How Electronic Signatures Work: A Simple, Secure Guide
Unlock the power of digital agreements.
Learn how eSignly transforms your document workflows into a seamless, legally-binding, and efficient process.
Trusted by over 100,000 users at innovative companies worldwide
What Exactly is an Electronic Signature?
An electronic signature, or e-signature, is the digital equivalent of a handwritten signature. It's a legal concept that captures a person's intent to agree to the terms of a document. Unlike a simple image of a signature, a true electronic signature involves a secure process that creates a permanent, auditable record linking the signer to the document at a specific time. This technology eliminates the need to print, sign, and scan paper documents, dramatically accelerating business processes, reducing costs, and enhancing security for businesses of all sizes, from startups to global enterprises.
The eSignly Process: Simple, Secure, and Swift
We've engineered our platform to be intuitively simple without compromising on security or legal compliance. Here’s how you can get your documents signed in minutes.
1. Upload Your Document
Start by uploading any common document format, such as PDF, Word, or Excel, directly from your computer or cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox.
2. Add Signers & Fields
Specify who needs to sign and in what order. Drag and drop fields for signatures, initials, dates, and text onto the document for each recipient.
3. Send for Signature
Click send. Your recipients will receive a secure email link to review and sign the document on any device—no account or software installation needed.
4. Track and Manage
Receive real-time notifications as your document is viewed and signed. A comprehensive, tamper-proof audit trail is generated for every transaction.
The Technology Behind the Trust
An electronic signature is more than just a digital mark. It's a robust technological process designed to ensure authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation.
Data Encryption
Every document and signature is protected with enterprise-grade encryption, both in transit and at rest, ensuring your sensitive information remains confidential.
Signer Authentication
We verify the identity of signers through various methods, including email verification, access codes, and SMS, ensuring the right person is signing.
Legally Binding
eSignly complies with major e-signature laws worldwide, including the ESIGN Act in the U.S. and eIDAS in the European Union, making your signed documents legally enforceable.
Tamper-Evident Sealing
Once a document is signed, it's cryptographically sealed. Any subsequent alteration to the document will invalidate the signatures, protecting its integrity.
Comprehensive Audit Trail
We generate a detailed log for every document, capturing every action, including IP addresses, timestamps, and events, providing a complete history for legal proof.
Platform Independence
Our cloud-based solution works on any device with a web browser, from desktops to smartphones, allowing you to conduct business from anywhere, anytime.
Real-World Impact: How Businesses Thrive with eSignly
See how organizations across different industries have transformed their operations by embracing the efficiency and security of electronic signatures.
Legal Firm Accelerates Client Onboarding
"eSignly cut our document turnaround time by over 80%. What used to take days of back-and-forth emails and printing now takes minutes. It's been a game-changer for our firm's efficiency."
Challenges & Solutions
A mid-sized legal firm was struggling with a slow, paper-based process for signing engagement letters and NDAs. This delayed client onboarding and created administrative bottlenecks.
- Challenge: Lengthy delays waiting for clients to print, sign, and return documents.
- Solution: Implemented eSignly for all client-facing agreements, allowing for instant signing on any device.
- Challenge: Difficulty tracking the status of multiple pending agreements.
- Solution: Utilized the eSignly dashboard for real-time visibility into document status, with automated reminders for pending signers.
Real Estate Agency Closes Deals Faster
"In real estate, speed is everything. eSignly allows our agents to get lease agreements and sales contracts signed on the spot, whether they're in the office or at a property. Our deal-closing rate has significantly increased."
Challenges & Solutions
A busy real estate agency needed to streamline the process of executing time-sensitive contracts with multiple parties (buyers, sellers, tenants).
- Challenge: Coordinating signatures from multiple parties in different locations was a logistical nightmare.
- Solution: eSignly's sequential and parallel signing workflows automated the entire process, sending the document to the right person at the right time.
- Challenge: Ensuring all required fields and initials were completed correctly on complex contracts.
- Solution: Used eSignly's templates with mandatory fields, eliminating errors and incomplete paperwork.
HR Department Streamlines Employee Onboarding
"We onboard dozens of new hires every month. eSignly's bulk sending feature has revolutionized our process. We can send out offer letters and policy documents to an entire cohort with one click. The audit trail is also invaluable for compliance."
Challenges & Solutions
A rapidly growing tech company's HR team was overwhelmed by the paperwork required for new employee onboarding, from offer letters to tax forms and policy acknowledgments.
- Challenge: Manually preparing and sending individual document packages for each new hire was time-consuming and prone to error.
- Solution: Created a standardized onboarding template in eSignly and used the bulk send feature to distribute it to all new hires simultaneously.
- Challenge: Ensuring a complete and compliant record of all signed employee documents.
- Solution: eSignly automatically stores all completed documents with their corresponding audit trails, creating a secure and easily accessible digital employee file.
Your Security is Our Foundation
We are committed to the highest standards of security and compliance, so you can sign with absolute confidence.
Hear From Our Satisfied Customers
We're proud to help businesses of all sizes streamline their workflows and achieve their goals.
"eSignly has become an indispensable tool for our finance and sales teams. The API integration was seamless, allowing us to embed signing directly into our invoicing platform. It's reliable, secure, and the audit trails are perfect for our compliance needs."
"The simplicity is what sold us. Our vendors and partners, who aren't always tech-savvy, can sign contracts with a single click on their phones. It has removed so much friction from our procurement process. The support team is also incredibly responsive."
"As a small business, we need tools that are both powerful and affordable. eSignly's free tier was perfect to get started, and we happily upgraded as we grew. It gives us the same professional capabilities as our enterprise clients."
Frequently Asked Questions
Have questions? We have answers. Here are some of the most common inquiries about how electronic signatures work.
Yes. Electronic signatures are legally recognized in most countries around the world. In the United States, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act of 2000 grants them the same legal status as handwritten signatures. eSignly is designed to meet the requirements of the ESIGN Act and other international laws like eIDAS in the EU.
Absolutely. Security is at the core of our platform. We use advanced encryption to protect your documents, secure authentication methods to verify signers, and create a tamper-evident seal on every completed document. This process is often more secure than traditional paper methods, which can be easily forged or lost.
No. Signers do not need to create an account, download any software, or pay anything. They simply receive an email with a secure link, click to open the document in their web browser, and follow the simple on-screen instructions to sign on any device.
While often used interchangeably, there's a technical distinction. "Electronic signature" is a broad legal term for any electronic process that indicates acceptance of an agreement. A "digital signature" is a specific type of electronic signature that uses a certificate-based digital ID to encrypt and seal the document, providing a higher level of identity assurance. eSignly uses digital signature technology to secure its electronic signatures.
Once the final signature is collected, all parties automatically receive an email with the fully executed document attached as a PDF. A comprehensive Certificate of Completion, which includes the detailed audit trail, is also generated and appended to the document, providing a complete record of the transaction.
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