Salesforce Electronic Signatures | The Ultimate Guide for Legal Firms
Hawk-eye editor with a passion for trailblazing Salesforce experiences
Electronic signatures (eSignatures) are better for the environment, save legal firms time and money, and make the signing process a million times easier for clients. Instead of getting swamped by admin and endless paperwork, it’s now the new norm to have one document with multiple signature fields. Clients receive a link or email so that they can sign your legal contracts securely while on the move from anywhere in the world!
To be honest, legal firms that aren’t using eSignature solutions lose the attention span of their clients pretty quickly, and chances are that those important legal contracts, quotes, or documents are never going to be signed manually… And so agreements get killed, and paperwork piles up!
For all these reasons and more, legal firms keen to embrace digitization are making eSignatures a cornerstone of their administrative processes.
If you are shopping around for the right tool, you might be wondering where do you start? We suggest choosing a signing tool that is 100% integrated with Salesforce, the planet’s #1 CRM platform!
Join us in the article below, we are going to dive into eSignature software for Salesforce and the legal field. Let’s get started!
Explaining Electronic Signatures in Salesforce for Legal Professionals
Salesforce is a treasure trove of data for legal firms with the power to provide personalized insights on individual clients at scale. If you are already using Salesforce as your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, then it only makes sense to choose an integrated signing solution. This way, you are drawing on a single source of truth for your legal firm.
And if you haven’t tried Salesforce yet, then there are good reasons to do so. This is because your legal firm will be able to automate signing workflows, accurately track every step of the signing process in Salesforce, and close agreements faster by working with the most accurate view of all parties involved in the signing lifecycle.
Sounds great, right? But there is a hitch. Salesforce does not have a native signing function.
A few solutions, like DocuSign, claim to be native to Salesforce, but this is misleading marketing. In reality, your best bet is to visit the AppExchange marketplace, do some research on third-party signing tools for Salesforce, and purchase one that best fits your legal use case and firm’s objectives.
Before you do so, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Does my legal firm need eSignatures or digital signatures?
- How do I ensure my signing tool is compliant?
- What are the top features of a robust eSignature solution for Salesforce?
To answer the first question, let’s take a closer look at electronic versus digital signatures in Salesforce.
The Difference between Electronic Signatures and Digital Signatures for Legal Admins
If you thought electronic signatures and digital signatures were the same thing, then don’t worry; you are not alone. While the two overlap and are used in similar ways in legal settings, there are some major differences. It’s important to bear in mind that electronic signatures simply refer to any signature that is created on a computer or electronic device.
This includes typing your name neatly or awkwardly scribbling with that clumsy Adobe drawing tool. Say your client sends you an engagement letter via Word and you copy-paste a pre-prepared signature into the doc, this too is an eSignature.
These are legally binding but they are not easy to trace and they don’t allow for super accurate identification. Someone else could be signing virtually on your behalf and there is no easy way for other signing parties to verify this.
Often, when the stakes are not particularly high, eSignatures are good enough, and they offer the perk of being simple and cheap to implement.
Digital signatures work with much more sophisticated (cryptographic) technology to accurately pinpoint the identity of each signer, the location in which they signed, and the device they signed from. Digital signatures ensure that legal professionals never have to worry if someone made changes to a doc after they signed it.
This is because each signer has a unique digital signature that tells the exact time each person signed the document.
When choosing the right signing solution for your legal firm, it’s a good idea to weigh up whether or not you need to adhere to the strict requirements of digital signatures. Digital signatures offer several additional layers of verification and security but this can also come with added time and cost.
Overall, if you are making a major deal or agreement, digital signatures are a must! We recommend choosing a reliable signing tool that offers digital signatures and eSignatures so that you can use both flexibly, depending on the requirements of your legal use case.
For more information on this topic, check out our Overview of Electronic Signatures and Qualified eSignatures articles.
The Importance of Being 21 CFR Part 11 Compliant in Legal Fields
Any signing solution worth its salt should be 21 CFR Part 11 compliant. If that just sounded like a foreign language to you, then that’s exactly why you should choose an app that does all the heavy lifting to ensure you meet all requirements.
Title 21 CFR Part 11 is actually an FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulation. It ensures that electronic records are as reliable as their paper-based counterparts. There are a whole host of 21 CFR Part 11 requirements, most of which ensure the integrity of the signer vs. signee.
This regulation very strictly stipulates that only a single individual may use a particular signature and that only the rightful owner of a signature can use it.
Features of a Robust Signing Tool Relevant for Legal Professionals and Salesforce
We hope you are still flying with us because now it’s time to discuss robust Salesforce signing tools in the legal field. Of course, these are just our recommendations, but if you choose a tool with these features, you will get ultimate flexibility.
1. Start the Legal Signing Process from anywhere in Salesforce
Ideally, you should be able to trigger your legal signing process from any standard or custom object or embed it in any Salesforce asset, such as Experience Cloud, app pages, and List views.
Trigging the signing process from within a Salesforce flow is also convenient for complete legal document automation.
2. Dynamic Legal Templates and Documents
Legal professionals should have the ability to work with any dynamic document or template in any format they want. This means they will be able to upload a document from their device, configure one dynamically using Salesforce data, or use a file saved in Salesforce to start signing fast.
This means no limits and no roadblocks for your legal firm when they use Salesforce electronic signatures.
3. Add a Dynamic Number of Signers and Determine their Identity in Legal Matters
It’s often difficult to know how many signers you will need in order to wrap up a legal contract.
For example, you might not initially know that a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) needs to be signed by additional parties of the company you are dealing with, or your document might legally require extra witnesses.
With a robust Salesforce eSignature solution, the number of signers can be dynamically determined and added throughout the signing process. Similarly, you want to choose a tool that enables you to figure out the identity of each signer in real time based on Salesforce data.
This is not only good for security but also enables legal admins to configure a flow where each individual signs in a pre-defined order.
4. Security and Tracking in Salesforce for Legal Firms
Security and tracking are also major considerations when choosing the right signing tool for Salesforce. Choose an option that either comes with 2FA (2-factor authentication) or SSO (single sign-on) so that you can rest easy knowing your confidential legal documents are only being read by the intended audience.
Facial recognition is an even bigger bonus and we also recommend being compliant with HIPAA, which reassures your clients that your legal documents meet the highest standards of data protection.
Law firms should also aim for a solution that enables their teams to track every stage and detail of the signing process directly in Salesforce, so they get complete transparency and visibility on the most crucial documents.
5. Conditional Logic for Personalization Solutions in Law
One of the incredible things about Salesforce is that no two clients are ever treated the same. Similarly, you should go for a signing tool that offers the same level of personalization.
An ideal signing tool should be able to show or hide fields depending on the decisions and profile of the signer. This means each signer only sees fields relevant to them, and if certain legal documents have role-based permissions, your signing tool should help keep them in place.
A major feature to look out for in the right eSignature tool for Salesforce and legal matters include the ability to update records after signing is complete. Another one is to have an eSignature tool that saves your legal documents in Salesforce or an external storage system of your choice.
E-signatures: Salesforce Limitations for Legal Firms
Now that we have discussed the perks of choosing electronic signatures for Salesforce as well as some of the most important features the right solution should have, you might be wondering about relevant limitations.
Well, the biggest restriction of Salesforce eSignatures for the legal industry is, of course, that the CRM giant itself does not have an out-of-the-box solution. As to other curbs, well, this is dependent on the third-party tool your legal firm chooses to use.
So let’s check out some of the most popular signing solutions for Salesforce to get an idea of their different blockages and upsides.
Salesforce eSign Tools for Legal Professionals
Below, we check out a complete breakdown of some of the most well-known Salesforce eSignature tools on the market that legal professionals can use.
Adobe Acrobat Sign
A big player in the world of signing solutions, Adobe has been around since 1982. Adobe Sign has a direct Salesforce integration, and its eSignature solutions have over 3000 reviews on the AppExchange marketplace. So, what are the pros and cons of this solution for legal firms?
Pros
Cons
DocuSign
DocuSign for Salesforce likes to market itself as a native signing tool. It is often believed that DocuSign is a feature or functionality of Salesforce rather than a separate third-party app that integrates well with the #1 CRM.
So, what should your legal firm know about DocuSign?
Pros
Cons
Conga Sign
Bought out by Apttus in 2020, Conga now markets itself as a suite of tools that helps streamline the revenue lifecycle. Perhaps most well-known for its Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions, Conga has its own electronic contract signing solution that integrates directly with Salesforce for legal matters.
Let’s check out their pros and cons.
Pros
Cons
Dropbox Sign
Dropbox Sign, formerly known as Hello Sign, integrates with Salesforce. It can be used to help legal teams track their entire signing process in Salesforce and approve contracts faster. So, what are this tool’s main features, capabilities, and limitations for legal professionals?
Pros
Cons
Formstack Sign
Although primarily known as a form builder for Salesforce, Formstack has its own eSigning solution. While legal admins won’t be able to find the signing solution on the AppExchange, they can learn more about it via the Formstack website.
Pros
Cons
Sertifi E-Sign
Sertifi is a specialist in signing solutions with an app on the Salesforce AppExchange. However, it has only been reviewed by some 200 users, making it a smaller player than other alternatives on this list. Targeted toward making payments more efficient, Sertifi comes with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Check them out below for your legal firm:
Pros
Cons
PandaDoc Esignatures
What began as a startup in Belarus in 2011 is now a big name in Silicon Valley. PandaDoc has some 30,000 customers and is a popular eSigning solution. So, how does it work with Salesforce, and is it worth using for legal contract lifecycle management processes?
Pros
Cons
Titan Sign
Last but not least on our list is Titan Sign for Salesforce and legal firms. Titan Sign is part of our no-code suite of enterprise applications for Salesforce. Each of the Titan modules are entirely declarative and designed to help legal professionals build custom applications using no code.
Titan Sign works seamlessly with Titan’s other products, like Salesforce Doc Gen and CLM for Salesforce. It comes with some powerful features that support contract management for lawyers. So let’s check out what Titan has for legal professionals:
Pros
Cons
Legal Use Cases for Salesforce Electronic Signatures
If you are still reading, then you might be wondering exactly how eSignatures are used in specific legal cases. Below, we take a look at some use cases that demonstrate the power of legally binding eSignatures for Salesforce:
Retainer Agreements in Legal Fields
Many legal firms use Salesforce to generate retainer agreements and send them out to clients for signing. Electronic signing for retainer agreements is a common task that requires a Salesforce e-signature, as it increases the security levels of the document and allows legal firms to fully automate their workflows.
A Salesforce eSignature removes the tasks of printing out retainer agreements, delivering the document to each signee, collecting physical signatures from clients, and scanning the document back into digital format for archiving.
This example shows how eSignatures make for a faster and more convenient process all around when working with agreements.
Fee Estimates and Legal Service Proposals
Legal firms that need to send fee estimates or legal service proposals to clients also need the help of Salesforce eSignatures. These legal documents usually contain information regarding the scope of legal services, costs, and terms of the agreement before work can start. It’s important to get these specifications signed off for approval before committing to any legal services.
By using Salesforce eSignatures for fee estimates and service proposals, legal professionals can remove the manual tasks that make traditional document signing processes so painstaking, such as printing, signing, scanning, and mailing documents.
Salesforce eSignatures also speed up various legal workflows and reduce typos in all documents.
Legal Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)
The legal industry is one of many sectors that have to create and manage Salesforce NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements). As previously stated, firms in the legal industry often require digital signatures to fully secure their agreements. In the case of important NDAs, a tool with facial recognition is also advantageous. It will help legal teams verify the identity of each signer in the NDA.
Client Onboarding in Law Firms
We all know that feeling of starting a journey with a law firm and being overwhelmed by the paperwork involved. eSignatures for Salesforce ensure the client onboarding process is efficient, secure, and convenient for all parties involved.
An everyday use case for how eSignatures are used to streamline client onboarding can be found in the legal industry. After a client provides personal information to sign up for services, the legal firm can automatically generate a document for them to sign and submit back into the system.
With the right Salesforce tools, signing can be completed electronically and securely.
Legal Engagement Letter Extensions
When your legal representation for an existing client comes to an end, you might want to renew it to continue or extend services. eSignatures provide a convenient way to deliver documents and collect signatures for engagement letter extensions. Not only do they help make the process more efficient, but eSignatures are valuable tools for adding security to your engagement letter extensions.
Approvals and Authorizations
eSignatures have become a trusted tool for streamlining Salesforce approval processes. For example, let’s take a look at Salesforce electronic signatures for compliance approval in a legal setting.
A legal associate begins the contract approval process by uploading an agreement to Salesforce for acceptance from a senior attorney. Once authorized with a signature, the contract will automatically be delivered to the compliance team at the law firm. If the contract was rejected, it will be sent back to the legal associate for edits.
However, if the contract is good for review, the compliance team will check if it meets legal and regulatory requirements. After analyzing the contract, the compliance team will add a signature to the document if they are happy with it. The contract will then be sent to the client for approval.
Once all parties involved have signed the contract, the document is stored under Salesforce Files and is linked to the client’s record.
This approval and authorization process makes sure a contract is accurate and compliant before it is sent to a client. An approval process without Salesforce and third-party signing tools can include a lot of paperwork and scheduling of meetings to collect physical signatures.
With an eSignature solution for Salesforce, many legal firms have been able to simplify their approval and authorization processes via bulk signing and automation.
Referral Agreements in Legal Settings
Law firms implement eSignatures for referral agreements as they speed up collaboration processes. They help to reduce manual administrative tasks for legal professionals and partners when referring clients.
It usually works by creating a Salesforce referral agreement and sending it to recipients for signing. The relevant legal professional can review the agreement online and discuss any issues with associates through built-in collaboration tools.
If the legal associate is happy with the document, they can electronically sign it and submit it back to the law firm that distributed it. Usually, the legal professional at the company will also electronically sign the document for approval.
The digital copy is then stored in a CRM repository, like Salesforce, and emailed to all stakeholders involved in the signing process.
HR and Employee Documents for Law Firms
Adding eSignatures to document management processes can provide many benefits for law firms as a whole. For example, the HR employees can better manage their onboarding tasks with eSignatures and Salesforce, since it empowers them to collect many documents and signatures in bulk from new hires joining the firm.
Law Firms and their Client Invoices
eSignatures can be used for almost any financial document you can think of. For example, law firms can use eSignature solutions to speed up payment and approval of services with client invoices.
Without eSignature solutions for Salesforce in the legal industry, law firms would have to follow many time-consuming steps to create, distribute, and save client invoices. Some of these steps include managing physical documents and repetitive data entry tasks for Salesforce.
Legal Compliance and Regulatory Documents
Not only do eSignatures provide a practical way to streamline document tasks related to compliance and regulations, but they also offer security and help adhere to laws that often require signatures for acknowledgment.
Law firms enhance their regulatory system with Salesforce by adding eSignature solutions to their processes so that they can collect and manage compliance and regulatory documents from clients or colleagues quickly.
Wrapping Up eSignatures in Salesforce for the Legal Industry
And that’s a wrap on legal electronic signature software for Salesforce. We hope you have enjoyed learning about how these tools can streamline legal processes and help propel your firm into the digital era.
Given Salesforce’s lack of native signing tools, there is an exciting gap in the legal industry for third-party apps to step in. While there are many solid options, Titan Sign stands out for its real-time Salesforce integration and no-code implementation.
Want more from your Salesforce apps? Titan can also create custom agreements, online forms, web portals, and eSignatures! If you need Salesforce survey tools, we have them covered, too.
Find Titan on Salesforce AppExchange! We would love to hear from you and find out what you are looking for in an eSignature tool!
Get in touch. See you soon!
Disclaimer: The comparisons listed in this article are based on information provided by the companies online and online reviews from users. If you found a mistake, please contact us
