1. “Make it easy and familiar for my signer – I am trying to close a deal, not train them on technology or law.” – DocuSign is the only system that uses the familiar yellow ‘sign here’ and ‘initial here’ tabs. As part of our patented process, these signature indicators are really familiar and our ‘one-click’ signing makes it both legally binding and simple to use. (Some ESIGN tools have some really odd ways they want you to sign[2]).
2. “Give me downstream reliability” – It is important that the solution not make ‘stray marks’ in improper places. My signatures, initials, and data need to be exactly placed, without odd ‘borders’ or ‘seals’ appearing in strange places. Downstream these will always get kicked back.
3. “Help me handle complex transactions” – Often the Real Estate transaction has a number of forms to fill out, initial and sign. DocuSign’s system can automatically recognize your documents and apply templates so you get the benefit of exact signature placement without having to do all the work!
4. “Integrate into my forms software” – By integrating directly into the software Realtors use to create and manage forms, DocuSign makes sending for signature a ‘one click process’. Talk about saving time!
5. “Allow me to sequence my documents to specific roles” – such as buyer & seller, and allow me to easily follow the industry standard practice.

So, these key points make DocuSign the clear leader for the Real Estate market. These and many other reasons explain why so many Realtors blog about DocuSign, tell their customers about DocuSign, and why the word ‘DocuSign’ is being used as a verb for electronic signature and online contract execution! You’ve probably heard it at conferences – you know “Hold on, I need to get my buyer to DocuSign it so I can close this deal”. [1] The same ‘wire’ – the INTERNET, silly! [2] Like ‘mouse cursive’ – ever try signing your name with a mouse? It is just silly. Nobody can – everyone hates it. Amazing waste of time that shows lack of understanding of what signing really is.

I’ve been building online contract execution services for a long time, and recently noticed a trend – for some strange reason, several companies have announced ‘biometric mouse-signing’ capabilities.  These companies are touting this new capability as if it were something special that has not been tried before. Before I tell you OUR story, let’s look into what THEY are saying..

First, they are saying that ‘now‘ you can use your PC mouse to make a ‘legally binding’ signature. A legally binding e-signature really doesn’t have much to do with what the signature LOOKS like; it has to do with a process of showing intent, authenticating the signer, locking down the process, etc. Using your mouse to make a signature has very little to do with this, other than frustrating the signer.

You see, it is EXTREMELY HARD to use a mouse to actually ‘sign’ anything that remotely looks like your signature. It is hard enough on those damaged signature pads at the store! Why is using a mouse so challenging? When you sign your name with a pen, you engage MANY small muscles in your fingers designed for minute movements and pressures against a surface with the right friction[1]. This explains why you can manipulate such small curves. Signing your name with a pen is a delicate thing.

When you use a MOUSE however, you use large muscles – all the way up to your neck! These are NOT able to make minute movements, and most likely, you have not tried it more than a few times because it is just too hard to get your mouse-signature to look anything like your signature. Anyone who has tried knows this.

My mouse ‘signature’ & The second time[2]

When you learn to write your signature, over and over through the years, your small muscles get ‘memory’. This important factor explains why some signature pads can actually collect the ‘biometric’ data about your signing – the pressure, speed, and stroke. Impressively, you will sign close to the same way every time. So ‘signature pad’ vendors actually do collect ‘biometric’ data. If they have a known good writing sample to begin with, this can have some value in case of a dispute.

What I REALLY don’t get is the word ‘biometric’ being used with this ‘new’ mouse-signing process. Unless I am missing something, there is nothing ‘biometric’ about scribbling with your mouse. No data is being captured, and there is no known good writing sample for comparison purposes. Even if we COULD, we don’t have the muscle memory because we don’t sign with mice.

So, why do I say it is the worst of both worlds? Well, signing with a mouse is frustrating – you spend way too much time trying to get it right, when you will never really be satisfied – AND it has no biometric value. In short, you end up putting your poor signer through an exercise of futility with absolutely ZERO benefit…

Some may be asking, “How do you know this?” or “What makes you the expert?” In 2003 when we started DocuSign, this is EXCACTLY what we tried, and EVERYONE hated it. Since it had no value AND everyone hated it, we decided to stop torturing our signers.

So, take some advice – if you are asked to sign with your mouse, you are just being tortured – cancel out and tell the person who sent it to you to use DocuSign.

[2] I can tell you that there is NO WAY I’d let my signature out looking like either of these. Neither is remotely close, and they make me look like I am 7 years old.