How to Bulk Send and Sign Standardized Documents With E-Signature

Today, the ability to sign-off on agreements at any time, on any device, from anywhere in the world is a business necessity. That’s why nearly every modern organization takes advantage of the speed and simplicity that electronic signature technology has to offer—to save time, cut costs and eliminate errors during the critical, final stage of the document management process. 

E-signature is a valuable process management tool, but what if you need a way to share a standardized document with multiple recipients at the same time? For transactions where a formal acknowledgement is required by a large group of people (new company policies, contract updates, etc.), e-signature technology also offers an efficient and secure way to bulk send and sign standardized documents. 

Here’s how it works. 

Why is Bulk Send a critical document management solution?

At the beginning of 2020, the business world needed contactless solutions to keep moving. E-signature technology offered a simple way to promote business continuity—helping organizations across the world complete transactions and sign sensitive documents remotely, even as face-to-face interactions became an impossibility. 

E-signature helped businesses cope with the reality of COVID-19, but the advantage of e-signature technology was perhaps best demonstrated by organizations that needed an efficient way to distribute and approve thousands of standardized documents at once. As the pandemic escalated and economic stability declined, banks were responsible for approving emergency loans to businesses in need. Processing thousands of SBA loan applications is no easy feat, but an e-signature bulk sign-and-send feature helped banks send loan applications to large groups of customers at once—and individuals in every corner of the U.S. were able to receive financial relief in a timely manner. 

HR organizations around the world also faced challenges over the past year. One of which came in the form of needing to remotely generate, update and distribute new company and employee policies to address changing work conditions. Many HR teams leveraged Bulk Send to digitally generate and share new or revised policy agreements (i.e. work from home policies) to employees en masse, with a single click. As conditions rapidly evolved, new policies needed to be sent and signed efficiently from afar. Bulk Send gave HR departments an easy way to send and receive documents digitally—and track completion rates. 

But an effective Bulk Send solution is much more than a short-term, digital solution to remote work. Many organizations have come to realize that Bulk Send technology—which saves time, boosts productivity, and cuts costs—offers a simple way to streamline labor-intensive back office procedures. 

The practical uses of Bulk Send technology are wide-reaching. 

What is Bulk Send used for?

Whether you’re seeking an easy way for thousands of customers to accept updated terms or you need hundreds of employees to sign-off on a new employee handbook, e-signature offers a seamless solution for any sized enterprise. Common use cases where an e-signature solution with bulk sign-and-send capability may provide an additional benefit for your organization include: 

• Sharing documents with employees: When a human resources department needs to efficiently send out a new company benefits package or work-from-home policy, Bulk Send offers an effortless way to customize and send documents—even those that differ from employee to employee—to multiple recipients at the same time. Signed documents are automatically routed back to HR for filing.  
• Sending promotional offers: One DocuSign customer—a credit union—wanted to promote their “skip pay” option on auto loans. Using Bulk Send, the company sent notices to pre-identified auto loan customers to let them know they can opt out of this month's payment. The notice also included an “Accept” button that—when clicked—would take them to an agreement for next month’s adjusted payment. Completed documents were routed back to the credit union for processing. 
• Crowdsourcing: Let’s say a crowdfunding company needs signatures to fund a small business venture. Once a target goal for funding is reached, the company can use Bulk Send to collect official signatures from investors—and automatically route completed envelopes back to a company representative for completion.
• Tracking receipts on sent items: If you’re sharing a document with employees that contains critical information—such as updated compliance standards—and want to make sure your intended recipients review the content, DocuSign’s Bulk Send solution lets you set recipient types as “Needs to View.” As a result, you can track associates at every stage of the signing process—and identify exactly when each document is received, viewed and signed. 

Documents and processes that can benefit from Bulk Send

Organizations in every vertical have found a wide range of creative uses for bulk send that save time and cut costs. Some of the most common include: 

• Annual compensation plans
• Onboarding documents for large groups of seasonal workers 
• Homeowner association and tenant forms 
• Payment verification forms
• Company policy and HR updates
• Class action/mass tort documents 
• Requests for proposal (RFPs)
• Statements of work (SOWs)
• Return to work agreements 
• Questionnaires/ surveys 
• Debt collection paperwork
• Vaccine management documentation 
• Patient consent and HIPAA release forms

How does Bulk Send work?

Bulk Send helps organizations easily share standardized documents with multiple recipients, thereby saving time, cutting costs and dramatically improving the customer experience. Here’s how it works: 

1. Create a template: As with any agreement process, drafting your document is the first step of the journey. Prepare a document for bulk send using pre-existing templates or customize a template to meet your exact specifications.   
2. Choose an authentication method: E-signature technology provides users with an extra layer of security by requiring end-user authentication from all signees. Insert an access code, SMS, ID check or KBA authentication parameter on sensitive agreements to verify the identity of every signee. 
3. Select required fields: After creating a template for bulk send, the originator can add envelope custom fields (ECFs) to the document—and even determine whether specific fields are required or optional. ECFs can be free text entries or selections from a list of possible values. ECFs let you store metadata in your envelopes that is not visible to the signer so you can classify, record and track information.
4. Prepare recipient data: Even for documents with thousands of recipients, an e-signature solution with bulk send capabilities dramatically simplifies the process. Generate a CSV with pre-populated columns that specify required information and import recipient data from existing files. 
5. Run a test: Just as you would for any large email campaign, you can test your template and message before sending to confirm the accurate appearance and functionality of your agreement. 
6. Send: Press send and sit back as your documents make their way to your targeted list of recipients. 
7. Track receipts and completions: Manage the receipt of your documents by tracking form opens, completions and signatures made by your recipients. Send reminders to any party or signee who has not taken a required action on an agreement. Agreement Actions allows admins to easily configure rules to automate common post-signature actions. This includes the ability to automatically archive completed documents to a cloud storage provider, export data to Google sheets and start workflows in CLM.
8. Retrieve signed documents: Access completed documents with ease. Bulk Send also functions as a simple way to manage and organize completed documents in one centralized location. 

For more information, you can review DocuSign’s bulk sending capabilities in greater detail here.

Send and sign with ease using DocuSign eSignature 

Leave time-consuming manual processes behind, and give your organization the tools it needs to keep up with the pace of today’s digital marketplace. Bulk Send, a feature of DocuSign eSignature, offers easy integration with your existing Systems of Agreement—providing businesses of every size a simple way to save time, cut costs and eliminate unnecessary steps in the document management process. 

Enable DocuSign Bulk Send for your business.