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.
