Best Electronic Signature Software

An audit trail, often called a certificate of completion, records who was sent the document, when it was viewed and signed, the email address and often IP address used, and a tamper-evident seal over the final file. If a signature is disputed, this record is what supports it.

During a trial, sign a test document and download the certificate. Check that it is understandable to someone outside your organisation and that the final PDF shows it has not been altered.

Consider an illustrative agency hiring contractors. It saves its standard agreement as a template with fields for name, rate and start date, routes it first to the contractor and then to a director for counter-signature, and stores the completed file in a shared folder. Reminders are sent automatically after a few days. This is an example, not a measured case study.

Check whether signing order, reminders, expiry and automatic filing are available on the plan you consider, and whether signers need an account (they usually should not).

Email-based signing is the norm, but higher-risk agreements may justify additional verification such as SMS codes, knowledge-based checks or ID document verification, which many vendors offer as add-ons. For EU qualified signatures, a qualified trust service provider is involved.

Review the vendor's security documentation, data residency options and admin controls such as single sign-on and user provisioning before rolling out across a company.