CX is king. Enterprises that help make customer journeys seamless, secure, and efficient have gigantic competitive advantage opportunities. One of those very fertile areas of innovation in CX involves the traditionally dreaded process of signing contracts and agreements. Paper-based methods of signing could be painful, slow, and high in friction due to delays. Here is how e-Signatures play the role of game-changers by making signing easy while also rocketing security with robust MFA authentication.
Before going deep into the world of electronic signatures, let's first revisit some of the headaches involved in traditional paper-based signature processes:
Time-Consuming Delays: Printing, signing, scanning, and emailing the documents back and forth introduces avoidable delays. This may agitate customers who are in a hurry to wrap up agreements and slow business workflow.
Geographic Challenges: Where the customers are geographically spread or do not have access to printers and scanners, signing paper-based documents presents a logistical challenge. This sometimes amounts to lost business opportunities and gives a blow to the expansion of the business.
Damage or Loss of Documents: Physical documents may be misplaced, damaged, or even tampered with. This usually causes record-keeping problems and security threats.
Environmental Impact: Most of the paper used is responsible for clearing forests and using other such resources. Businesses are increasingly under pressure from sustainability-conscious customers to adopt environmentally friendly operations.
e-Signatures are one of the great alternatives to traditional signing. They allow customers anywhere, and on any device, with an electronic signature, foregoing printing, scanning, mailing of papers, and so on at all steps. This greatly simplifies the process of signing, adding in MFA authentication for security.
Effortless Convenience: Customers can sign for documents anywhere, anytime, and from any device. MFA authentication added to the process provides an additional layer of security. By doing so, it will let them finish up the agreements on their terms and create a much more positive and convenient experience.
Immediate Completion: No longer are the days of waiting for documents to be mailed back and forth. e-Signatures allow agreements to be completed in real-time, further fastening this cycle of business and improving customer satisfaction.
Global Accessibility: Geographical limitations are a thing of the past, as e-Signatures empower customers from all over the world to sign agreements effortlessly and thus promote international business collaborations.
Multi-Factor Authentication for Enhanced Security: MFA authentication embeds within the e-Signature process an additional, very robust level of security. This is typically a mix of something you know, which is your password, something you have, in the form of your phone having the code, or something you are, like your fingerprint scan. The result is a drastic reduction in the possibility of unauthorized access to sensitive documents.
Step 1: Classic Log-In: The customer logs in with a username and password.
Step 2: MFA authentication verification: MFA will request that the customer provide a one-time code sent via SMS, email, or an authenticator app on their phone to further verify their identity beyond just the password.
Step 3: Secure Signing: Upon successful MFA authentication verification, customers can review and e-sign a document with complete confidence.
While MFA is very critical, eSignatures go-ahead to digitize some security features in the digitally signed documents and customer information as follows:
Digital Certificates: Through an entirely digital process—in this regard, just like electronic passports—the signing identity's verification is presented with a digital certificate. These are given out from trusted third-party authorities that guarantee the source of the signature.
It provides an audit trail that helps in signing and identification of the date, time, identification of the signer, any change in the document, and particulars of MFA verification. The audit trail offers a crystal-clear situation regarding signing activity and works as valuable evidence in case any dispute arises.
Tamper-evident seals: eSignatures embed tamper-evident seals within the signed document. These seals will notify recipients if the document has been modified at all following its signing, thus adding more security to it.
Most countries have established clear legal frameworks that validate the use of electronic signatures, ensuring their widespread acceptance and reliability. In the United States, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN Act) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) confirm that eSignatures carry the same legal weight as traditional wet ink signatures. Similarly, in India, the Information Technology Act (2000) provides legal recognition to eSignatures, solidifying their validity for electronic agreements.
In Europe, the eIDAS Regulation (Electronic Identification, Authentication, and Trust Services) provides a comprehensive legal framework for electronic signatures across EU member states. eIDAS not only recognizes the legal equivalence of eSignatures to handwritten signatures but also categorizes them into three types: simple electronic signatures, advanced electronic signatures, and qualified electronic signatures, with the latter enjoying the highest level of legal assurance.
In addition to these, countries like Canada, under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and Australia, with its Electronic Transactions Act, have also established robust legal frameworks to validate the use of eSignatures.
This global recognition through various legislations and regulations reassures businesses and their customers that agreements signed electronically are legally enforceable, facilitating smoother and faster transactions in today's digital age.
Businesses can leverage eSignatures along with MFA in the pursuit of actually delivering an exceptional customer experience. Several of the key strategies below incorporate MFA ten times, along with real-world examples.
Seamless MFA integration: The eSignature solution should seamlessly integrate with your existing CRM or some other customer-facing platforms. This will provide seamless, intuitive signing, along with a very clear and easy-to-use MFA verification process. For example, Intuit, a top financial software company, integrated eSignatures with MFA in the customer onboarding process. As such, it reduced customer drop-off at the start of the sign-up process by approximately 40 per cent, likely because MFA adds increased safety and trust.
Clear Communication on MFA: The signing process has to be clearly explained to customers; a description of the steps of MFA should be included. This sets expectations and guarantees a seamless signing experience. For example, Salesforce—a cloud-based CRM platform—stresses clear communication in the signing process, including multi-factor authentication. They instruct customers in detail and prepare FAQs related to e-signatures and MFA.
Mobile Optimization for MFA: 73% of Americans now own smartphones, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Make your eSignature solution mobile-friendly for today's always-on customers. This includes ensuring a seamless, user-friendly MFA experience on mobile through options that make it easy to receive verification codes via SMS or an authenticator app.
Multi Language Support for MFA: Booking.com is operated worldwide as an online travel agent. Its platform supports over 40 languages, with clear instructions on MFA in every language. This methodology caters to the diverse clientele and removes all linguistic barriers in the signing process. For companies operating across borders in the global marketplace, provide support by multiple languages within your eSignature platform and MFA verification process for enhanced access.
Clear MFA Records with Post-Signing Support: Clearly inform customers how they can log in to download signed documents and successfully view the details of their MFA verification for their records. Actually, this transparency is what creates a great customer experience. One example is this one by DocuSign, an eSignature solution provider: customers will be entitled to their own support portal containing all signed documents, frequently asked questions, or commonly referred to FAQs, and even details about MFA verification.
eSignatures with strong MFA are dynamically transforming customer experience. With features like a streamlined signing process and MFA, eSignatures empower companies to implement a more convenient and secure environment for customers. In this way, business processes can be more customer-centric. Further evolution of technology in this respect is bound to make eSignatures the new standard of agreements in the digital age. Some of the major trends that are going to shape the future of eSignatures are:
Fingerprint, facial recognition, and iris scans—the list goes on for a very convenient and secure way to establish user identity during MFA. Blockchain-based e-signatures: Blockchain technology holds promise to create tamper-proof identities and manage access permissions for electronic signatures, thereby enhancing security. Embrace e-signatures with confidence-partner with eMudhra.
By adopting eSignatures with mfa authentication and other enhanced controls, organizations can further nurture customer relationships and optimize business processes to remain competitive in business in an altogether shifting digital marketplace.
Web-ready to transform customer experience with secure and convenient eSignatures using enhanced MFA authentication protection? eMudhra, a leading global provider of digital trust solutions, empowers businesses to simplify eSignatures with its comprehensive suite of services. Learn more about our eSign services and discover how you can leverage eSignatures with MFA authentication for secure and efficient transactions.