Switched to digital signatures after years of resisting

I was dead set against DocuSign for contract signing for like 3 years. Kept saying it felt less personal and clients would hate it. Then last month I had a client in Portland who needed a signed addendum within 2 hours or the deal was off. I drove 20 minutes to their office, they were in a meeting for 45 minutes, and we barely made the deadline. That same week I used DocuSign for a different client and it took 4 minutes. Has anyone else found that the convenience outweighs the old-school feel?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_schmidt1mo ago

Actually... DocuSign is not the only option and it's not really the fastest one for contract signing. There's HelloSign and Adobe Sign that can do the same thing. I've used DocuSign a bunch and it works fine but sometimes the clients get confused by the interface. Not sure if your Portland client had a reason for wanting in-person signing but in my experience a lot of older clients just don't trust typing their name on a screen. The convenience is definitely worth it though... I just think it pays to have a backup plan like a PDF fillable form in case the digital platform glitches out.

nancyw971mo ago

Huh, @riley_schmidt, you really think a PDF fillable form is a better backup than just having a printer on hand? Look, I've been doing this contractor thing for over a decade and I've seen every signing method fail at some point. DocuSign is fine but you're right, clients get lost in it especially the older ones. I've had guys click "decline" by accident cause they thought it was a popup ad. The real issue is people overthink this. Just get a wet signature on paper if you have to, it's not that hard. Digital is great 90% of the time but sometimes you gotta just do it the old way and move on with your day.

the_joel22d ago

Paper backup is smart but honestly, just email them the PDF.

-1