do partners influence editorial coverage?+
no. partner status is disclosed on your brand profile and on /partner-with-us. it never moves a brand up in best-of lists, journal coverage, or directory rankings. that's the whole reason the directory works, readers know we're not for sale on opinion.
what do the email campaigns actually look like?+
founding partners get a dedicated solo email per quarter to the cafe owner list (currently 12,000+ verified independent operators across 30 countries). subject, copy, hero image, and CTA are co-designed with your team. featured partners get one annual co-branded campaign of the same kind. open rates run 28-34% on the operator list.
what does exclusivity mean at the founding tier?+
founding partners get site-wide presence (header credit, footer logo, weekly newsletter co-brand) plus a category lock. no other brand in your category appears anywhere as a paid placement. up to three slots total, one per category, signed annually.
what's a category lock?+
within featured and listed tiers, you can claim exclusivity for your category. example: a SaaS that claims "POS for cafes" locks out every other POS company at featured tier while the lock is active. category locks are priced individually on top of tier.
how do you bill?+
annual invoice in USD. quarterly is available on founding and featured. card, ACH, or wire. EUR or GBP available on request.
what counts as a sponsored placement?+
anything you pay for is labelled "partner" with the appropriate tier badge on your brand profile. unpaid placements (best-of lists, journal mentions, search rankings) carry no badge.
can we feature individual machine models?+
yes. featured partners and above can feature one or two flagship models in the editorial section of your brand page, with custom CTAs. we won't claim a model is the best in its category if it isn't.
do we get performance data?+
founding partners get a quarterly performance dashboard: page impressions on your brand surfaces, click-throughs to your site, email campaign open + click rates, and conversion attribution where you supply UTMs. featured partners get a quarterly impressions + CTR report. listed partners get an annual summary.
what about sample seeding through cafe claims?+
when cafes claim their listing on the directory, the welcome email sequence can include a sample request CTA from eligible partners. featured and founding partners are in the pool by default. roughly 200-400 cafes claim per month and ~18% opt into samples.
what about exit clauses?+
founding has a 90-day notice clause. featured and listed run annually with auto-renewal. cancel 30 days before renewal and the partnership ends at the end of the term.