How to send an electronic signature – perks and FAQs
Electronic signatures are great.
They make it much easier to request signatures, provide them, and generally speed up the whole signing process along.
But how do you send one? And why should you? Let’s take a look.
How to send a digital signature
Sending a digital signature is easy.
Depending on the type of document you’re signing, it could be as simple as typing your name on a signature line or clicking a sign button to give your consent.
Touchscreen technology goes one step further, allowing you to sign electronic documents withyour actual signature.
Using a mobile app or touchscreen device, you can create handwritten signatures using your finger or a stylus, before clicking “send” to return the completed document.
It’s as simple as that!
Is it secure to send a digital signature, though?
Well, some types of digital signatures are safer than others.
At the highest levels, encryption algorithms and two-factor verification work as secure authentication, so there’s no need to worry about a digital signature being less safe or legally sound than a paper signature.
The perks of sending electronic signatures
It speeds up the contract process
It’s not always easy to get people together in the same physical room to sign documents — especially in a world where we’re increasingly dealing with people on a global scale.
When you send an electronic signature, you can speed up and streamline the contract process.
Rather than wasting time and resources sending things through the mail or getting all your signatories together, you can simply send out the relevant documents by email and have your completed contracts ready in no time.
Improved security
Sophisticated encryption makes digital signatures secure and hard to forge — so much so that many industries and authorities prefer digital signatures to physical ones. PandaDoc’s documents offer full security to all signers.
If you want to create an electronic signature in Word, you may have to add encryption yourself. With PandaDoc, however, all that security is built in.
Easy to do
It’s a lot easier to click a checkbox or sign an online signature field than it is to print out, send, and return paper documents.
Using digital documents is also a good way to streamline workflows and speed up documentation processes.
Lower costs
It costs a lot to print out every document that needs a signature. From paper to printing ink to photocopying to mailing costs, it all adds up.
That’s before you even begin to factor in the environmental cost.
By using electronic documents and digital signatures, you will not only slash your overheads, but you’ll also boost your environmental credentials.
Convenient
A good eSignature solution is more convenient than a traditional pen and paper.
Not only is it easier to email documents than to print and mail them, but it’s more convenient to access digital documents after they’ve been signed.
For example, rather than having to make several copies for each signatory and then hunt through physical document files to retrieve and reference them, you can upload documents to cloud storage.
Google Drive, Dropbox, and other cloud storage options areeasy to use, and you can adjust access so only those with permission to view important files can open them.
Are electronic signatures legal?
Electronic signatures are recognized in the USA by the 2000 E-Sign Act as a legally binding form of signature.
Other nations around the world have their own acts and regulations which legalize electronic signatures.
In fact, many governments prefer to use advanced digital signatures over physical ones.
This isn’t just for functionality reasons, it’s also because digital signatures are more secure and harder to forge than their handwritten counterparts.
What are the 3 main types of electronic signatures?
There are three major categories of electronic signature: Basic, Advanced, and Qualified.
Basic electronic signatures
Basic electronic signatures have no encryption to protect them.
An example of a basic electronic signature would be an image of your photographed or scanned signature inserted onto the signature line of a document.
Terms and conditions checkboxes are also examples of simple electronic signatures.
Advanced electronic signatures
Advanced electronic signatures use asymmetric encryption to secure the signing process.
However, they don’t verify the signers’ identity via two-factor authentication prior to signing.
Qualified electronic signatures
Qualified electronic signatures are the strongest, most secure type of digital signature.
As well as encryption and two-factor verification, these digital signatures timestamp the various stages of a document’s progress and can be easily traced through an audit trail.
How can I send an electronic signature via email?
Want to know how to send a digital signature in Gmail, Outlook, or any other email carrier?
Well, it’s very easy. Simply open the email attachment, upload your signature, and return the document.
Depending on the type of document and the type of signature required, you may have to upload your signature in various different forms.
For example, a PDF document may need you to add your signature as an annotation, while a Word document may require you to type your name on a signature line.
The device you use may make a difference, too. A touchscreen device with a stylus like an iPad may allow you to “write” your signature in the relevant box.
However, a traditional mouse cursor is less agile than a stylus, so you may find that typing works best in this case.
Sending electronic signatures gets easier with PandaDoc
Electronic signatures are a convenient, secure, and accessible way to get documents signed.
To make things even easier, PandaDoc gives you everything you need to create, annotate, send, and securely sign all digital documents.
If you want to share eSignatures, it’s the platform for you.
Choose from hundreds of customizable templates, or build your documents from scratch.
With PandaDoc, the end result is sure to look sophisticated and work perfectly, all at an impressively low price!