---
title: "Initial Configuration"
description: "Configure your Spark CRM account services, billing settings, and preferences."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sparkcrm.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Initial Configuration

This guide walks you through the essential configuration steps after completing the onboarding wizard.

## Available Services

Spark CRM offers several optional services that enhance your business operations. Each service has a per-use fee based on your plan.

### Address Verification

**What it does:** Verifies customer shipping addresses before processing orders.

**Benefits:**
- Reduces failed deliveries
- Prevents shipping to invalid addresses
- Decreases chargebacks from delivery issues

**How to enable:**
1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. Click **Manage Services**, then find **Address Verification** under "Validation Services"
3. Toggle it on, then click **Save Settings**

### Email Validation

**What it does:** Verifies customer email addresses are real and deliverable.

**Benefits:**
- Reduces bounce rates
- Prevents fraud from fake emails
- Improves customer communication

**How to enable:**
1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. Click **Manage Services**, then find **Email Validation** under "Validation Services"
3. Toggle it on, then click **Save Settings**

### Phone Validation

**What it does:** Verifies customer phone numbers and detects line type (mobile/landline/VOIP/tollfree) and carrier. Formatted and national-format values are stored in the validation metadata; the customer's saved phone number is not rewritten.

**Benefits:**
- Ensures phone numbers are valid
- Identifies line type (mobile, landline, VOIP, tollfree) and carrier
- Improves customer contact rates

**How to enable:**
1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. Click **Manage Services**, then find **Phone Validation** under "Validation Services"
3. Toggle it on, then click **Save Settings**

### Enhanced Shipment Tracking

**What it does:** Provides advanced shipment tracking across multiple carriers.

**Benefits:**
- Real-time tracking updates
- Multi-carrier support
- Automated customer notifications

**How to enable:**
1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. Click **Manage Services** and find **Enhanced Shipment Tracking** under "Fulfillment Services"
3. Toggle it on, then click **Save Settings**

### Email AI

**What it does:** AI-powered customer service for email support.

**Benefits:**
- Automatic email classification by intent
- AI-generated response suggestions
- Spam and threat detection
- Ticket management automation

**How to enable:**
1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. Click **Manage Services** and find **Email AI Agent** under "AI Services"
3. Toggle it on, then click **Save Settings**

> **Note:** Email AI is charged per resolved ticket.

> **Note:** Enabling Email AI Agent also enables Enhanced Shipment Tracking automatically — both services will be billed.

### Dispute.com Integration

**What it does:** Connects to Dispute.com for chargeback management.

**Benefits:**
- Centralized dispute tracking
- Automated alert refunds and RDR handling, with representment outcomes (won/lost) recorded back from Dispute.com
- Chargeback analytics

**How to enable:**
1. Go to **Settings > Disputes** (under the "Providers" group), or configure it during onboarding
2. Enter your Dispute.com API key
3. Click **Connect** (the button reads **Replace API Key** if a key is already stored)

## Default Settings

When your account is created, all services start **disabled** by default. This ensures you only pay for services you actually need.

| Service | Default State | Billing |
|---------|---------------|---------|
| Address Verification | Disabled | Per verification |
| Email Validation | Disabled | Per verification |
| Phone Validation | Disabled | Per verification |
| Enhanced Shipment Tracking | Disabled | Per shipment |
| Email AI | Disabled | Per ticket |
| Anti-Fraud Lookup | Disabled | Per lookup (enabled by staff request; not in the Manage Services flyout) |

> **Note:** 3D Secure is an internal, staff-enabled setting with no self-serve toggle and no per-transaction usage metering — 3DS challenges are currently handled by the individual payment gateways.

## Billing Settings

### Understanding Your Plan

Your account is subscribed to a plan that determines:
- **Monthly fee** - Base subscription cost
- **Service fees** - Per-use costs for each service
- **Transaction fees** - Fees per payment transaction

### Viewing Your Billing

1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. View your current plan
3. See usage and upcoming charges
4. Download invoices

![Billing Overview](/assets/settings/settings-billing-overview.png)
_Screenshot: Your billing dashboard showing plan details, usage threshold, service consumption, and payment methods_

### Updating Payment Method

1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Billing**
2. In the **Payment Method** card, click **Add Payment Method** (or **Update** if a card is already saved)
3. Enter the new card details — the new card replaces whatever card is currently on file (only one payment method is kept; the previous one is deleted from Stripe)

The saved card becomes the default automatically, so there is no default-selection step.

## Team Settings

### Team Information

Configure your team details:
1. Open the user/profile menu and click your name (**Profile**) — the **Team Timezone** card is near the bottom of that page, visible to team owners only
2. Set the **Team Timezone**. Reports use this timezone for their date boundaries
3. Other team-level configuration (SMTP, notifications, webhooks, QA rules) lives on the **Settings** page

> **Note:** The **Team Name** field lives on the Jetstream team page at /teams/{id}, which the current sidebar and user menu do not link to.

### Managing Team Members

Add and manage your team members:
1. Open the user/profile menu at the bottom of the sidebar and click **Team Members** (/team/manage)
2. Click **Add User** — the modal that opens is titled "Invite Team Member"
3. Assign a role: **Account Admin**, **Account Manager**, **Customer Support Level 1**, **Customer Support Level 2**, or **Affiliate**. There is no assignable "Owner" role — team ownership is set when the account is created
4. Permissions are determined entirely by the assigned role and cannot be customised per member. The one member-level option is restricting an **Affiliate** user to specific affiliate IDs

![Team Members](/assets/settings/settings-team-members.png)
_Screenshot: Manage your team members and assign roles with different permission levels_

### Notification Preferences

Control which notifications you receive:
1. Go to **Settings > Notifications**
2. Enable/disable notification types
3. Configure email notification settings

## Where to Go First

After initial configuration, we recommend this workflow:

### Step 1: Payment Gateway
**Location:** Payments > Gateways

Connect at least one payment processor to accept payments:
- Authorize.net
- Stripe
- Other supported gateways

### Step 2: Products
**Location:** CRM > Products

Create your product catalog:
- Add product name and description
- Set pricing
- Set up inventory if applicable

### Step 3: Campaign
**Location:** CRM > Campaigns

Create your first campaign:
- Name your campaign
- Add products to the campaign
- Configure checkout settings
- Set up affiliate tracking (optional)

### Step 4: Test Order
Process a test order to verify:
- Payment gateway works
- Products are configured correctly
- Fulfillment triggers properly
- Customer receives confirmation — only if the campaign has an active **Auto Responder** with the **Order Confirmation** trigger (campaign > Auto Responders). No confirmation email is sent otherwise

## Quick Reference

| Task | Location |
|------|----------|
| Enable/disable services | User menu > Billing > **Manage Services** |
| Add payment gateway | Payments > Gateways |
| Create products | CRM > Products |
| Create campaigns | CRM > Campaigns |
| View customers | Customers |
| View orders | Orders |
| View transactions | Transactions |
| Team timezone | User menu > your name (Profile) |
| Team/system preferences (SMTP, notifications, QA, webhooks) | Settings |

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## Next Steps

Now that your account is configured, learn about the [Core Concepts](/account-setup/core-concepts) to understand Spark CRM's features in depth.

Source: https://docs.sparkcrm.io/account-setup/initial-configuration/index.mdx