For the 65 percent of businesses that experience either delays in receiving payment or a complete failure to collect, this new way to sign and pay will make a huge difference.

At launch, via the partnership with global payments platform Stripe - users can DocuSign and pay using Android Pay, Apple Pay or any major credit or debit card. DocuSign will continue to integrate new payment partners - including Authorize.net, Braintree and PayPal - in the coming months. Recurring payments and other functionalities are expected to be available later this year.

“We have been working with our customers for years now to take their agreements digital,” commented Ron Hirson, chief product officer at DocuSign. “Payments is the next step in the evolution of our DTM platform and eSignature service and it has been driven directly by those customers. A lot of businesses, particularly smaller organisations, are hugely affected by late payments or complete failures to collect - problems that could be the difference between meeting key targets and missing them. Combining the signing and payment processes is the natural answer to helping business transactions move even more smoothly.”

A huge range of use cases present themselves for DocuSign Payments, across a variety of different industries, including the completion of lease agreements, insurance policies, contractor services, event bookings, donations, hotel stays, accounting, tax preparation and registration renewals, to name but a few. This potential is clearly recognised by DocuSign’s customers who are keen to take full advantage of the new launch.

As Bruce Vickery, Operations Director from Davis Tate Estate Agents comments, “Renting a house or a flat is a naturally stressful decision and we have to do everything we can to take the pain away for our customers. People want to wrap up the deposit and sign their contract as quickly as possible to secure their accommodation - taking this transaction completely digital allows us to remove any worries and delays from the process.”
Adding payments into the existing signing process is simple and straightforward. After a brief, one-time setup to connect DocuSign with Stripe, a sender adds a payment request to their agreement and sends it to the person who needs to sign. When that signer receives and DocuSigns the document, they can pay using Android Pay, Apple Pay or their credit/debit card, and the funds are collected immediately.

"It should be easy to pay for anything online—whether that's a pair of shoes, a cab ride or now a contract you're signing," said Cristina Cordova, head of business development at Stripe. "We're excited to work closely with DocuSign to make it possible for more than 100 million DocuSign users to easily and securely accept payments from anyone, anywhere in the world, whether they're on a desktop or mobile device."

DocuSign Payments is available today in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US.