Understanding the Digital Signature Lawfulness for Terms of Use Agreement in the United States

How to eSign a document: digital signature lawfulness for Terms of Use Agreement in United States

Hi there and welcome to this video on Transactions (zipForm Edition). Today we’ll be going over how to create an eSignature Packet using Digital Ink 2.0 (powered by Authentisign). Let’s go ahead and get started! Before we get into creating an eSignature packet, there are two things we recommend you set up prior to starting. First, we recommend having all your participants set up in the “Parties” tab of the transaction. This will make things easier while going through the process of setting up the packet. Second, we recommend creating a folder for signed documents. The reason for this will become more apparent when we go through the process of creating the eSignature packet. Click on “Add Folder”, then name the folder. To begin creating our eSignature packet for our transaction, we’ll need to go to the “E-Sign” tab, then click on “New”. The eSignature packet creation process is broken down into three simple steps: Add Forms, Add Parties, and Add Signatures. The process will start by asking what documents you need to include in the packet. We’re going to select a Form and a PDF to show how the process is different for each type of document. Once you have chosen all the documents you need signed, click on “Close”. Now that we’ve chosen what documents we’re sending, we can give the packet a name to give our client context as to what they are signing. Next, we have an option to select a signing service. You can select from the option available on your account by clicking on the drop down menu. For today’s demonstration, we’re going to leave it on Digital Ink 2.0. Now we have the option to have the documents return to a specific folder once completed. This is the reason why we mentioned earlier about creating a “Signed Documents” Folder. Simply click on the link, then select the folder you want the signed documents to return to. It should be noted that this is entirely optional; you can just leave this area if you want. This link here is the same as the pop up screen from when you first entered the eSignature screen, and simply allows you to add more documents. For Step 1, we’ve given our eSignature packet a name, we’ve decided which eSignature solution we want to use, we’ve chosen a return folder, and we’ve selected our documents to sign. Let’s go ahead and click “Next” to move on to Step 2. Step 2 begins with a pop up screen asking who you would like to add as signers. By default, it will open up the Transaction Parties; this is why we mentioned earlier it was important to prep the parties of your transactions in advance to make this step easier. You can add from other areas such as your zipForm contacts or other contacts lists. In this scenario, we’re going to add “Bobby Buyer” and “Salley Seller” as signers. You’ll notice that in this screen that the required fields are their Name, Role and Email address. The role is important because when using a Form from a Form library, the system will automatically generate the spots to sign based on the person’s Name and Role, hence why they are required. The email is required because this entire process is done via email. A common query we get is “What if two parties are using the same email address?” This is another reason why the role is so important. If two parties share the same email, then two emails will be sent to the email address; one for each role (for example, Buyer One and Buyer Two). We can see now that Bobby Buyer and Sally Seller are now signers for this packet. There is an option to add another type of participant called a Reviewer. This type of individual is not signing the document but can review it and either accept or reject it. As an example, let’s click on “Add Reviewer” and add Larry Lawyer as a Reviewer. You’ll notice his Role is no longer as “Seller Attorney” but “Reviewer”, as he is not signing the documents we are sending off. Reviewers carry a lot of authority as all it takes is one Reviewer to reject a packet and the entire packet will come back as rejected. It is important to note that even if all signers complete their sections, any reviewers included in the process need to complete their review as well, otherwise the packet will get stuck in limbo. Now that we have all of our parties, we need to decide on the order the participants will receive the documents. By default, we can see that Bobby Buyer will get the documents first. Only once he has completed them will Sally Seller receive the packet. Then when Sally has completed her section, Larry will receive the packet. We can move parties around; for example we can move Larry Lawyer to be first. We can change the order so that people will receive the packet at the same time. If we change Bobby Buyer and Sally Seller to the same number, they will receive the document at the same time. Finally, there is the option to remove Signing Order all together, and have all parties receive the packet at the same time. We’re going to leave it on the default settings for this video for demo purposes. There is an additional feature called “Cybersecurity Protection”, which enables Two-Factor authentication for the eSignature Packet. This means that in order for the party to access the packet, they will be sent a code to a mobile number that they will need to enter in order to continue. It does come at an additional cost of $5 per packet. Note that this is per packet, not user; so a packet like this with three users would be $5, not $15. If you want, you can include people in the packet list without having them sign or review the documents. You can do this by adding them to the CC List. This will send them copies of the documents, but they will not be signing or reviewing them. You also have the option of changing the timezone. The reason for this is in addition to the signed documents, you also receive a signing certificate which contains information about who, when and where someone signed the document. Changing the timezone here will change what the timestamp indicates on the signing certificate. The correct timezone in the timestamp is a requirement in some areas, this is why the option was included. For Step 2, we’ve put in our Signers and Reviewer, we’ve decided upon a Signing Order, we’ve chosen whether or not to include Two-Factor Authentication, we’ve decided whether or not to CC anybody in, and we've checked the timezone. Let’s click on “Next” to move on to Step 3. Here in Step 3 we can check out the signature areas and make any necessary edits or additions. As you can see with the Form, the system will automatically tag areas for signatures, initials and dates automatically. This is why it was mandatory to have the individuals' Roles set up when entering the Parties. With the PDF however, it’s an external document, so the system won’t recognize areas to tag for signature. This is where the Form Tools come in to manually add signatures. Over on the right hand side, we can see some tools we can use to add things to this document. The name at the top indicates who we are currently adding signatures for; in this case, Bobby Buyer You can change this by clicking on the drop down menu in the name and choosing another party. In “Drag and Drop”, you will find all of the signatures, initials and dates. Anything that is red is required, meaning the signer must complete them in order to submit the packet, while green and blue are optional. Let’s grab a red “Sign Here” and put in a signature for this PDF. Now lets grab a red “initial here” as well. Finally, let's grab a Date. The Date will generate automatically when the user completes the packet. In the “Mark Up” area, you’ll find some tools to edit the document itself. Some examples include; using “Draw Text”, where you can add extra text to a document, “Highlight” where you can highlight areas of the form, and “Draw Line” which you can use to strike out lines of text. We recommend you check first with your association if you are permitted to strike out a document or not. Once we’ve added in all our extra signatures, let’s click on Next to Continue. At this stage, you have completed creating the packet and can send it off if you want, but you can also create a custom message in the automated email that the user will receive. Let’s click on the button to create one. This is where you can add an additional message to the email that the clients will receive. You can also create a different message for each person. Let’s create one here for Bobby Buyer, and then click Save when we’re done. Now we can send off the packet by clicking on “Send Invitations”. Now that the E-Sign packet has been sent off, let’s check out a few areas where you can check on it’s progress. First, you can go to the E-Sign tab within the Transaction, where we can see the packet is In Progress. You can click on it for more information. We can see who the participants are, if they’ve signed yet, we can re-send them the email if they lost or deleted it by accident, and we can remove signers as well. You can cancel the packet, as well as edit the packet or Add Signers, but it is worth noting that the forms have been converted into PDFs. This means that if you add more parties, they will not automatically generate the signature areas like it did before. Like with the PDF we filled in earlier, you will have to manually add all the signature areas. There is also a widget that tracks the eSignature packet in the Transaction Summary tab, as well as in the Dashboard. Let’s have a look at how the eSignature works from the client’s perspective. Here is the email we sent earlier. The client will be prompted to start with the “Start Signing” button, which will open a new window. The next step for the client is to decide how they want to sign. They can create their own signature by clicking “Draw Signature”, where they will then create a signature and an initial. Alternatively, the user can select a system generated signature based on pre-built font styles. Once they are ready, they can click on “Accept” to begin. There are two ways a client can complete the forms. They can either scroll down manually, and click on each signature area they find, or instead they can click on Start. Clicking on “Start” begins a process that will automatically guide the client to each section that needs their attention and highlight it. This method is very quick for completing documents. Once all mandatory signatures are completed, the client will get a pop-up menu. “Complete Signing” submits their signed versions of the e-Packet and closes the program. “Stay and Review” closes the pop-up menu and allows the client to review the paperwork and then finish by clicking on “Complete” at the top. “Reset” clears the signatures and they can begin the process again. Now that a client has completed their section of the packet, you’ll see the packet information has updated. This is how you can keep track of which client signatures are still outstanding. Now that we’ve seen the process for someone signing an eSignature packet, let’s take a quick look at what it’s like for a Reviewer. You’ll notice the wording in the email is different, saying “Review” instead of "Sign". When the packet opens, there is no signature to choose from as they are not signing anything, they are just reviewing the documents. The only option available is to accept the terms and conditions to continue. A Reviewer can now scroll through and have a look at the documents. When they are finished, they can choose to either “Accept” or “Reject” the documents. After clicking on “Accept”, a new pop up menu will appear. They will have the option to confirm that they accept by clicking on “Accept Documents”, or review them again by clicking on “Stay and Review”. Once all parties have completed their sections of the packet, it will come back as Complete. When you open it up, you will see the signing status for everyone listed as “Completed”. When we set up this packet, we assigned the completed documents to return back to the “Signed Documents” Folder. If we open up the “Signed Documents” folder, we can see the documents have returned there. Our completed Buy-Sell Agreement and Home Inspection Report are there, along with a Signing Certificate. The Signing Certificate contains the record of who was signing the document. Some of the information includes the clients name, email address, a date stamp of when they signed, the signature they used, and the IP address they signed from. This is all for compliance purposes as this process is done remotely via email. Finally, you’ll receive an email confirming that the packet has been completed and will include links to the signed documents and signing certificates. All Signers and Reviewers will receive the same email with links to the documents and signing certificates. That sums up how to create an eSignature packet in Transactions (zipForm Edition) using Digital Ink 2.0 (powered by Authentisign). For more detailed information, we invite you to check out one of our webinars, by clicking on the link in the description.