Why E-Signatures Are Becoming Essential in Small Business Operations

Small businesses are increasingly finding it essential to use e-signatures, not because of legal or regulatory mandates, but rather because e-signatures can help support small businesses success.

Meeting Customer Expectations

One of the main reasons why so many small businesses are adopting e-signature platforms stems from customer expectations. After all, small businesses do not just compete with other small businesses. They also compete with large companies who have been using e-signatures for years.

Over time, customers have gotten used to signing documents electronically, and a small business that continues to rely on paper documents and manual signing processes might be perceived by customers as being dated or even tech-phobic.

Conversely, those businesses that embrace digital workflows and frictionless customer experiences tend to see higher levels of customer satisfaction and better customer retention. A small business that uses e-signatures signals to customers that it is modern, easy to work with and in tune with customers’ expectations.

Reducing Costs

Of course, there are other reasons why small businesses are adopting e-signatures beyond just delivering a better customer experience.

E-signature workflows can potentially drive down a business’s costs. At a minimum, using e-signatures has the potential to reduce costs related to paper and printer ink. It also reduces postal costs for businesses that have historically mailed documents to customers. However, the cost savings often go well beyond those associated with printing and mailing documents.

By switching to a digital workflow based around e-signatures, businesses can reduce reliance on various manual processes such as scanning paper documents or preparing parcels for shipment. Depending on how frequently a business performs such tasks, switching to a digital workflow may save several hours each week. This translates directly into cost savings when you consider hourly labor costs.

Better still, staff who were previously bogged down with printing and shipping related tasks are now available to handle more important tasks.

Quicker and Easier Contract Ratification

One of the more widely overlooked benefits to adopting e-signatures is that a small business may be able to close more deals than before, or at least close deals with less effort involved.

Any business that requires customers to sign documents knows that there will always be a certain percentage of customers who do not sign the documents in a timely manner.

In the past, business owners had little choice but to “chase” customers, repeatedly reminding them that a document needed to be signed. For the customer, these reminders often feel like nagging. For the business, chasing down customers can be time-consuming. It can also be disruptive, since the business cannot move forward on a given project until the customer signs the necessary forms.

Conversely, a good e-signature platform can significantly reduce the need to pester customers over unsigned documents. Instead, an automated workflow can periodically remind customers that they have a document that needs to be signed. And when the customer does sign the document, an automated alert can be sent to the business so that they can begin working on the project right away.

Empowering Hybrid and Remote Staff and Customers

Still another reason why so many small businesses are beginning to use e-signatures is that e-signatures are just better suited to today’s hybrid work environment.

It has become increasingly common for businesses to have staff members who only come into the office a few days a week. It has also become commonplace for small businesses to hire employees who live far away and therefore only work remotely. Such arrangements would be problematic for an employee whose job involved handling paper documents, but electronically signed documents can be accessed from anywhere.

Of course, this same basic concept also applies to customers. Imagine, for example, that a small repair shop is performing some long overdue maintenance on a customer’s vehicle while the customer is away on vacation. Now suppose that, as the technician is doing the work, they discover an issue with the vehicle that needs to be addressed.

In this type of situation, the repair shop would not need to wait for the customer to return in order to obtain authorization for the repair. Instead, they can send the repair estimate to the customer who can sign the agreement from wherever they happen to be in the world. That way, the customer’s vehicle will be ready to pick up when the customer returns home.

Streamlining Business Processes

Small businesses that adopt e-signatures may find that doing so helps to streamline their business in less obvious ways. As an example, a business might discover that the e-signature software works perfectly with the accounting or CRM software that they use, making everyday operations just a little bit easier.

Similarly, having e-signature capabilities can make it easier for a business to manage relationships with its suppliers and partners. These external companies will likely appreciate the streamlined process just as much as customers do.

One more way that adopting e-signatures might help to streamline operations is by minimizing errors. E-signature tools typically do more than just collect signatures. They can also be used to require certain fields to be completed within an electronic form. By requiring customers to fill in all the parts of a form, a business can reduce the hassles associated customers who fail to provide all of the required information.

Scalability

Finally, one last benefit to adopting e-signatures within a small business is that doing so can support scalability. E-signatures and the automated workflows associated with those signatures potentially allow a business to handle a greater number of forms without having to add staff to deal with the increased overhead.

If you run a small business, e-signature might help you with some of these business needs. Learn about the Progress ShareFile e-signature solution.