The Value in A Digital Experience For Minnesota Soybean Processors

THE VALUE IN A DIGITAL EXPERIENCE 

Prior to Bushel, MnSP would have to manually inform customers of bid prices. They were having to send out bid sheets to customers via email. This consisted of writing up a bid Word doc and sending it out to a list of their growers, daily. Now, when bid prices update, MnSP growers receive an automated email and push notification. “Since being with you guys, one of the nicer things has been having that automated,” said Austin Riediger, a Merchandiser at Minnesota Soybean Processors. 

For farmers, there is nothing worse than spending a day harvesting and loading the truck up, just to get to the elevator and learn they are closed. This is one of the many reasons why MnSP highly values their push notifications on their app. They are now able to let customers know when they’re closed and if something has broken down. “It’s a good way to give everyone information and to get in front of them to say ‘Hey this is what is going on….’,” said Riediger. Additionally, a lot of MnSP’s farmers are employed at other places during the day. By providing an app, those farmers now have the resources to check their contract information and elevator information at any time of the day/night. This saves an extra phone call during their other commitments.

Being a facility for 1,000 growers means having thousands of contracts. MnSP still mails out some of their contracts, but now customers can view it at any time on their app. For those customers who call for contract information, MnSP provides their customers with answers then directs them to their app. Additionally, for all contracts that MnSP ships out, they provide a Bushel sticky note that directs their customers to the app – a great way to help encourage adoption.

Having an automatically updated platform and electronic contracts isn’t the only feature that MnSP values. Additionally, they value their farmers being able to look up when they can sell as well as seeing their scale tickets. Farmers now have the ability to view past and present scale tickets at any time. Providing farmers with this feature eliminates them from needing reprints. “The ability to go out on the app and see all the tickets and the moisture level,” said Riediger, as he discussed their farmers favorite features of the app. 

LOCKING IN ADOPTION

Adoption first starts internally. If the team doesn’t understand the platform, it is harder to get the farmers to adopt. For MnSP, their merchandiser, buyer, manager, and the accounting manager were all bought in and made adoption a high priority. With having 1,000 farmers, locking adoption was a high priority. To ensure a rising adoption rate, they had signage at scales for drivers and farmers in line to unload and promoted it on their main website. 

“Basically we would just mention it over the phone a lot when people would call us,” “Here’s the answer to your question, and we also have this that you can go check at anytime,” said Riediger.

Soon after integrating Bushel Mobile, MnSP took great interest in Bushel’s eSign feature. Prior to eSign, farmers would have to either drive to the facility to sign a contract, or they would have to wait for it to come in the mail. If the contract was being sent via mail, then they would have to either drive it back to the facility or mail it back. A very tedious and time consuming process. eSign just like Bushel Mobile and Web, requires actions to ensure adoption. As mentioned previously, to enhance their adoption rates, MnSP utilized sticky notes that promoted their eSign features by attaching the promotional sticky notes to any contracts being mailed out. This way, MnSP growers could download the app and sign via the app.