I lost a project with a client last week as the client said that signing a contract and faxing his copy was too archaic and troublesome for him as he is totally digital. I hate to lose any project for any reason and I thought “hmm, maybe the client has a point?” With our firm serving clients worldwide it can be troublesome for some to fax long distance, some clients may not have a scanner to send a copy by email, so I started looking for alternatives.
Here are two sources that I have found that you may want to check out too if you are faced with the same issue:
EchoSign
This is the site that I will be using as I am allowed to use the service free for a set number of signatures a month. Once I find out I like it and use it, I may move to the basic paid program of $14.95 per month. (The will pay me a commission if you click my link and buy, but that is not why I am mentioning them to you.)
I like the interface, it is super easy to use and works fast and sends you and the signer copies that can be printed when the signing process is completed. If you sign up for the free account, you can get five signatures a month free. This allows you to try it out send a few to yourself as tests. If you connect your Twitter account to the application to shout out when you close a contract, you get ten more free signatures to use. I think that this is the perfect solution for my sometime situation.
RightSignature
I really liked the look and feel of this application, but for me on a free trial the document would not load. Never moved past 10% loaded with a Word document or PDF file. If they get this kind worked out, this one could be good.
DocuSign
I really liked this application and if I do a lot of online signing, I will most likely move to this application but with a fee of $24.95 a month it was too rich for me to use when I am not sure I will use it frequently. What I liked was the ability to add a phone number verification before the client could open the document. This makes knowing who you are dealing with much better. Although the interface is much more complicated to use, it seemed more secure, allowed for mouse signature signing (you write your signature by moving your mouse), and just overall seemed more robust and a good match for lawyers and real estate agents.
I don’t want to ever lose another sale by making our sign up process too complicated. You may want to consider this as an alternative for your contract signing process too.