BUSINESS HELP CENTER
Guides and answers for managing your business on Secret Sauce.
Manage Your Subscription
Overview
An active Secret Sauce subscription is required to publish campaigns and collaborate with creators.
Secret Sauce offers two plans: Starter and Pro. Both plans are available with Monthly or Annual billing.
You can view and manage your current plan from the Subscription page.
Subscription plans
Starter
Best for businesses running a smaller number of creator collaborations.
With Starter you can:
- Have up to 1 Active campaign at a time.
- Accept up to 4 creators per monthly subscription period.
- Create and save additional campaigns as Drafts.
- Create a new campaign once your current Active campaign is no longer visible to creators.
Your creator limit is shared across all campaigns for the location. For example, if you accept 2 creators for one campaign and later accept 2 creators for another campaign during the same monthly period, you have used all 4 creator credits.
Pro
Best for businesses running more creator collaborations.
With Pro you can:
- Have up to 2 Active campaigns at a time.
- Accept up to 16 creators per monthly subscription period.
- Create and save additional campaigns as Drafts.
The 16-creator limit is shared across all campaigns for the location.
What counts as an Active campaign?
An Active campaign is a published campaign that is currently visible and available to creators.
A campaign that is still Live because confirmed collaborations or deliverables are being completed, but is no longer visible to creators, does not count toward your Active campaign limit.
Draft campaigns also do not count toward the limit.
Monthly Creator Credits
Your plan includes a set number of creator acceptances for each monthly subscription period:
Plan | Creator credits | Active campaigns |
Starter | 4 per month | 1 |
Pro | 16 per month | 2 |
A creator credit is used when you accept a creator.
Declining an application does not use a creator credit.
Once you reach your monthly creator limit, you cannot manage additional pending applications until your credits reset or, on Starter, you upgrade to Pro.
Your next reset date and current usage are shown in the Business Portal.
Monthly vs Annual Billing
Both Starter and Pro are available with:
- Monthly billing
- Annual billing
Choosing annual billing changes how you pay for your subscription, but does not change the monthly creator-credit cycle.
For example, a Pro Annual subscription still receives up to 16 creator acceptances per monthly subscription period.
Upgrade from Starter to Pro
Starter businesses can upgrade to Pro to increase their limits.
After upgrading:
- Active campaign limit increases from 1 to 2.
- Monthly creator limit increases from 4 to 16.
- Creator credits already used during the current period remain used.
For example, if you have used 4/4 Starter credits and upgrade to Pro, you will have used 4/16 credits after the upgrade.
Free Trial
New businesses receive a 14-day free trial.
During the free trial, businesses have access to the creator limits included with their selected plan:
- Starter: up to 4 creator acceptances during the trial
- Pro: up to 16 creator acceptances during the trial
The free trial is a separate period from your paid subscription.
When the 14-day trial ends and your first payment is made, your creator credits reset and a new paid subscription period begins.
For example, if you are on Starter and accept all 4 creators during your free trial, you will receive a new allowance of 4 creator acceptances when your paid subscription starts.
From that point, your creator credits reset every month based on your subscription billing date.
For annual subscriptions, billing occurs annually, but creator credits still reset every month based on the monthly anniversary of your paid subscription start date.
Additional Locations
If your business has multiple locations, additional locations use the same plan level as the Core location:
- Starter Core → Starter additional locations
- Pro Core → Pro additional locations
Each location manages its own campaigns and creator limits independently.
An additional location requires an active Core subscription.
Invite Team Members
Overview
Invite team members to help manage your campaigns.
Available roles
Admin
Admins have full access to the business account, including:
- Subscription
- Locations
- Campaigns
- Team management
Campaign Manager
Campaign Managers can manage campaigns and creator applications but don’t have access to subscription management.
How to invite a team member
- Open Team.
- Click Invite Member.
- Enter the person's email address.
- Select their role.
- Send the invitation.
The invited user will receive an email with instructions to join your business account.
Note: It may take a few minutes for the invitation email to arrive. If it doesn’t appear, please check your Spam or Junk folder before requesting a new invitation.
Create a Campaign
Overview
Campaigns help you connect with local creators who can visit your venue and create social media content.
Before creating your first campaign, make sure your business profile is complete and you have an active subscription.
How to create a campaign
- Open the Campaigns page.
- Click Create Campaign.
- Complete all required campaign information
- Review your campaign.
- Click Create Campaign to publish it.
If you’re not ready to publish, click Save as Draft.
Active campaign limit
You can have a maximum of 2 Active Campaigns at the same time.
Draft campaigns do not count toward this limit
An Active Campaign is a campaign that is published, has available creator timeslots, and is currently visible to creators in the mobile app.
Once a campaign is no longer visible to creators, for example, because all timeslots have been filled or the campaign is no longer accepting applications, it no longer counts toward the Active Campaign limit, even if it remains Live while waiting for creators to submit deliverables or for the collaboration to be completed.
At that point, you can publish another draft campaign.
Tips
- Use a clear campaign title.
- Add attractive photos.
- Write clear deliverable requirements.
- Offer multiple dates whenever possible.
- Suggest leaving at least 1 week from publication date to first available date.
Campaign Images
Recommended image format
Campaign images are displayed in a consistent size throughout the Secret Sauce app. To achieve the best results, upload high-quality images that match the recommended aspect ratio.
Recommended:
- 16:9 landscape image
- High-resolution images
- JPG, JPEG, PNG, WebP or SVG under 5MB file size
Avoid:
- Very wide landscape images
- Images with important text or logos near the edges
- Low-resolution or blurry images
Note: Images that don’t match the recommended aspect ratio may be automatically cropped when displayed in the app. Keep the main subject centered to ensure it remains visible across all screens.
Manage Campaigns
Overview
Manage all your campaigns from the Campaigns page.
Campaigns can have one of the following statuses:
Draft
The campaign is saved but not visible to creators.
Active
The campaign is published, has available creator timeslots, and is currently visible to creators in the Secret Sauce app. Creators can discover the campaign and submit applications.
Live
The campaign is no longer visible to creators because it is no longer accepting new applications. However, the collaboration is still in progress.
A campaign remains Live if:
- Creators still need to submit their campaign content, or
- You need to review submitted content, rate the creator, and complete the collaboration.
Once all creator collaborations have been completed, the campaign will automatically move to History.
History
The campaign has been completed and moved to Campaign History.
Available actions
Depending on the campaign status, you can:
- Duplicate
- View creator applications
- Manage creator applications
- Copy creator’s data for approved applications
Duplicate a campaign
Use Duplicate to create a new draft using an existing campaign.
This saves time when running similar campaigns.
Only add/edit available timeslot and capacity.
Review Creator Applications
Overview
Creators apply for available campaign timeslots. Review each application and decide whether to accept or decline it.
How to review applications
- Open Campaigns.
- Select your campaign.
- Open the Applications section (icon with arrow)
- Review each creator profile.
- Choose Accept or Decline.
Before accepting a creator
Consider:
- Content quality
- Engagement Rate
- Effective Engagement
- Social media profiles
- Purpose could be content style for ad purposes or targeting a particular type of audience.
Application statuses
Pending
Waiting for your review.
Accepted
The creator's booking has been confirmed.
Declined
The creator wasn't selected for this campaign.
Cancelled
The creator cancelled his application.
Review Deliverables
Overview
After a creator completes their visit and submits the required content, you can review their deliverables and complete the collaboration.
Review submitted content as soon as possible so campaigns can be completed and performance data can be collected.
How to review deliverables
- Open Campaigns.
- Select the campaign.
- Open the Applications section.
- Select View Deliverables for the creator.
- Review all submitted deliverables.
- If the creator has completed the agreed requirements, mark the collaboration as Completed.
- Rate the creator.
Review timeline
Please review creator submissions as soon as possible.
Awaiting Review
Campaigns with creator submissions waiting for review are highlighted so you can easily identify collaborations that require your attention.
Once the deliverables have been reviewed and approved, mark the collaboration as Completed.
No Show
Use No Show when the collaboration was already confirmed by both the restaurant and creator, but the visit did not take place.
Use No Show when:
- The creator did not show up for the confirmed visit, or
- The restaurant needed to cancel the confirmed visit at the last minute.
The No Show option becomes available after the confirmed visit time has passed and no content has been submitted.
When marked as No Show:
- The collaboration is closed.
- No deliverables are expected.
- The creator does not receive an automatic 1-star rating.
- The collaboration remains recorded in campaign history.
No Show vs. Incomplete
Use No Show when the creator did not attend their confirmed visit.
Use Incomplete when the creator attended the experience but did not complete the agreed campaign deliverables.
These are treated as different outcomes in Secret Sauce, so make sure you select the option that reflects what happened.
Campaign History
Overview
Completed campaigns are automatically moved to the Campaign History page.
Campaign History allows you to review your previous collaborations, creator performance, and campaign results.
What you'll find in Campaign History
For each completed campaign, you can view:
- Campaign details
- Campaign dates
- Completed creator collaborations
- Creator ratings
- Submitted content
- Campaign performance metrics
Campaign History is read-only and cannot be edited.
Export Campaign Data
Overview
Export your campaign data to analyze creator performance or keep your own records.
How to export
- Click Export from leftside menu.
- Download the campaign data.
The exported file includes campaign and creator information available in Secret Sauce.
Common uses
Businesses use exported data to:
- Track campaign performance
- Compare creators
- Prepare internal reports
- Measure marketing ROI
Dashboard
Overview
The Dashboard provides an overview of your business performance across all campaigns and helps you measure the impact of your collaborations with creators.
Use the Dashboard to monitor campaign performance, track key marketing metrics, and identify your best-performing content.
Performance Metrics
Total Campaigns
The total number of campaigns created for this location.
Active Creators
The total number of creators that have collaborated with your business.
Total Views
The combined number of views generated by all completed campaign content.
Engagement Rate
The average Engagement Rate across your campaign content.
A higher Engagement Rate indicates that creators’ audiences are actively interacting with their content.
Effective Engagement
Effective Engagement measures the quality of audience interactions by giving more weight to valuable actions such as comments, shares, and reposts.
Use this metric to compare creator performance across campaigns.
Total EMV (Earned Media Value)
Earned Media Value estimates how much it would have cost to achieve the same exposure through commissioning production and paid advertising.
A higher EMV indicates greater marketing value generated by your creator collaborations.
Equivalent Media CPM
Equivalent Media CPM estimates the advertising value of every 1,000 impressions generated by your campaigns. This will be significantly higher than base advertising benchmarks due to niche audience targeting.
This metric helps compare creator marketing performance with traditional advertising channels.
Total CPE (Cost per Engagement)
Cost per Engagement measures how much your business spent for each audience interaction generated by your campaigns.
Lower CPE indicates more cost-effective creator collaborations.
Highest Engagement Content
This section highlights the campaigns with the highest Engagement Rate.
For each campaign, you can view:
- Campaign image
- Campaign title
- Campaign description
- Social media platform(s)
- Engagement Rate
Use this section to identify which campaigns generated the most audience interaction.
Highest View Content
This section displays the campaigns that generated the highest number of views.
For each campaign you can view:
- Campaign image
- Campaign title
- Total Views
- Likes
- Comments
Use this section to identify which campaigns achieved the greatest audience reach.
Using Your Dashboard
Review your Dashboard regularly to:
- Measure the performance of your creator marketing campaigns.
- Identify your highest-performing collaborations.
- Understand which types of campaigns generate the most engagement and views.
- Compare campaign performance over time.
- Make better decisions when selecting creators for future collaborations.
Note: Dashboard metrics are calculated using available social media insights. Some metrics may not be available if the required data cannot be retrieved from Instagram or TikTok.
Campaign Analytics
Overview
Each completed campaign includes performance metrics to help you understand how your collaboration performed.
Available metrics
Depending on the available social media data, you may see:
Reach
The number of unique people who saw the creator’s content.
Views
The total number of times the content was viewed.
Likes
The number of likes received.
Comments
The number of comments received.
Shares
The number of times the content was shared.
Engagement
The total interactions generated by the content.
Note: Some metrics may not be available if the creator’s social media platform doesn’t provide all required insights.
Troubleshooting
I can't create a campaign
Check that:
- Your subscription is active.
- You haven't reached the maximum of 2 Active Campaigns.
- All required campaign fields have been completed.
I can't publish my campaign
Possible reasons:
- Your subscription is inactive.
- Required campaign information is missing.
- No timeslots have been added.
I can't add another location
Make sure your subscription includes additional locations or purchase a subscription for the new location.
I don't see creator applications
Check that:
- Your campaign is Live.
- The campaign has available timeslots.
- Creators have started applying.
A creator hasn't submitted content
Creators are expected to:
- Publish Stories close to their visit.
- Publish other deliverables within 3-5 days, unless another timeline has been agreed.
- Communicate delays
I don't receive daily summary emails
Check that:
- Daily summary emails are enabled for your account.
- Your email address is correct.
- The emails aren't being filtered into your spam folder.
Still need help?
If you can’t find the answer in the Help Center, please contact Secret Sauce Support and include:
- Business name
- Campaign name (if applicable)
- A description of the issue
- Screenshots or screen recordings, if possible
This will help us investigate and resolve your issue more quickly.
Still need help?
Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Send us a message and our team will help.