or there were production issues that damaged some of their labels,” he says. “But if they need 1,000-2,000 more labels, it would be much easier to call us up and place an order or order through MasterTag Online.”
Part of what makes My Print practical for those smaller, last-minute jobs is how straightforward the technical setup is.
The Technical Side of the Printer
When a grower uses the My Print system, they can only print adhesive labels in certain sizes.
In order to print their plant labels on-site, growers can purchase MasterTag’s Ink Jet label rolls which include free print credits or you can buy My Print Credits, which are 2 cents a piece if you haven’t purchased their material. The credits aren’t limited to MasterTag products, either.
“Growers can buy the credits if they’re getting the print material elsewhere and they can print that way,” he says. “Or they can buy the roll of adhesive from us and just print when they’re ready.”
MasterTag can work with label materials outside of its own—even from competitors. The print quality the My Print system has, however, makes the company stand out.
“We’re getting good feedback on the quality of the print based on the artwork we have,” Minnebo says. “The primary reason our customers go with us is because our quality is better. Our QR codes and barcodes are crisper and read better on the scanners.”
Setting Growers Up for Success
Before a grower invests in the My Print system, Minnebo ensures they understand how it works and why it makes sense for them to have.
“The system is pretty easy to set up, but I’ll still get in touch with the grower beforehand,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll even visit them to make sure everything is set up and working correctly.”
Once the system is set up, growers are adequately prepared for any plant label emergency that comes their way. Whether they need 10 labels ASAP or 500, My Print will have their labels printed in minutes—sometimes seconds.
For most growers, My Print will sit quietly in the background until the day they really need it. Growers who want to see the system in action before committing can visit MasterTag at Cultivate’26 in Columbus, Ohio, from July 12-14 at booth 1937.
When growers work with MasterTag, they gain a dedicated team committed to understanding their needs, guiding each project, and keeping communication clear from start to finish.
“We need to make sure that our entire team is on the same page during the sales cycle and beyond,” says Bill Steen, Sales Manager at MasterTag. “Sales and project management need to ensure they’re keeping each other informed on both sides of the coin.”
Behind every project is a coordinated process designed to help growers feel informed, supported, and confident at each step. Sales representatives and project managers stay connected so customers receive consistent guidance and timely updates as their work moves forward.
A Team Built Around the Grower
MasterTag’s sales and project management teams share one purpose: helping growers move from idea to finished product with confidence.
“Once a grower’s needs and ideas have been addressed and it becomes a project, the project manager typically leads the task,” Steen says. “But the account manager is never far away and typically involved all the way through the project.”
Korey Minnebo, senior manager of customer service and success at MasterTag, agrees.
“We want customers to feel supported by one unified team,” she says. “No matter how responsibilities are divided behind the scenes, our focus is on making sure they get the support they need.”
For customers, that means having the right support at the right time. Sales representatives help growers explore their needs and options, while project managers help bring the details together and keep the work on schedule.
Sales representatives: Establish initial relationships with customers and keep in close contact with them throughout the sales cycle.
Project managers: Keep in close contact with customers during and after the sale, ensuring their orders arrive on time to keep their project on schedule.
As a project moves forward, customers continue to be supported by a connected team that understands the details and is ready to help with next steps.
What Growers Can Expect
Early conversations focus on understanding each grower’s goals, needs, and reasons for choosing MasterTag.
“The sales team plays an important role in those first conversations with customers,” Minnebo says. “They take the time to understand what each customer needs, then share those insights with the rest of the team so we can support the project effectively.”
From there, the team helps growers with the services and decisions that shape their project, including:
A quote. The customer wants to know what something is going to cost before committing to the sale.
Design work. The customer wants their brand logo, colors, and design printed on the plant tag.
Once those details are in place, the project manager becomes the grower’s primary day-to-day contact, helping guide the project through production and delivery.
Throughout that stage, the project manager keeps the grower informed while staying aligned with the sales team. Together, they help customers with:
Helping the customer understand how to proof all their products online.
Taking the production order to press and providing the customer with a ship date.
“The project manager takes the lead on the minute details of the project,” she says. “But they always keep the sales team informed.”
That shared visibility helps customers get clear answers quickly, whether they have a question, need an update, or are working through a change in timing.
“The customers are well-aware that they have a dedicated sales rep and project manager,” Steen says. “The customer probably doesn’t feel so much like it’s a handoff as it is another avenue of the project being led by a project manager.”
The goal is a seamless experience where customers know who to contact, what to expect, and how their project is progressing.
Communication That Builds Confidence
Clear communication is one of the most important ways MasterTag supports growers. When sales and project management stay connected, customers benefit from a smoother experience and more consistent support.
“In the rare occasion that details fall through the cracks, we probably learned that some aspect of communication was either assumed or missed,” Steen says. “It’s easy to reflect back and say there was a moment in the process when communication could have been more deliberate or proactive.”
When questions or challenges come up, growers can expect the team to respond together: clarifying details, communicating next steps, and using feedback to keep improving the experience.
“We reach out to the grower, own the issue, make sure it’s clearly communicated, and diligently work to correct it,” he says. “That goes a long way with the relationships we’ve built with our customers.”
That same openness extends directly to growers.
“We’re here to help,” Steen says. “Reach out when there’s questions, issues, or curiosity. We’re always here and we’re always open.”
By staying connected internally and accessible externally, MasterTag helps growers feel supported by a team that is working together on their behalf. For growers, that means a partner who understands the details, values the relationship, and is ready to help move every project forward.
Plant tags are small, but they have a big job to do.
In garden centers, customers’ eyes move fast. The plant tag is often the only opportunity growers have to grab their attention.
“The tag is really the only way for growers to give their plants a certain style and aesthetic,” says Nikki Alford-Magers, senior manager of creative and interactive marketing at MasterTag. “It’s your silent salesman—it can be used to highlight your brand message and the unique attributes of your plant.”
After spending 27 years on MasterTag’s marketing team, Alford-Magers has seen just about every design a grower can come up with. A few designs have stuck with her throughout the years, and growers are still finding ways to surprise her today.
Encouraging Creativity
While MasterTag always gives customers the plant tags they ask for, the company encourages growers to elevate their design a bit.
“We’ll always step it up,” she explains. “We won’t take the design too far out of the box unless we know a grower is willing to go there—we can tell when customers are willing to make the leap versus those who aren’t.”
An elevated design starts with understanding the message a grower is trying to send or the problem they’re trying to solve. Those two things are addressed in a conversation between MasterTag and the customer.
One example is Armstrong Growers, a wholesale grower headquartered in Glendora, California.
Going All in with Armstrong Growers
When MasterTag first started working with Armstrong Growers, they worked on the core of their business: herbs, vegetables, and fruit. Gradually, they moved into the annual and perennial side of the business.
Armstrong Growers’ vegetable plant tags.
“We really leaned into the key features they wanted to express about their business when we designed their plant tags,” Alford-Magers says. “For instance, their heirloom vegetables were renamed as ‘vintage veggies.’”
Another enhancement to the program is MasterTag provides custom illustrations for each of their herb varieties. Each time a new design request comes in, the MT design team creates the illustration. For fruit items, the company explores alternative ways for fruits to be showcased through inspirational imagery.
“We show lifestyle imagery of how to actually use the fruit,” she explains. “We can all eat a strawberry off the plant, but what more can you do with it? Think of strawberry milkshakes, strawberry shortcakes, that sort of thing. Thinking outside the box can elevate that experience for customers when they’re in the garden center.”
Imagery draws customers in at the shelf, but QR codes can extend that conversation online.
Implementing QR Codes
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more growers have started including QR codes that link back to their website and boosting their other platforms on their plant tags.
“COVID showed growers that to be seen, you need to have an online presence,” she says. “We’re seeing more requests to include QR codes, social media logos, and social media handles on the plant tag.”
Growers, she says, are becoming more savvy with their marketing efforts. She’s seen them put more effort behind strengthening their marketing team and tracking the data. Unless a grower is directing the customer to My Garden Life, MasterTag won’t have those numbers at the ready.
If growers direct customers back to their own company website, however, they can easily track their own analytics.
“I’m seeing many of the larger customers track their web traffic and analytics,” she adds. “Trends tend to start with the bigger players and gradually spread across the entire industry.”
If growers are just getting started and don’t know what they want aesthetically, MasterTag has a simple solution: The Idea Gallery, a library of approved design layouts and styles.
Giving Growers Designs at the Ready
When growers are developing a plant tag design, MasterTag typically provides three or four options to choose from. The remaining two or three designs used to be abandoned completely—until now.
Over the years, MasterTag has kept those designs that weren’t originally chosen. Recently, the company launched the Idea Gallery on the MasterTag website. Instead of starting from scratch, growers can choose from a selection of designs that weren’t chosen but are still relevant, effective and creative.
“We have found a way to harness the work that wasn’t selected and make it available to others,” she explains. “Just because a design wasn’t chosen doesn’t mean it’s not good or applicable to another grower. Now we have a section on our website highlighting the work that’s readily available.”
Once growers access the Idea Gallery, they can search by category. This ranges from plant types like annuals and perennials to qualities like sun, shade, pollinator, deer resistant, and everything in between.
“There are plenty of options in the gallery,” Alford-Magers says. “Growers can customize the design, use it as inspiration for their own tags, or run with it as-is. All specific customer logos and DORs have been removed, so it’s skinned down to being general artwork.”
For growers that feel overwhelmed about the plant tag and label design process, Alford-Magers encourages them to browse the designs that are already available—and hand selected by MasterTag’s creative team.
While the plant tag hasn’t gotten any bigger, what growers are willing to put on it has changed considerably.
Your brand starts with your plant tag design. If you’re not sure where to begin, the Idea Gallery is a perfect place to find inspiration and create a look that gets noticed.
Growers don’t need to order 100,000 plant tags to use custom designed tags.
“With the proper vision and a plan in place, any grower can move to custom tags,” says Jillian Novosad, sales director for MasterTag. “I don’t believe there’s an obstacle that holds any of our customers back from trying it out.”
Jillian Novosad
While some growers opt for custom plant tags out the gate, many work their way up to it. It all comes down to what their goals are and the message they want their tag to communicate.
But before making the move to custom, it’s helpful for growers to know what their options are. Understanding these options starts with knowing what custom looks like in practice.
What Does ‘Custom’ Mean?
In the plant tag space, “custom” means growers design tags specifically for their brand instead of using generic stock tags. Growers who decide to go this route often include the following on their plant tags:
Their logo
Their brand colors
A QR code that links back to their website (if available)
Instead of leaving a garden center with a generic red geranium, for instance, customers will leave with a geranium that’s branded by a grower or breeder. This gives the impression that they aren’t buying just any geranium off the shelf.
Simply by having their name on a plant tag, growers can strengthen their brand and retail positioning as well as return purchasers.
The Custom Plant Tag Process
At MasterTag, the process of creating custom plant tags is simple and collaborative.
It involves the sales and marketing departments connecting with the customer during a design consult. It’s helpful for all three parties to be aligned on what style the tags and labels will carry as well as the care information printed on them.
“At the beginning of the project, our team focuses on listening during the consult. Growers should be doing 80% of the talking while we absorb their vision,” Novosad says.
While growers have packed schedules, this conversation is essential for the design team to create the grower’s vision. It reduces the amount of revisions needed and allows MasterTag to get plant tags and labels into the hands of growers much faster.
Once the design is finished, it typically takes around four to six weeks for growers to receive their tags and insert them in their plants.
The custom tag design process can be easy to complete, but growers tend to have concerns about cost and volume before committing.
Common Apprehensions
MasterTag encourages growers to get custom tags when it makes sense for their business, and that typically depends on the kind of plant they need tags for.
“Where we see a lot of constraints is on the nursery (trees and shrubs) side of the industry. Where the plant volume is significantly less,” she explains. “But when it comes to high-volume crops like annuals, they’re probably growing 1,000 or more of each variety, so custom tags make more sense.”
The minimum order for custom plant tags is usually 1,000. However, MasterTag can accommodate customers if they need fewer.
And while many assume custom exceeds their price range, MasterTag works with growers to find a tag or label solution that is priced to fit their operation and budget.
The Benefits of Custom Tags & Labels
Taking the custom approach is typically worthwhile for growers from a branding and sales perspective.
“Not understanding how the custom process works sometimes deters growers,” Novosad explains. “But we’ll work with our customers to make it as simple as possible and create a tag that stands out in the market.”
If growers would like to change the design on their current plant tag or label design down the road, they can. However, most keep it for a few years before trying something new.
Many times, growers find that using custom tags and labels is worth it to effectively tell their brand’s story and sell more plants. This is especially important in an industry that relies heavily on the seasons — growers need to reach customers in the spring, when their desire for flowers is at its peak.
“The spring season is limited, but it’s also the top time to drive sales,” she says. “The best way to show a plant in its prime is through the tag and the images included on the tag. Our plant library provides us with a plethora of options depending on what growers would like to appear on their tags.”
When to Go Custom or Stick with Stock
There are benefits to both custom and stock tags—it just depends on a grower’s priorities. Sometimes they need a tag ASAP, and other times they have more time to tell their brand’s story in more detail.
“I think there’s a time and a place for when stock is the solution,” Novosad says. “It can come down to the weather, running a smaller operation, or needing a plant tag as quickly as possible.”
Moving to custom doesn’t have to be a lengthy process as long as the grower has an idea and a plan in mind. In fact, Novosad has seen an increase in growers ordering custom tags for their plants.
“Growers want to establish their own direct brand instead of falling under a house brand or stock look,” she says. “Custom tags help establish a larger presence to build trust and confidence with the garden shopper.”
While the process may seem daunting at first, using custom plant tags is within reach for every grower. Whether it makes sense or not depends on their goals, the plants they’re growing, and how high the demand is for their product.
And with MasterTag, growers don’t have to purchase 100,000+ tags at a time. They can start small with 1,000 tags per variety and add to their order over time if they find it worthwhile for their business.
Aside from the plant itself, the first thing garden center shoppers look for is the tag in front of it. This is your silent salesman. Plant tags are the most effective way for growers to build brand credibility and trust—when used the right way.
“With a tag, you can tell a story, capture your customer, make a sale, and establish recognition for your brand,” says Jillian Novosad, director of sales for MasterTag. “The branding is critical for instilling confidence and building trust in your customers.”
Jillian Novosad
During the busy growing season, a tag can feel like another box to check. But it’s actually one of your most powerful marketing tools. And for growers willing to get a little creative, it’s one of the easiest ways to make a lasting impression.
Capitalizing on Creativity
While they’re small in size, plant tags can make a major impact. Think about it: After you’ve planted a flower in your backyard, how often do you take a look at the care instructions on the back? According to MasterTag’s consumer research, 70% of customers reference the tag in store and 98% hang onto their tags so they can refer back to them at least once a season.
“When growers are focused on getting a product to market, it’s easy for the customer, post purchase, to slip to the back of their mind,” Novosad says. “That’s where some extra thought about the customer’s perspective can make a big difference.”
Plant tags should be at the top of growers’ minds. Tags provide an opportunity to establish credibility, educate customers, set themselves apart from the competition, as well as ensure gardening success . As Novosad says, growers aren’t required to fit into a specific mold for their plant tags unless of course with a retail program. In fact, they’re encouraged to break it.
“It’s important to maximize the small space on the tag and the content you’re sharing,” she explains. “Whether it’s through a QR code linking back to your website or an icon that tells your brand’s story, every inch of the tag is a chance to connect with your customer.”
Growers can lean on MasterTag to design a tag that effectively captures the message they want to send.
Designing Tags Customers Will Actually Use
If growers aren’t sure how to make the most of their tags, Novosad encourages them to work with tag companies that understand the consumer and lean on market research. By attending industry events and tradeshows throughout the year, companies like MasterTag know what customers are looking for from their plants and the tags that come with them.
One of these events is The Home Garden Panel Focus Group, which has tracked consumer behavior since 2010. MasterTag has participated in this research for nearly seven years, gaining insight into what home gardeners want and need from their plant tags.
“Because of these experiences, we know what information is a priority to our customers,” Novosad says. “Growers can rely on MasterTag as an expert because we use multiple resources to produce quality tags that have valuable information on the back.”
For instance, MasterTag understands that drought tolerance, attracting pollinators, and deer resistance are important plant attributes for garden center shoppers to know. As a result, the MasterTag creative team incorporates this information and strategically places it on plant tags so customers can find it easily.
The Cost of Not Prioritizing Tags
Novosad encourages small growers to lean into trying custom tags to effectively communicate their product; stock tags are not their only option. She has seen this approach becoming increasingly popular in European countries, but not as much in the U.S.
“The European market uses plant tags to tell a story and showcase future maturity of plants even in dormancy. We don’t really see that here,” she says. “I always encourage our grower customer to be ambitious and try something new. Marketing itself is an experiment.”
Standing out is a critical issue that growers face. This problem is especially prominent in horticulture, where it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate between old products and new products.
“I’ll go to an annual meeting where they’re unveiling new varieties, like new genetics for a geranium that’s a more vibrant red than the others,” Novosad explains. “It might mean something to me or to growers because we’ve been in the industry, but it doesn’t mean anything to the average consumer as it’s sometimes hard to see with the naked eye.”
Plant tags give growers the ability to make that differentiation clear. By getting in front of new products and making their “newness” clear on a plant tag, growers can strengthen their credibility even further and excite consumers.
Communicating this information effectively comes down to recognizing what works in your marketing, what doesn’t, and when it’s time to switch things up.
“Whether you’re a small or large operation, investing in your brand is how you get in front of the next generation of customers,” Novosad explains. “Marketing in today’s environment is even more important, especially at a time when everyone relies on the search results Google or AI kicks back to them in seconds.”
Your plant tag is one of the smallest investments you can make, and one of the biggest opportunities. In a crowded garden center, the growers who invest in their tags are the ones that will keep customers coming back long after the first sale.
Picture this: You purchase a beautiful plant from your local garden center to spruce up your living room. Even though you place it in direct sunlight and water it as much as you think you should, the plant starts to wilt and loses its color in less than two weeks.
If this has happened to you before, you’re not alone. But the problem isn’t that you don’t have a green thumb — it’s that you haven’t cultivated it yet.
With a strong focus on connecting with its customers, MasterTag launched MyGardenLife.com (My Garden Life) in 2012 to help garden center shoppers choose the right plants for their home and garden and keep them alive.
This is a prime example of effective content marketing. Beyond selling plant tags and labels, MasterTag established a strong online presence that guides customers through their gardening journey from the moment they purchase a plant until after it’s planted in their backyard. The key? Prioritizing quality, educational content over making a sale.
“We want our garden center shoppers to continue to buy plants and take care of them properly,” says Judy Stout, content management specialist for MasterTag. “It backs up the statement that we lean on, which is creating the tags and labels that sell plants.”
Meet My Garden Life
The purpose of My Garden Life is to help gardeners grow plants successfully, engage with other plant enthusiasts on social media, and inspire gardeners to do more with their plants. But it didn’t start out that way.
In the early 2000s, before MasterTag launched My Garden Life, Stout was assigned a project to create a library of online records that supported tags for The Home Depot Canada’s plant product line. Realizing that MasterTag had the resources to develop similar digital plant libraries for other projects, that initial job opened the door to creating a much larger online resource.
“Starting the plant library for MasterTag opened the door for digital work for us,” Stout explains. “The most common way people find our site is through the plant library, so it’s a really important segment of My Garden Life.”
The Plant Library is an extensive online database that offers information on all kinds of different plants, helping gardeners choose the right ones for their yard and take care of them successfully.
My Garden Life Plant Library.
Each entry includes essential information about the plant, including how tall it grows, what color it is, and how much light it needs. The library currently has more than 4,500 common garden and houseplant entries, with more being added every week.
My Garden Life library page example.
Over the last decade, however, the website has become so much more than a plant database. The website includes weekly articles on popular plant and gardening topics, including how-to projects, solutions to plant pest and disease problems, and garden design inspiration
MasterTag’s team of designers also assists with developing infographics that help simplify more complex concepts that readers can download and share.
Example of an infographic from My Garden Life.
“In 2018, we got more involved with content development. Now, we have an entire editorial calendar,” Stout says. “We start content planning about three months in advance. I’ll write some articles myself, I’ll work with other horticulture professionals on content, and we also oversee social media.”
Managing the editorial calendar, however, is no easy task.
My Garden Life’s Content Strategy
Before anything else, My Garden Life focuses on creating content that its audience would like to see covered. To do this effectively, Stout explains, she fields questions sent through the site.
Judy Stout
“One of the biggest questions is people asking what’s wrong with their plant,” Stout says. “We’re getting questions about this from people all over the world.”
While most of My Garden Life’s audience resides in the U.S., 44% live in other parts of the world, spanning from Canada all the way to Australia.
This puts My Garden Life’s editors in a hard spot. What topics should they cover, and when? Setting a content calendar isn’t as easy when your audience lives in different hemispheres and growing zones.
For Stout, the solution is to focus on the website’s core audience (American garden center shoppers) while also answering questions from readers across the globe.
“Right now I’m getting off-season questions because it’s spring going into summer in the southern hemisphere,” Stout says. “But with it being winter here in the U.S., I’ll do more content around houseplants because people are spending more time inside. I try to be intentional about what season we’re in here.”
It’s a tough balance to maintain, staying relevant to My Garden Life’s central audience while also being helpful to web visitors around the world.
From the Garden Center to the World Wide Web
While it’s a website, My Garden Life’s impact can be felt inside garden centers as well.
One unique service MasterTag offers is making My Garden Life accessible by including QR codes on its plant tags at garden centers. By scanning the code with their phone, shoppers can go directly to the Plant Library entry that states everything they need to know about the plant in question.
MasterTag plant tag with a QR code.
“This leverages a whole new avenue for customers to get all the information they need before purchasing and caring for a plant,” Stout explains. “They just scan the code with their phone, and it will take them directly to the plant library entry on My Garden Life.”
Organic traffic to My Garden Life has gradually increased year over year, with 45% of it coming from the plant library. And while publishing SEO-friendly articles and utilizing QR codes plays a part in that, MasterTag believes that producing educational content is the catalyst.
“It has everything to do with accuracy and ensuring that our audience is getting correct information about plants,” Stout says. “There’s a lot of junk on the internet right now, and Google can spread it around quickly. By including our experience and knowledge on our site, we can make sure we’re not a part of that.”
Putting Readers First, Always
On top of creating content that’s educational and informative for gardeners, MasterTag made sure it’s easy to find.
“There are no ads and there’s no monetization happening on My Garden Life,” Stout says. “The website isn’t cluttered, which makes it easier for readers to locate the information they’re looking for.”
MasterTag’s content marketing approach inspires gardeners at all levels to grow healthy, happy plants and share their love for gardening with others. Through this, it helps people become successful gardeners and encourages successful gardeners to buy more plants.
Check out MyGardenLife.com to see this philosophy in action, follow My Garden Life on Pinterest and Facebook, and drop Judy Stout a line if there’s a specific question about your plants that you’d like to see answered.
Walk into MasterTag’s facility, and you’ll notice something that can’t be listed on a spec sheet or highlighted in a product brochure: sustainability isn’t just a department or initiative; it’s embedded in how the company operates daily.
From the closed-loop recycling system that’s been running for two decades, to the LED lighting overhead, to the materials engineer who chose to work in plastics specifically to make a positive impact, MasterTag’s approach to sustainability reflects something deeper than market trends or competitive positioning.
“It all started with Rick Hughes, our former owner,” explained Dylan Ode, MasterTag’s Materials and Manufacturing Process Engineer. “It was obvious on day one that [sustainability] wasn’t just a buzzword or something we talked about. It was the way he lived and operated, and the company adopted that.”
The Foundation: A Leader’s Legacy
Hughes’s influence on MasterTag’s sustainability culture was immediate and pervasive. Unlike companies where environmental initiatives emerge from customer demands or regulatory pressure, MasterTag’s commitment to sustainability came from the top and spread organically through the organization.
“It’s more than just a selling point for us. It really does matter,” Ode said. “All of us have adopted that same vision.”
This cultural foundation proved essential, given the inherent tension in MasterTag’s business model: helping customers grow plants while producing plastic tags.
As Ode acknowledged, “We’re helping customers grow live plants, so [sustainability] has a natural fit. On the flip side, we make plastic tags, and to a lot of people, plastic is the enemy when you’re talking sustainability.”
One Engineer’s Mission: Making Plastics Part of the Solution
Ode’s personal journey took an unexpected route to environmental work. As someone who studied plastics engineering, he recognized an opportunity in what many perceive as the problem.
“When I was going through school, I was going for plastics engineering. And plastics were always talked about with such a negative connotation. But you can’t look anywhere around you without seeing plastic,” he said. “So to me, there was an opportunity to work in an industry that has a negative connotation, but then make the biggest positive impact possible.”
This philosophy — working within an industry to transform it rather than working against it — shapes MasterTag’s material development strategy. Ode’s role has evolved over his 10 years with the company. Now he’s focused explicitly on sustainable materials research and development and ESG reporting.
The Closed-Loop System: Two Decades of Recycling
Long before sustainable materials became a market differentiator, MasterTag established a recycling partnership that diverts hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic from landfills annually.
“We ensure that all of our internal scrap is sent out. It’s a closed-loop system that takes our scrap and turns it into horticultural containers, pots, and trays,” Ode explained. “We think that that’s a big win for the industry because we’re ensuring that none of the waste we’re generating is going to the landfill. It’s getting a second chance.”
The program predates recent sustainability trends by years. MasterTag has been running this closed-loop system for at least two decades.
The benefit extends beyond one-time recycling: “We know once it goes to the supplier that makes those pots and containers, that it may end up being turned back into a pot and container several times,” he said.
The system also captures aluminum plates used to create printed images on tags. “Those all get recycled,” Ode confirmed. “It’s a built-in piece of our production process. You can’t necessarily get away from it, but you can ensure that you’re doing the right thing with it.”
MasterTag’s approach reflects that sustainability in manufacturing isn’t about eliminating waste; it’s about giving waste a second, third, and fourth life.
Lean Manufacturing: Efficiency by Design
MasterTag’s upcoming facility expansion represents an opportunity to reduce waste through smarter layout and workflow design.
The new facility’s design focuses on creating a direct route from start to finish. “Whether that’s final product or scrap, it’s all going to be on one clear pathway. There isn’t going to be duplicate handling going on like there is currently because of our space limitations,” Ode said.
The facility improvements also include green infrastructure elements such as LED lighting and water-recycling systems, demonstrating a sustainability mindset at every level of design.
“We believe there will be an abundance of opportunities for efficiency improvements with this new facility, efficiencies to our own operations as well as potential improvements to the customer experience,” Ode said.
The CCL Industries Effect: Resources and Accountability
MasterTag’s acquisition by CCL Industries and Avery also brought new dimensions to its sustainability work.
“They naturally have a huge focus on sustainability and offer a large network of resources for us to tap into,” Ode noted.
The relationship also introduced formal accountability structures.
MasterTag now participates in annual ESG reporting covering energy consumption, carbon emissions for both incoming and outgoing shipments, and other environmental metrics.
“This is the third year we’ve done [ESG reporting], so we have a decent amount of data in place,” Ode said, which allows MasterTag to track trends and measure improvement over time.
This combination of resources and requirements “aligned with some of the work I was already doing,” according to Ode, making the formal reporting structure a natural extension of his existing priorities.
Education as a Core Responsibility
MasterTag’s sustainability culture extends beyond its own operations to include what Ode identified as one of their biggest responsibilities: educating customers.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about plastic, recycling, and the green buzzwords we hear nowadays,” he explained. “I think one of the biggest benefits we provide for our customers is from an educational standpoint.”
Through education, MasterTag helps growers navigate sustainability decisions that might feel overwhelming: “By partnering with us on sustainable materials, you can feel comfortable that you’re in good hands with the leader in the industry in providing sustainable solutions,” Ode expressed.
This even extends to helping growers communicate sustainability to their own customers. MasterTag often tailors its artwork to highlight that a tag is made from recycled plastic, helping get that message to the end consumer.
This support helps growers tell their sustainability story without getting lost in the common confusion between “biodegradable versus compostable” or “recyclable versus recycled content.”
The Guard Rails of Greenwashing
Perhaps the most telling aspect of MasterTag’s sustainability culture is its cautious approach to claims and its willingness to acknowledge complexity rather than oversimplify.
“We’re always looking at what’s out there,” Ode said. But this search comes with rigorous vetting: “Staying accurate and making sure we’re not falling victim to greenwashing: it’s always verify, research. Because there are options out there, but you definitely have to sift through what’s real and what isn’t.”
This carefulness reflects the company’s understanding that credibility in sustainability requires honesty about limitations and trade-offs.
“What works for one customer might not work for somebody else. And then, as you start digging deeper, [sustainability is often] region specific,” Ode noted, acknowledging “there’s not a silver bullet.”
The company also maintains realistic boundaries around what it can promise: “While we always want to sell more tags, we’re still going to do the right thing,” he said.
Looking Ahead: Building on the Foundation
MasterTag’s sustainable materials portfolio continues to evolve. “We have some things in the pipe that we’re excited about,” Ode confirmed, though specifics remain under wraps.
The company is also looking to make changes to some of its stock products, suggesting that sustainability will increasingly become the default rather than an option.
Green Culture in Action
When growers call MasterTag with questions or concerns about sustainable options, they’ll encounter its open culture directly. Ode’s message to skeptical growers reflects the company’s approach: “Pick up the phone, let’s talk. We can provide data, prototypes. I think we’ve shown with the options that we have out in the market right now that there have been no drawbacks.”
This willingness to engage in dialogue, provide transparent information, and address concerns demonstrates that for MasterTag, sustainability is truly cultural rather than transactional.
The irony isn’t lost on them: they make plastic tags for an industry growing live plants. But acknowledging that tension while working thoughtfully to minimize impact is what separates genuine sustainability culture from marketing spin.
Sustainable tags are everywhere, but which ones actually hold up in the greenhouse?
For growers navigating retail sustainability mandates or simply looking to reduce their environmental footprint, the question isn’t whether to offer sustainable tags; it’s which option makes the most sense for your operation.
In fact, a recent survey conducted by the Home Garden Panel, a consumer research group MasterTag subscribes to, found that 78% of shoppers want to see more sustainable container options at their local garden center.
MasterTag’s sustainable portfolio includes four distinct substrate options, each engineered for different applications, performance requirements, and sustainability goals.
Here’s what growers need to know about Evo, Repro, Fibro, and Verso, including pricing, performance, and when each option works best.
Understanding the Portfolio: Four Solutions for Different Needs
MasterTag currently offers two recycled-content plastic options and two fiber-based alternatives.
“The way we approach testing these alternative substrates is, as best as we can, we’re going to try to make sure that there is no impact to performance,” explained Dylan Ode, MasterTag’s Materials and Manufacturing Process Engineer.
“The general perception is that when you use something that says ‘recycled’ on it, it’s not as good. We wanted to ensure that when we went through our testing process and development, the goal was for there to be no sacrifice on the end product’s performance,” he said.
Best for: Growers seeking recycled content with familiar plastic performance
Evo was MasterTag’s first sustainable offering, and it carries a meaningful message: it contains post-consumer waste rather than just the manufacturer’s recycled material.
Using milk jugs as the source of recycled content gives growers a simple, relatable story to share with eco-conscious shoppers. The 30% recycled content delivers sustainability messaging while keeping pricing competitive.
Best for: Growers selling to retailers with recycled content mandates; operations seeking maximum recycled content without performance sacrifice
Of all MasterTag’s sustainable options, Repro is “the one that I’m most proud of,” Ode said. At 100% recycled content, with a guaranteed minimum of 25% post-consumer waste, it addresses a critical market need.
“A lot of big brands have put out mandates that you must have ‘X’ amount of recycled content in any plastic components,” Ode explained. “And for customers that are selling to these places, if you didn’t have an option in place, that can be kind of scary.”
Beyond meeting mandates, Repro offers a compelling sustainability story: “You’re using a product that’s already avoided the landfill. At the end of the day, the more times you can use a piece of plastic, the better, right? It’s already been made. The more you can avoid waste is the best case scenario.”
The Brand Integrity Factor
One common concern with recycled materials is whether they’ll compromise brand appearance. MasterTag has seen the opposite with Repro.
“The feedback I received from a large customer using it today is that there were no negative impacts to their branding or performance,” Ode reported.
In fact, recent customer feedback revealed that they couldn’t even tell it was recycled. For growers working with larger brands where brand integrity is critical, consistency matters.
Best for: Hang tags and applications not in direct soil contact; growers wanting to avoid plastic entirely
Fibro provides a fiber-based alternative for tags that traditionally used thin-gauge plastic. The 10% post-consumer waste comes from “general paper products, or household and office paper waste,” Ode said.
Composition: Thicker, more durable fiber-based material
Timeline: Launched 2024
Best for: Applications requiring more durability than Fibro; growers committed to completely avoiding plastic
Verso offers greater thickness and durability than Fibro, “which gives us a little bit more flexibility in what we can do with it,” Ode explained. MasterTag hopes to utilize Verso in even more applications in the future.
Both fiber options are designed for customers looking to avoid plastic altogether.
However, there’s a reality check: “Most people understand that paper isn’t going to perform like plastic. And if you engineer paper to perform like a plastic, it’s likely no longer recyclable and potentially less environmentally friendly than the plastic is at that point.”
The key is matching the material to the application. For hang tags and short-term use where soil contact isn’t a factor, Fibro and Verso deliver on their promise: a genuine plastic alternative without over-engineering or false performance claims.
For plastic-based Evo and Repro, MasterTag’s testing process ensures performance is identical to that of a standard polypropylene or polystyrene.
For the fiber-based options, expectations are different: “When you look at the fiber, obviously, there’s a different expectation of what a paper is going to do versus a plastic. But for customers looking for that, there’s a general understanding that this isn’t going to be what they had before,” Ode said.
MasterTag’s philosophy centers on transparency; customers should understand exactly what they’re getting: “We spend a lot of time on the development side. Some might even say we overkill it. But at the end of the day, we understand the expectations of our products,” he added.
The Pricing Reality: Understanding the Premium
One of the most common misconceptions growers encounter is that recycled materials cost less than virgin materials. The reality is more complex.
“There’s a common misconception that if something has recycled content, it’s going to be cheaper,” Ode explained. “Occasionally that may be the case, but most often what you find is that [recycled product is] going to come at a slight premium because of all of the processes that go into recapturing it.”
Each step in the recycling chain adds cost: “There’s the collection process, the cleaning, the sortation, the repelletizing, and then the reproduction of that into a new material. And unfortunately, you can’t get around some of that.”
Approximate Premium Ranges:
Repro: 5-10% premium (MasterTag’s most competitive sustainable option)
Other options: Can reach 20% premium depending on specification
However, it’s important to note that pricing is volume-dependent.
“As you scale up, the premium comes down. That burden on the price side, when you’re doing smaller runs here and there, that’s a little harder to overcome,” Ode acknowledged.
Market dynamics also play a role: “From a broad standpoint, the more the market starts to adopt some of these sustainable substrates, that will only help prices come down,” he added.
The Infrastructure Challenge
Behind the pricing lies a systemic issue affecting the entire sustainable materials market: the U.S. recycling infrastructure simply isn’t there yet.
“At the end of the day, that’s the biggest driver,” Dylan noted. The limited framework creates a double burden: “the processing it takes to capture and recreate [materials] and the fact that supply is limited because infrastructure is so limited.”
Compare that to Europe, where the situation looks dramatically different.
“Europe is light-years ahead of us in terms of its recycling infrastructure. That’s why you see so many mandates in Europe. It’s part of their culture because it’s so ingrained, but they’re also able to have the mandates they have from a government level because the infrastructure is there,” Ode said.
What does this mean for U.S. growers? “Until that infrastructure gets to where it needs to be, it requires some creative problem-solving on our end,” he said.
Still, MasterTag is optimistic. “With some of the developments that we have in the pipeline and more adoption, we do see that becoming less of a problem,” he added.
Completing the Sustainable System: Wood Risers
For growers choosing fiber-based tags, MasterTag offers complementary wood risers. It’s a small detail that matters: pairing a paper hang tag with a plastic riser defeats the purpose.
Wood risers complete the sustainable system, ensuring growers committed to avoiding plastic can do so throughout their entire tagging solution.
Selecting the Right Option for Your Operation
Choosing among MasterTag’s sustainable portfolio depends on several factors:
Choose Repro if:
You’re selling to retailers with recycled content mandates
You want maximum recycled content without compromising performance
Brand appearance consistency is critical
You need the most cost-competitive sustainable plastic option
Choose Evo if:
You want recycled content with a clear consumer story (milk jugs)
You value the unique appearance of reclaimed HDPE
You need a short run length
Choose Fibro if:
You’re using hang tags or non-soil-contact applications
You want to avoid plastic completely
You’re willing to accept paper performance characteristics
Choose Verso if:
You need more durability than Fibro provides
You’re committed to fiber-based solutions
You’re exploring expanding fiber use beyond traditional hang tag applications
What About Skeptical Growers?
For growers still hesitant about switching to sustainable options, Ode invites them to give him a call: “Pick up the phone, let’s talk. We are always willing to engage with customers directly to learn more about their specific sustainability initiatives and answer any questions they may have.”
Ultimately, MasterTag wants to help growers achieve their goals: “We understand that offering a customer a more sustainable material doesn’t do anything for them if they can’t sell their plants. So at the end of the day, we’re here to ensure that our customers can sell more plants,” Ode said.
With options ranging from 30% to 100% recycled content, and from thin-gauge fiber to durable plastic alternatives, MasterTag’s portfolio provides entry points for growers at different stages of their sustainability journey.
Ever wish you could see all your invoices in one place instead of digging through emails? Or track exactly where your custom tag project stands in production? MasterTag just made both possible.
The company rolled out two major updates to its online ordering platform last month, both driven by grower requests.
“We built this tool in collaboration with our customers,” said Korey Minnebo, Senior Manager of Customer Service & Success at MasterTag. “We could have come to the table with everything that MasterTag thought was what our customers needed, and we wouldn’t have hit the mark.”
Since the platform launched in 2020, that collaborative approach has driven steady improvements. Here’s what’s new, what’s coming, and how MasterTag uses customer input to shape the ordering experience.
The One-Question Survey That Drives Improvement
At the heart of MasterTag’s development process is a simple feedback mechanism: after placing an order or proofing items in the online environment, customers see a brief pop-up asking them to rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 10.
“We ask one simple question: ‘How is our service for you?'” Minnebo said. “They can answer anonymously, or they can leave their information so we can contact them at a later time.”
The MasterTag team watches these responses closely for trends, concerns, and new feature ideas. The survey also creates opportunities for one-on-one connections with customers who may not realize certain capabilities already exist.
“It allows customer service to connect with those customers,” Minnebo said. “To say, ‘If you have a few minutes, I can actually show you that that’s something we have available.'”
Beyond the survey, MasterTag’s customer service team is always speaking with growers using the platform.
“We are constantly asking, ‘How was your experience? Is there anything we could do better? Hey, we just delivered a new feature. Have you given it a try? Did it meet your needs?'” Minnebo said.
This ongoing engagement ensures that even when a new feature hits 90% of customer needs, MasterTag can quickly identify and address the remaining 10%.
Major Updates: “My Documents” and “My Projects”
MasterTag rolled out two significant new features approximately one month ago: “My Documents” and “My Projects.” Both aim to give growers a single-source location for tracking all their activity with MasterTag.
My Documents: A Repository for Invoices and Reference Materials
The “My Documents” section provides a centralized hub for important order documentation.
The most impactful addition is invoice access.
“When a customer places an order, once we’ve shipped the order, we invoice the order,” Minnebo explained. “Prior to this, they would get an email with the invoice attached to it. Now they’ll actually be able to come in here and look at all of their invoices.”
Instead of searching through email for past invoices, growers can now access their complete billing history in one place.
A “Quotes” section is in development and will work similarly.
“This feature is coming soon,” Minnebo said. “When a customer requests a custom quote — for something very specific — we’ll be able to load that quote directly into the system instead of sending it via email.”
The third component is “Reference Documents,” which houses program information, scheduled run details, sell sheets, and other informational materials MasterTag shares with customers.
“This gives our customer service team an area to load all of that information for a customer,” Minnebo explained. “So again, they’re not sifting through email blasts or things we’ve sent them, but they have one area to go to to find all of that information.”
My Projects: Visibility Into Custom Work
For the first time, growers can now see exactly where their custom projects stand in MasterTag’s workflow.
“Previous to this, they would have had no visibility to any of the open projects we had for them,” Minnebo said.
The “My Projects” section includes two main areas:
Service Requests cover custom activities like creative design work, new shape development, and custom quoting. When customers click into an open project, they see a visual timeline showing where the project stands.
“It’s essentially going to tell them where this [project] lives in the process,” Minnebo explained. As it moves through different stages, the customer will see checkmarks next to completed phases. “And it would give them an idea of, ‘Okay, there are nine steps here. I’m on step five. I see my due date is this.'”
Item Builds track new varieties being created for a customer’s account — for example, 50 new tomato varieties being prepared.
“They would be able to see the list of those here and when they’re due to be completed,” Minnebo said. “We’re giving them timeline information that they wouldn’t have had here before. We’re setting expectations on when they’re going to hear from us next, [and] when some of those projects are completed.”
The next phase of “My Projects” will connect completed work to “My Documents.”
“Once that project output is completed, you will see it in your ‘My Documents’ area,” Minnebo explained. “So once your quote was completed, you could see the timeline here, [in ‘Item Builds’]. And now you could see the quote output in my ‘My Documents.'”
Coming Soon: Favorites and Enhanced Sorting
Two highly requested features are in active development.
My Favorites
MasterTag is building a “My Favorites” capability to help with reordering and long-term planning.
“When you’re shopping, if you find something that you want to be able to go back to, but you’re not ready to add it to your shopping cart, we would give them a ‘My Favorites’ option,” Minnebo said.
This feature will also help growers maintain a shorter list of frequently ordered items instead of searching through the entire catalog each time.
“That would also help with reorders,” Minnebo noted. “Or [if] they know they’re going to want to order it again in the future, to help maintain a shorter list of items that they’re interested in.”
Shopping Cart Sorting
Currently in development, this enhancement will allow customers to sort their shopping cart contents, similar to the filtering options available during the browsing phase.
“When they’re in that shopping cart environment, to still give them the ability, like they have when they’re shopping, to sort it by variety or sort it by shape, things like that,” Minnebo said.
Past Improvements That Made a Difference
Several customer-driven enhancements have already become integral to how growers use the platform.
“Order Via Upload”
Perhaps the most impactful feature addition, launched around 2021, was the “Order Via Upload” capability. This allows growers to upload spreadsheets directly instead of manually entering line items, especially valuable for operations that already work in spreadsheets or extract data from their own systems.
“This came along from customers who would come to us and say, ‘Well, typically I would have just emailed this spreadsheet to you. How can I still do that?'” Minnebo recalled.
The feature serves two customer groups: those who maintain their orders in spreadsheets and collaborate with teams before submitting, and those who extract order data from their own POS or database systems.
“Prior to the ‘Order Via Upload’ option, they would have to take that spreadsheet and find all of those items,” Minnebo said. “We’re giving them a shortcut.”
Simplified Account Creation
Around 2022, MasterTag streamlined the new customer onboarding process, reducing the amount of information required upfront and adding automation to prevent duplicate accounts.
“It’s changed over the years from the customer’s experience. The amount of information we ask them to provide before they can start ordering with us has lessened,” Minnebo said.
Ongoing Small Refinements
Beyond major features, MasterTag continuously tweaks smaller elements based on user experience. “Sometimes there are little tweaks here or there regarding how they add items to a cart, things like that,” Minnebo noted.
Even when a feature launches successfully, customer feedback can reveal opportunities for refinement.
“There are definitely tweaks that we’ve made along the way where maybe we output a feature that hit 90% of the need, but it didn’t find all customers,” Minnebo said. “[Then it’s], ‘Okay, what can we do next then to hit some of those other customers?'”
Managing Custom Inventory with “My Tags”
Separate from the stock catalog, MasterTag maintains a “My Tags” section for each customer’s custom items.
“If I’m doing custom business with MasterTag, that’s where my items are going to land because they’re custom to me,” Minnebo explained. “If they’re doing custom activity with MasterTag and it’s only for them to order, that’s what ‘My Tags’ is for them.”
This section helps growers evaluate their custom catalog season to season.
“It’s giving them visibility to their custom offering with us so they can tweak, enhance, and make changes as they need,” Minnebo said. They can identify varieties they’re no longer ordering, items that need to be added, or products that should be refreshed.
“That ‘My Tags’ area definitely helps them as far as their item inventory, what they’re ordering from us, and how to maintain and keep it clean and fresh,” Minnebo added.
Mobile Accessibility
MasterTag’s online ordering system is accessible via mobile browsers on phones and tablets, though usage patterns show most customers still prefer desktop. In October, less than 8% of users accessed MasterTag Online via a mobile device.
The mobile experience does have its use cases, particularly for iPad users.
“There have been a few [responses] from our online surveys where customers might use an iPad in the greenhouse,” Minnebo said. “And they want to go check to make sure, ‘Oh, I need so many more of these.’ An iPad has worked for what they need it for.”
Most mobile usage appears to focus on checking order status rather than placing full orders. “Phone [usage] is probably more that they’re checking to see when their order might ship as opposed to actually placing an order via a cell phone,” Minnebo noted.
Desktop ordering remains the norm for most operations: “In most cases, you have someone in an office setting that’s being given, ‘This is what we need you to order with MasterTag,’ and someone else is out in the greenhouse compiling what that list looks like,” she said.
The Role of Korey and Her Team
As Senior Manager of Customer Service & Success, Minnebo serves as the bridge between customer needs and MasterTag’s development team.
“A lot of what I’m doing is educating customers, engaging with customers, and making sure that [online ordering] is successful for them,” she said.
Her team includes customer service representatives, quality staff, production scheduling, and pre-production — all the “upfront operations teams” that work between creative and actual production. With 27 years at MasterTag (15 in pre-production, 12 in customer service leadership), Minnebo has deep knowledge of both customer needs and internal capabilities.
When feedback comes in through surveys or direct conversations, Minnebo collaborates with the IT and development teams to evaluate options.
“A lot of the success of this platform weighs on, ‘What am I doing? How am I doing it? What are the things we’re making a priority?'” she said.
Sometimes that means delivering exactly what customers ask for. Other times, it means finding better solutions. “[Sometimes, it’s] ‘The customer asked for this. I think we actually have a better option, let’s do this, deliver it to them, and see how it goes,'” Minnebo said.
What’s Next: Getting Feedback on Recent Features
Korey Minnebo, Senior Manager of Customer Service & Success
Over the coming months, MasterTag’s primary focus will be gathering customer reactions to “My Documents” and “My Projects.”
“Getting their feedback on those features to understand, ‘Is it working for them? Is it giving them the visibility that they’ve been asking for? Is there more that we can do there?'” Minnebo said.
As customers begin using these new tools, their input will shape the next round of refinements, continuing the collaborative approach that has guided the platform’s development since 2020.
So if you’re using the system and something could work better, speak up. That one-question survey, a quick call to customer service, even an offhand comment during an order — it all gets heard. And more often than not, it gets built.
Ordering plant tags used to mean phone calls strictly during business hours, emailed spreadsheets, and endless PDF markups sent back and forth. MasterTag’s online ordering platform changed that in 2020, giving growers a self-service system that works on their schedule: day or night.
“What it really brought customers that we didn’t have before was an enhanced ordering tool,” said Korey Minnebo, Senior Manager of Customer Service & Success at MasterTag, who has been with the company for 27 years. “We had online ordering in years prior, but nothing to this extent.”
The platform introduced two game-changing capabilities: comprehensive ordering tools and online proofing. Since launch, MasterTag has continued refining the system based on customer feedback. Here’s how it works and what makes it efficient for growers managing complex tag orders.
A Personalized Experience From Login
When growers log in to their MasterTag account, they will see an experience tailored to their operation. “It is completely customizable to that customer,” Minnebo said. “We have the ability to add in a lot of personal preferences, defaults, reminders, favorites, things like that. That makes it their own experience. So it’s not necessarily cookie-cutter for all customers.”
This personalization extends throughout the ordering process, with customers seeing only the products, programs, and filters relevant to their business.
Multiple Ways to Find What You Need
MasterTag’s catalog is extensive, so the platform offers several search and filter options to help growers quickly narrow down their selections.
At the top of the page, customers can use a search field to look for botanical names, varieties, or common names. As they type, the system automatically narrows down choices.
The left side of the screen displays filtering options that can be customized for each customer.
“This customer has been set up with a lot of customized filtering options that apply to their products only,” Minnebo noted while demonstrating the system. Growers can filter by program, common name, series name, shape number, and other attributes.
Customers can also toggle between two viewing modes: an image view that shows product photos, or a list view that resembles a spreadsheet with sortable columns.
“Lots of our customers like the image view, obviously, because it gives them the benefit of seeing what they’re ordering,” Minnebo said.
For even faster access, the platform includes shortcuts to specific breeder programs under the stock catalog section. Instead of searching broadly, growers can click directly on breeder programs like Syngenta to see those varieties immediately.
Two Approaches to Building Your Order
MasterTag offers two distinct methods for placing orders, depending on how growers prefer to work.
Traditional Shopping Experience
The first option is browsing through the catalog, viewing product images, and entering quantities directly into cart fields. Customers can click on any product to see more details or enlarge images. “If there’s a front and back, they can see the front and back of the product,” Minnebo explained.
As items are added to the cart, a number appears next to the shopping cart icon in the upper right corner, providing a running tally.
Order Via Upload
The second option, which launched around 2021, allows growers to bypass manual browsing entirely by uploading a spreadsheet.
“This is really beneficial for customers who already work in a spreadsheet,” Minnebo said. “They have their order in a spreadsheet, and they’re coming to MasterTag Online to place that order. Within a few clicks, they can upload their spreadsheet, and they’re already in the shopping cart process.”
The feature works two ways: growers can download a MasterTag template, fill it in, and re-upload it, or they can use their own spreadsheets.
When using their own spreadsheets, “there are only a couple of areas of information we need for that feature to work. But it allows them to use documents and spreadsheets they already have as their ordering tool,” Minnebo said.
This is particularly valuable for operations that extract order data from their own systems or databases, or for teams that collaborate on orders before submitting them.
“We get pretty good feedback on that,” Minnebo said. “They can work out of the tool with their team to organize their order.”
Managing Your Shopping Cart
Once items are added — whether through traditional browsing or spreadsheet upload — growers move into the shopping cart experience.
One key feature: customers can maintain multiple shopping carts simultaneously.
“Maybe they have an order for their perennials, and maybe they have an order for their annuals,” Minnebo explained. “They can maintain more than one shopping cart at a time as opposed to previously, [when] they would only be able to [build] one shopping cart at a time, and they’d have to wait before they could work on another order.”
Shopping carts never expire, so growers can work at their own pace.
“A customer could order all in one day or a customer could spend weeks working on an order, and it will still be there when they come back,” Minnebo said.
This is also the first point where pricing appears. The cart displays a summary showing the number of items ordered and total quantities. Customers can still review and make changes here, adjusting quantities, clicking for better product views, or using the download and print options to share cart contents with others.
The Checkout Process
Moving through checkout involves three main steps: delivery, payment, and review.
Delivery
In the delivery step, growers enter shipping address information. For operations with multiple locations, MasterTag offers an address book feature.
“If a customer has multiple ship-to locations, they can create an address book up front, or we can for them,” Minnebo said. “When they get to this step in the process, they’re essentially choosing them from a drop-down list, so they don’t have to enter in that ship-to information every time.”
This is also where customers select shipping methods (ground, priority, or overnight) and see an expected ship date based on their order composition.
Payment
Growers can pay by credit card, PayPal, or — if they have terms set up with MasterTag — simply enter a purchase order number.
Review
The final review step gives one last opportunity to verify all order details before submitting.
After You Hit Submit
Once an order is placed, customers immediately see a confirmation message with an order number. Simultaneously, the system sends an automated email confirmation that includes a link back to the order in the platform.
From that point forward, growers have complete visibility into their order status through the “My Orders” section. “This is their all-encompassing order history with MasterTag,” Minnebo said.
The order history includes every order, even those placed by phone or email through MasterTag’s customer service team. Each entry shows the order number, PO number, date placed, who placed it (customer or MasterTag staff), number of items, and current status.
Status indicators include “processing” (before the order reaches MasterTag’s ERP system), “in process” (actively being produced), and “shipped.” For shipped orders, customers can click into the “Shipment” tab to access tracking information with direct links to carrier sites.
“When they submit the order, they’ll receive a nice ‘thank you for your order’ message in the summary on the right. They get an order number, and at the same time, the system will automatically email them an order confirmation with all of the same information, including a link to come back into the ordering tool and find the order that they placed,” Minnebo said.
Handling Special Order Needs
MasterTag’s online platform also supports a range of order scenarios beyond standard placements.
Rush Orders and Custom Ship Dates
During the delivery step of checkout, growers see an expected ship date calculated based on their order volume and production lead time. But if they need something sooner or later, they can request a different date.
“If for some reason they don’t want that estimated ship date, [they have options to move it forward or backward],” Minnebo explained. “[If] they want something faster, they have a calendar that they can select dates from.” Customers can select either an earlier date (for rush needs) or a later date (for planned spring shipments placed in fall, for example).
When a customer requests an earlier date, a MasterTag project manager receives an email notification and works with the production scheduling team to see if it’s feasible. “They will then work with the customer to change that date if that’s something we can do,” Minnebo said.
Small Quantities
Order minimums vary depending on whether growers are ordering stock items or custom products.
Stock items — MasterTag’s pre-determined catalog based on new breeder varieties, high sellers, and years of order history — are available in increments as low as 25 to 100 tags.
“The reason we can accommodate lower increments in our stock offering is because we spent our non-peak months building up that inventory in our fulfillment warehouse,” Minnebo said. “Because it’s been produced already and it’s been put on our shelf when a customer comes here to order, they don’t have to order in production runs.”
When a stock order is submitted, the fulfillment team picks it from the shelf and ships it within three to five business days.
Custom orders require higher minimums (typically 1,000 tags) because production work hasn’t been done yet.
“We are pricing according to production efficiencies,” Minnebo said. “To run very short amounts, like a hundred, means that the customer is going to pay more for that product versus if they order a thousand.”
MasterTag can accommodate exceptions for unique customer needs, including short sheet runs, though smaller custom quantities do cost more.
Getting Help When You Need It
Customer service support is built into the platform in several ways.
At the bottom of every screen, growers see a phone number and email address ([email protected]) connecting them directly to the customer service team, available 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
“Whether they’re in our online ordering tool or whether they’re just on mastertag.com, they can call our 1-800-number, or they can email us,” Minnebo said. “That will go directly to our customer service team, who are there to answer questions, offer support. They’re also trained in offering guidance on how to use the tool.”
There’s also a “Request a Tag” button that allows customers to describe what they’re looking for if they can’t find it in the catalog. “They can click this button, enter what it is that they’re looking for, and when they submit it, that is also going directly to our customer service team, and they will reach out with guidance on how to help them find it,” Minnebo explained.
Why Order Online vs. Phone or Email
While MasterTag accommodates orders placed any way customers prefer — phone, mail, fax, email, or online — the online platform offers several advantages.
“Even in its simplest form, they’re actually seeing what they’re ordering as opposed to if they call us on the phone or they send an email. They’re not going to see the products firsthand like they can when they’re in MasterTag Online,” Minnebo said.
The platform also provides ordering flexibility beyond business hours.
“They can do it on their time. They don’t have to do it during business hours. With MasterTag Online, they can do it when it works for them in the evening on a weekend. They’re not then forced to place an order when customer service is available during the week,” she added.
Perhaps most importantly, online ordering puts information directly in growers’ hands: tracking updates, expected delivery dates, product availability, order history, and, for custom orders, the ability to proof and approve designs before production begins.
“A lot of [the benefit] is visibility, a lot of it is convenience, as well as proofing,” Minnebo said. “[Customers] have the ability to request [custom] items from us and then proof and see them online before they actually place an order.”
MasterTag Online reflects the company’s commitment to giving growers control and transparency throughout the ordering process, while still maintaining the personal service and support it has built its reputation on.
Whether you’re ordering at midnight or calling during business hours, the system (and the team behind it) is designed to work the way you do.
