Top 13 Mistakes Businesses Make While Switching to E-Signatures

Digital transformation projects promise speed and convenience, but they also bring new risks and complexities. Many organisations approach e-signature implementation hoping that buying a subscription will eliminate manual signing forever. In reality, switching to e-signatures touches legal compliance, process design, user training, and system integration. 

Missteps here can undermine the benefits of document automation and expose sensitive data. This in-depth guide examines the top 13 mistakes businesses make when transitioning to e-signatures and shares best practices to avoid them. Wesignature addresses these challenges by combining compliant e-signature workflows with secure audit trails and integration-ready automation.

1. Ignoring Legal and Regulatory Requirements

A common mistake is assuming that any electronic signature will hold up in court. Legislation such as the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN), the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), and the European eIDAS regulation define what makes an e-signature legally binding. Different jurisdictions and industries (e.g., healthcare or finance) have additional requirements around identity verification, consent and data retention.

Why it matters: Without understanding the legal framework, organisations may accept signatures that are invalid for certain contracts, cross-border agreements or regulated documents. For example, Donovan & Ho’s legal commentary on Malaysian law notes that some documents—wills, powers of attorney and documents involving land—cannot be executed with a simple electronic signature and require a digital signature backed by a certificate. Ignoring these rules can render agreements unenforceable and expose the company to litigation.

How to avoid it: Consult legal counsel to understand which laws apply to your organisation and the types of signatures they require. Choose an e-signature provider that complies with relevant regulations, provides audit trails and offers options like multi-factor authentication or digital certificates. Maintain policies that define when to use e-signatures versus wet-ink signatures and include procedures for identity verification, consent and record retention.

2. Choosing the Wrong E-Signature Solution

Many businesses select an e-signature tool based solely on price or brand recognition. They later discover that it lacks essential features—such as encryption, bulk sending, document tracking or API integrations—or that it cannot scale across departments. Others fall for slick demos or marketing promises and select software that does not fit their workflows.

Why it matters: Inadequate tools force teams to work around limitations, rely on manual processes, and risk data breaches. Some providers lock customers into proprietary formats or restrict integrations, making it difficult to migrate or customise workflows. Overestimating or underestimating the capabilities of document automation software leads to frustration.

How to avoid it: Assess requirements across departments—legal, HR, sales, procurement—and involve stakeholders in the selection process. Evaluate at least two vendors and request trials to test workflows rather than relying solely on demos. Look for solutions with flexible APIs, strong security, the ability to customize templates, and support for document automation. Avoid vendors that lock in data or rely on proprietary formats.

3. Neglecting User Training and Change Management

Rolling out e-signature technology without adequate training leads to low adoption and resistance. The human side of digital transformation is often overlooked. According to sdocs.com, ignoring the people aspect can result in budget drains, unused licences and missed opportunities.

Why it matters: Employees who do not understand the process may continue to print and sign documents manually, negating the benefits. Lack of training also increases errors and support tickets. Without internal champions, adoption stalls, and the return on investment diminishes.

How to avoid it: Develop a change management plan that includes hands-on training sessions, clear documentation, and Q&A forums. Identify champions in each department to lead adoption efforts. Communicate the benefits of e-signatures—faster turnaround, easier compliance, audit trails—and show how the system integrates with existing tools. Provide continuous support and gather feedback to refine workflows.

4. Overlooking Security and Data Protection

E-signatures involve sensitive contracts, personal data and financial information. Some organizations assume that digital documents are secure by default, only to discover vulnerabilities. Common mistakes include using scanned signatures attached to PDFs instead of real e-signatures, storing signed documents on unsecured shared drives, and failing to enable encryption or multi-factor authentication.

Why it matters: Using a scanned image provides no proof of who signed and opens the door to forgery. Inadequate audit trails make it impossible to prove that a document has not been altered. Neglecting encryption or role-based access controls exposes documents to unauthorised access or data breaches. Data protection regulations like GDPR and HIPAA require specific safeguards for electronic documents.

How to avoid it: Use platforms that generate verifiable digital signatures with a cryptographic seal and detailed audit trails. Activate multi-factor authentication for signers, require strong passwords, and store documents in encrypted repositories. Implement role-based access controls and regularly audit permissions. Educate employees on secure document handling.

5. Failing to Integrate E-Signatures With Existing Systems

Another error is treating e-signatures as a siloed tool. If the solution doesn’t integrate with customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), document management, or workflow automation platforms, employees end up downloading and re-uploading documents manually. This manual shuffling introduces delays, errors, and additional security risks.

Why it matters: Disconnects between systems lead to duplicate data entry, inconsistent records and frustrated users. Sdocs notes that disconnected systems drain productivity, create data inconsistencies, and cause missed revenue opportunities. Without integration, automation stalls and compliance tracking becomes manual and error-prone.

How to avoid it: Choose an e-signature solution that offers native integrations or robust APIs for your core systems. Work with IT and process owners to map how documents flow before and after signing. Design automated workflows that trigger e-signatures directly from CRM or ERP systems and capture signed documents back into your document repository. 

6. Not Having a Clear E-Signature Policy

Some organisations adopt e-signatures without establishing policies for usage, identity verification, retention and dispute resolution. Without clear guidelines, teams apply inconsistent practices; some may accept simple typed names while others insist on digital certificates.

Why it matters: Lack of policy creates confusion and increases legal risk. When a contract is challenged, you need to demonstrate who signed, how they were authenticated and what version of the document was sent. Having no policy may also lead to retention issues; documents might be deleted too soon or kept longer than permitted.

How to avoid it: Draft an internal policy that covers approved e-signature providers, authorised signers, authentication methods, document types that require digital certificates, retention schedules and procedures for storing and retrieving signed agreements. Train staff on the policy and review it periodically to accommodate regulatory changes. Ensure your e-signature platform can enforce these rules with audit trails, user roles and expiry controls.

7. Rushing Implementation Without a Pilot or Testing

Under pressure to “go digital,” some businesses deploy an e-signature solution across the organisation without piloting it. This can lead to compatibility issues, workflow bottlenecks and user resistance. Document automation often fails when unrealistic assumptions about inputs are made; real-world documents are messy and vary in format, which can break automated flows.

Why it matters: Without testing, you might miss edge cases like complex templates, multi-signer workflows or cross-border contracts. Systems that work in controlled demos may fail when exposed to a variety of document types and user behaviours. In the words of a LinkedIn post on document automation failures, teams often assume clean inputs when the real world provides “whatever vendors send,” leading to ambiguous cases that require manual intervention.

How to avoid it: Run a pilot project with a small group of users and different document types. Simulate real-world scenarios, including multi-signer sequences, optional clauses, and cross-border transactions. Collect feedback and adjust workflows, templates and integrations before full deployment. Test your document automation routines with large batches, different languages and varied date formats to catch performance issues and cultural misalignments.

8. Relying on Scanned Images or Inadequate Signatures

Some organisations cut corners by pasting scanned images of handwritten signatures into PDFs or Word documents. This practice undermines the purpose of e-signatures and fails to capture critical metadata about the signing event.

Why it matters: Scanned images can be easily copied or altered and provide no evidence of consent, identity, or intent. In a dispute, the organisation cannot prove when or where the document was signed. Courts increasingly expect robust audit trails rather than static images.

How to avoid it: Use a true e-signature service that links each signature to a unique signer through IP address, time stamp and authentication. Ensure the platform records the document’s hash value and any changes. Communicate to partners and clients why using a simple scanned image is not acceptable for compliance or enforceability.

9. Forgetting the Audit Trail and Document Storage

A related mistake is neglecting to retain a complete audit trail or store documents securely. Some businesses sign a contract digitally and then archive it on a shared drive without capturing the signing metadata or verifying long-term readability.

Why it matters: Without a comprehensive audit trail, agreements can’t be defended in court or during audits. E-signature laws often require that the record of the signing process be preserved along with the document. Failure to store documents properly may violate retention laws and make documents unreadable in the future. For instance, storing PDFs without considering archival formats can undermine long-term accessibility.

How to avoid it: Ensure your e-signature platform automatically generates and stores audit logs, including timestamps, IP addresses, signer consent, and document versions. Save signed documents in a secure, centralised repository with access controls and compliance retention settings. Consider using PDF/A (an archival format) for long-term storage. Maintain backups and test document retrieval periodically.

10. Creating Clunky Signing Experiences

A friction-filled signing experience can deter customers and partners. Inconsistent interfaces, confusing prompts, and unnecessary steps slow down the process and reflect poorly on the brand.

Why it matters: Users expect a simple, mobile-friendly experience that guides them through the signing process. A poor experience can delay deals, lead to incomplete signatures, and damage customer relations.

How to avoid it: Map the user journey from document receipt to signature, and identify friction points. Choose a platform with an intuitive design and options like mobile responsiveness, in-person signing, and automatic reminders. Provide clear instructions and support for external signers. Collect feedback and iterate on the experience.

11. Misunderstanding Document Automation vs. E-Signatures

E-signatures are often part of a broader document automation strategy. Some teams assume that document automation means a single tool can handle everything—from drafting to data extraction and signing. In reality, automation depends on the quality of inputs and logic.

Why it matters: According to a LinkedIn discussion, many document automation projects fail because they rely on unrealistic assumptions about document quality and consistency. When teams provide clean, template-based inputs during testing but encounter messy, varied documents in production, the system breaks down. Over-automation or insufficient error handling also causes performance issues.

How to avoid it: Develop clear decision logic for document automation—identify conditions for including clauses, data fields and formatting. Test with real documents and anticipate variations in language, layout and quality. Incorporate error handling and manual review queues for ambiguous cases. Integrate e-signature steps into the automation flow but treat them as part of a larger process, not the sole solution.

12. Relying on Manual Templates and Hard-Coded Fields

Some organisations continue to manually copy templates or hard-code static content in documents. When migrating to e-signatures, they often reuse those inefficient templates, undermining the benefits of automation.

Why it matters: Manually copying templates invites inconsistencies, broken formatting and version-control issues. Hard-coded content means that simple changes—like updating a clause—require editing the template or the workflow itself. This slows down contract updates and increases errors.

How to avoid it: Centralise templates in a document management system and use placeholders for variable data (e.g., <<ClientName>>). Use document automation tools to populate templates dynamically and lock formatting for brand consistency. When updating clauses or terms, adjust the data source rather than the template code. Doing this ensures you can scale e-signature processes without manual intervention.

13. Failing to Plan for Scalability and Future Proofing

As organisations grow, they may add more signers, documents and complex workflows. Implementing a system that cannot scale leads to bottlenecks, storage limits and user access problems. Future-proofing also requires monitoring regulatory changes and updating templates and processes accordingly.

Why it matters: Without scalability, your e-signature platform may become a bottleneck, delaying transactions. Regulatory changes, such as new privacy laws or industry standards, may force you to overhaul your solution if it cannot adapt. Failing to plan for growth can result in costly migrations later.

How to avoid it: Choose systems with elastic storage, flexible licensing and configurable workflows. Review industry and regulatory developments regularly and update templates and workflows accordingly. Consider features like API versioning, microservice architectures and modular components that allow you to swap out parts without affecting the entire system.

Conclusion

Successful e-signature implementation requires a holistic approach. It involves understanding the law, selecting flexible solutions, designing clear policies, training users and integrating with document automation. 

Organisations should also plan for long-term storage, metadata tagging, localisation, error handling and scalability. By anticipating the common pitfalls outlined here and applying the recommended practices, businesses can realise the full benefits of e-signatures—faster transactions, improved compliance, enhanced security, and a seamless user experience. Wesignature supports an end-to-end approach by enabling legally compliant, secure, and scalable digital signing across business workflows.