Sparkforge Glossary: Terms, Acronyms, and Definitions

This glossary defines the most common terms, acronyms, and feature names used across Sparkforge. Use it as a quick reference while you work through setup guides and feature articles.

A

A2P 10DLC

Application-to-Person messaging over standard 10-digit long codes. Required registration for U.S. business SMS sent to consumer phones.

A Record

A DNS record that maps a domain to the IP address of the server hosting it. Multiple A records can be set on a single domain.

Affiliate

A person or organization formally tied to a larger one. Agency users are Sparkforge affiliates and can refer others using an affiliate link to earn commissions.

Agency View

The default view for agency users. Manages system-wide settings, Marketplace, Ideas, training, and support. Most feature work happens in sub-accounts.

API

Application Programming Interface — the contract two pieces of software use to talk to each other.

API Key

A token that lets two platforms connect securely without logging in each time. Needed for Mailgun, SMTP, and many third-party integrations.

Automations

A series of events triggered by a specific action — form submission, appointment booked, tag applied. Includes Workflows, Campaigns, and Triggers.

B

B2B / B2C

Business-to-Business and Business-to-Customer.

Bulk Actions

Apply the same change to a group of contacts at once — tag, message, move pipeline stage, etc.

BYOC

Bring Your Own Channel. Connect your own Twilio, SMTP, or carrier credentials to Sparkforge.

C

Calendar

Built-in booking. Replaces external scheduling tools. Supports single-user, multi-type, and round-robin availability.

Calendar Settings

• Appointments Per Day — cap how many bookings land on one day.
• Appointments Per Slot — how many people can book the same time slot. Usually 1.
• Buffer Duration — dead time after each appointment before the next can start.
• Date Range — how far in advance someone can book.
• Minimum Scheduling Notice — minimum lead time before an appointment.
• Slot Duration — length of one appointment.
• Slot Interval — how often slots are offered.

Campaign

A grouped set of marketing actions across email, SMS, or other channels.

Chat Widget

A site pop-up that captures contact info and starts a conversation. Follow-up happens via email or phone.

CNAME Record

A DNS record mapping an alias to the canonical hostname. Used to point subdomains at Sparkforge-hosted assets.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management. The contact and pipeline core of Sparkforge.

Custom Values

Reusable variables (like merge fields) that propagate across emails, SMS, and workflows. Update once, applies everywhere.

D-F

DKIM / DMARC / SPF

Email authentication standards. All three should be configured for any sending domain to land in the inbox.

DNS

Domain Name System. Translates domain names to IP addresses.

Funnel

A sequence of pages designed to move a visitor toward a single conversion.

L

Location

See Sub-Account.

M-O

Membership Site

Gated content delivered to paying members. Available on Pro plans.

Opportunity

A contact placed into a pipeline stage with a deal value. Tracks progress to close.

P-R

Pipeline

An ordered set of stages a deal moves through from new lead to won or lost.

Reputation Management

Tools for sending review requests, monitoring incoming reviews, and surfacing them on your site.

S

Smart Lists

Saved contact filters that update automatically as data changes. Targets bulk actions and segment-based automation.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol — the standard for sending email between servers.

Snapshot

A copy of a sub-account's automations, pages, and custom values. Used to clone a setup into other sub-accounts.

• Imported — a snapshot received from another agency or marketplace.
• Own — a snapshot you created.
• Vertical — prebuilt snapshots Sparkforge ships for specific industries.

Split Testing

A/B testing across up to six variants of a campaign. Measures which message moves recipients to act.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer. Encrypts traffic between visitor and site. Standard on all Sparkforge-hosted domains.

Sub-Account

Also called Account or Location. Where the CRM, funnels, sites, calendars, and most day-to-day work live. Each client or business gets its own.

T

Tags

Labels on contacts used for filtering, segmenting, and triggering automations.

Tasks

A piece of work assigned to a user at the sub-account level.

Team

A group of users with shared access. Agency teams can move across sub-accounts; sub-account teams stay inside one location.

Templates

Reusable email and SMS layouts. Build once, send many times.

Trigger Links

Links that fire a workflow when a contact clicks them.

Twilio

The communications backend that powers calls and SMS. Sparkforge connects to Twilio either through Sparkforge Phone or your own Twilio account.

U

Unified Mailbox

One inbox for email, SMS, chat, and social DMs across every contact.

UTM

Tracking parameters appended to a URL so you can attribute traffic back to a specific campaign or source.

W-Z

Webhook

An HTTP callback fired by an automation. Used to push events to other systems.

White Label

Rebranding a product so it looks like your own. Available on Sparkforge agency plans.

Workflow

A multi-step automation that combines messages, waits, conditions, and back-end actions in response to a contact event.

WordPress

Open-source CMS. Sparkforge offers managed WordPress hosting as an add-on.

Zapier

A third-party automation tool that connects apps via Zaps. Most workflows can stay inside Sparkforge instead.