As we discussed in a previous article, it’s easy to underestimate the impact eSignatures can have on an organization. A big reason why we often miscalculate their potential value is because we tend to see eSignatures as an isolated endpoint experience rather than a broad-based platform.
Often we just see a digital document, click a field, auto-generate a scribble (that is always nicer than our own), think to ourselves, “Gee, I used to do that on real paper” and then go back to wondering if we can attach an IV machine to a Keurig. The reality is that when it comes to a powerful eSignature platform, there is a whole lot going on behind the scenes. More importantly, there is a whole lot of opportunity for a business to tighten up operations and beef up bottom lines.
Here are three different examples of how three different companies adopted and implemented an eSignature platform to do everything from increase revenue to decrease headaches…
1. Product Enhancement: Brokermint Uses Integration to Expand Its Offering & Boost Sales
Brokermint offers a SaaS-based software product; a “back office” platform that provides individuals and organizations in the real estate industry with an extensive set of tools for managing and tracking everything from contacts and listings, all the way to offers, tasks, transactions and commissions. Knowing the world of realtors well, Brokermint’s Co-founder Andrew Chischevoy also knows their technology pains.
“We know that, on average, realtors use seven to twelve tools,” said Chischevoy. “They love technology, but the downside is they use too many systems.” (and as most of us know, that kind of complaint isn’t exclusive to people in the real estate business.) Brokermint was already offering a fairly comprehensive suite of consolidated services, but there was glaring gap in their portfolio within arguably the most important component of the real estate process; signing agreements and closing deals.
They needed to offer their clients an easy way to digitally manage and sign agreements. They needed to do so, however, within the context of the existing platform, the existing workflows, and the existing user experience. Brokermint looked into eSignature implementation options. During their investigation they discovered HelloSign, a flexible eSignature platform for small-to-mid-market businesses. On top of their own online installations, HelloSign provides an API through which Brokermint could access and implement exactly the functionality they needed within their platform, without any disruption to the current UX.
Brokermint didn’t bother burning countless hours, cycles and resources building out their own eSignatures and form modules. Instead, the company leveraged the HelloSign API (and the years of development powering it) to seamlessly incorporate workflow enhancements, form pre-population, eSignature execution and digital doc management into the existing Brokermint experience—consistent branding, styling and all. With the integration, their clients were able to go entirely paperless, entirely seamlessly, with minimal technical overhead, and with minimal product training.
More importantly, almost immediately after implementing the eSignature platform integration Brokermint saw a 23% increase in sales conversion and a significant uptick in customer retention.
2. Application Simplification: Trxade Goes From 90 Fields To A Few Clicks
Trxade is another company that has their very own software product; they connect over 4,000 independent pharmacies to the country’s leading wholesale drug vendors. Their platform allows pharmacists to compare prices across vendors, connect with new vendors, and ultimately place orders for product. Here’s the thing though; historically, when pharmacists were connecting with new vendors, they had to go through an application process that required the completion of more than 90 form fields and sometimes took upwards of 48 hours.
Trxade needed a way to drastically streamline this application process without sacrificing legal requirements, without compromising their existing user experience, and without diverting too many resources from their core initiatives. Ultimately looking to solve a fundamental application-and-agreement problem, Trxade looked to eSignature technology for a solution. They too came across HelloSign’s API and platform capabilities, and along with its affordable pricing, decided that it would get them and their clients the relief they needed.
Using an Embedded Templates functionality within the HelloSign API, Trxade set up new application forms (fully customized) within their own code base. These new forms—showing no notable difference from the interface with which existing users had become familiar—pre-populated the pharmacists’ information with data they had already stored in the Trxade system through original registration and prior requests. Using only two developers and one two-week sprint, they had completed the seamless introduction of an enhanced process that took users from 48 hours and almost 100 fields to just a few clicks over a few minutes.
Introducing a flexible eSignatures solution into their product mix did a lot more than facilitate an easy way to sign stuff. In the short run, such a solution saves a lot people a lot of valuable time; in the long run it will undoubtedly help with customer retention. And let’s not forget about the end consumer getting the medical support they need in the timeliest manner possible.
3. Operational Efficiency: StackExchange Streamlines Internal Doc Transfer & Tracking
You may have heard of StackExchange. They’re a well-known Q&A network geared towards providing the best answers to a variety of technical questions posed by people in the computer engineering community. All their employees are shareholders. Every quarter, employees receive an email providing them with their stock option grant info and a prompt to complete several steps necessary for proper transaction and record keeping by the finance department.
You can probably imagine where this is going. Those email blasts and their ensuing paperwork generated a boat-load of critical documents requiring execution, delivery, collection, review, tracking, follow-up, and finalization. Not only was it an administrative hassle, but the employee experience was far from fluid, let alone finely prescribed and efficient. One developer at StackExchange was convinced that the entire process could be polished on all sides. After skimming the feature set of the HelloSign’s eSignature platform, Yaakov Ellis had validated his intuitions.
With one week of development time and one week of rollout planning, the cleanup job was complete and StackExchange had a shiny new migraine-free process supporting their employee stock option program.
Instead of a buckshot messaging approach followed by a free-for-all submission and tracking fiasco, all employees are now all directed to a single dynamic page from which to respond to their options update. The form is prepopulated with their personal information; it is only signed digitally and submitted from within the online interface (no printed copy drop-offs); all submissions are automatically logged and linked to each individual employee; all submissions are immediately delivered to the appropriate party in the finance department. Clean, contained and chronicled.
“We do save a lot of time,” said CFO, Jack Sinclair of the new eSignature solution. “Hours upon hours. But the real benefit is the accuracy and completeness that was very difficult before.” The employee experience, in all departments, has been drastically improved. When it comes to a strong eSignature solution, there is a lot of overhead to be spared by getting under the hood. That’s something for which any CFO will sign on the dotted line.
Electronically, of course…
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This post was sponsored by HelloSign. Thank you for supporting the partners that support SnapMunk.
