SignNow for NotaryPro: How an eSignature API enhances remote online notarization for a Notary Public and Commissioner service in Canada
Only a few years ago, people only trusted brick and mortar, in-person notary firms with their most sensitive documents that often required authorization and chains of supervision. Advances in digital technology made it possible to conduct remote online notarization – clients can now sign sales bills, tax forms, applications, power of attorney, and other documents without having to visit a notary office, thanks to online notary services.
In 2022, leveraging eSignature technology is critical for notaries all over the globe to maintain business continuity and resilience. SignNow has helped organizations across different industries – from government agencies and universities to law firms and notaries – ensure secure and valid document transactions. By using SignNow’s eSignature API, NotaryPro was able to enhance their remote online notarization experience and grow their business despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you’re new to the concept of the SignNow API, make sure to check out The ultimate guide to the SignNow API to get a better understanding of how it works.
For more information on the SignNow API, its features, and references, please view our detailed documentation.
Customer profile
Founded in 2016, NotaryPro quickly became nationally recognized as the top-rated Notary Public and Commissioner service in Canada. By offering a modern notarization experience in the early, pre-pandemic months of 2020, NotaryPro was already actively using online notarization.
They had a remote online notarization (RON) system of their own, and when COVID hit Canada back in 2020, the systems necessary for transitioning to remote notarization were already in place, and the company was well prepared.
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Challenges before deploying SignNow
From the very beginning, NotaryPro was looking for an API-based eSignature solution that they could integrate with their in-house notary platform and web app. This included specific document workflows, a library of templates, and video conferencing.
What’s more, the company is continuously willing to add more features, enhance the user experience, and make customers’ lives easier by shifting from paper documents to notarization online with eSignature.
The benefits: how NotaryPro uses the SignNow API
The SignNow API enabled NotaryPro to integrate the eSignature solution into their platform and web app to address all their needs. From the early days of integrating SignNow, the benefits were evident for both the notaries and their clients.
The benefits of SignNow eSignature for notaries
- Less manual work and automated tagging: One of the most appreciated SignNow features among notaries is auto-tagging for fillable fields. Once uploaded to SignNow, the required fields automatically become fillable, with minimal participation on the user’s side. This eliminates hassle for our notaries, who can focus more on client service.
- Saving time with templates: The work of notaries is very standardized when it comes to document types. There are 15-20 types of documents that constantly go through the pipeline (affidavits, certified true copies, visa invitation letters, travel consent letters, etc.). Using templates and auto tags can be a lifesaver when things get busy. This is how David explained the amount of time they saved:
- Fewer corrections and mistakes: Notaries and lawyers are generally the least error-prone group of professionals when it comes to document preparation. Nobody’s perfect though: autocorrect may suddenly change the spelling of a last name, a client might get distracted and sign the wrong field, or they skip one of the fillable fields altogether.
SignNow’s automated guidance through fillable fields guarantees to eliminate this occurrence. In the case of the NotaryPro – SignNow integration: fields cannot be skipped or missed, and signers may only sign the fields assigned directly to them.
The benefits of SignNow eSignature for customers
- Friendly interface: The most frequently-mentioned benefit on the user side is that the interface, every icon, and the overall flow, are self-explanatory.
For those who are not tech-savvy or those who might get nervous eSigning important documents, videoconferencing is ready and waiting. Remote online notarization is organized as a video call, so the notaries themselves can provide assistance to signers in real-time.
- Last-minute requests becoming doable: Let’s be honest: people hate paperwork, most of us are not great at it, and what makes things even worse — we tend to postpone paperwork until the very last minute. This is when we realize that a grandchild can’t travel with grandparents abroad without parental consent, or that we have two hours left to submit an insurance claim.
Remote online notarization with SignNow resolves all these situations, literally within an hour.
Needless to say, the reputation NotaryPro has gained from delivering such a lightning-fast service is enormous! On Both Google and Trustpilot, NotaryPro’s ranking is 4.9 (out of 5).
- Authentication & security: Notarization often concerns life-and-death documents. In such situations, the authenticity of documents and signatures on them are of vital importance. Many clients of NotaryPro have already noted their appreciation of SignNow’s Audit Log. Once a video session with a notary is ended, every notarized document comes with its final audit log. This log contains a complete record of data on every edit and entry in a document: who opened, who signed, at what time, and where (IP addresses in the log are extremely precise). The Audit Log data is accessible anytime, not only as legal standing but also as court-admissible evidence (if need be).
Future plans
NotaryPro is growing fast and is optimistic about the development of online notarization in Canada, and rightly so. They are planning to be in the trenches of remote online notarization and believe this segment of the e-market has much more evolution to endure.
NotaryPro used SignNow powered by AWS.
