How to Reduce Document Turnaround Time by 80%

The Cost of Slow Document Turnaround

Every day a document sits unsigned is a day your business is waiting. Waiting to close a deal. Waiting to onboard an employee. Waiting to start a project. According to industry data, the average document takes 5.4 days to get signed when using traditional methods (print, sign, scan, email/mail). With optimized digital workflows, that drops to under 24 hours — an 80%+ reduction.

But speed isn't just about convenience. Slow turnaround directly impacts revenue:

• Sales contracts that take a week to sign give prospects time to reconsider or choose a competitor
• Vendor agreements delayed by signing bottlenecks push back project start dates
• Employee offer letters that sit for days risk losing top candidates to faster-moving companies
• Client onboarding documents that languish create a poor first impression

Strategy 1: Eliminate Paper from the Process

The single biggest improvement you can make is switching from paper-based to electronic signatures. The numbers are compelling:

Metric	Paper Process	E-Signature Process	Improvement
Average signing time	5.4 days	37 minutes	99.5%
Error rate (incomplete fields)	37%	Under 3%	92%
Cost per document	$8-15 (print, ship, store)	Under $1	90%+
Environmental impact	6.7 lbs CO2 per document	Negligible	~100%

If you haven't switched to e-signatures yet, this is step zero. Everything else in this guide builds on a digital-first foundation.

Strategy 2: Build a Template Library

Creating documents from scratch every time is the second biggest time waster. If you send the same types of documents regularly, templatize them.

Templates to create first:

1. Client service agreement
2. Non-disclosure agreement
3. Project proposal
4. Independent contractor agreement
5. Employee offer letter

A good template in DottiSign includes pre-placed fields assigned to signer roles. When you send a template, you just assign people to roles and hit send — no field placement needed. What used to take 15-20 minutes of document preparation takes 60 seconds.

Strategy 3: Use Automatic Reminders

People are busy. Documents get buried in email. The most effective way to combat this is automatic reminders that nudge signers at regular intervals.

Recommended reminder schedule:

• 24 hours after sending — A gentle reminder that the document is waiting
• 3 days after sending — A follow-up with slightly more urgency
• 7 days after sending — A final reminder before escalation

DottiSign lets you configure automatic reminders when you send a document. You set the schedule once, and the system handles the follow-up. This alone can reduce turnaround time by 40-50%, because the most common reason for delays is simply that the signer forgot.

Strategy 4: Optimize for Mobile Signing

Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. If your signing experience isn't mobile-friendly, you're losing signers at the point of action. When someone opens a signing request on their phone but the interface is clunky, they think "I'll do this later on my laptop" — and later often means days or never.

Choose an e-signature platform with a responsive signing experience. DottiSign's signing interface is fully responsive, so signers can complete documents on any device without pinching, zooming, or struggling with tiny form fields.

Strategy 5: Reduce the Number of Fields

Every field you add to a document increases the likelihood that the signer will abandon it partway through. Audit your documents and ask: does this field actually need to be in this document?

• Remove fields that you can populate automatically (company name, date, document title)
• Pre-fill fields with known information when possible
• Combine related fields (full name instead of separate first/last name fields)
• Move non-essential information to a separate form that doesn't block the signing

Strategy 6: Set Clear Deadlines

Documents without deadlines get treated as low priority. Include an expiration date on every document you send for signature. Most e-signature platforms, including DottiSign, let you set an expiration date after which the signing link becomes inactive.

Recommended deadlines by document type:

Document Type	Suggested Deadline	Rationale
Sales contracts	3-5 days	Maintains momentum from the sales conversation
Vendor agreements	7 days	Allows time for internal review
Employee offer letters	3-5 days	Standard offer window; longer invites counter-offers
NDAs	2-3 days	Simple documents that shouldn't need extended review
Client onboarding	5 days	Balances urgency with professionalism

Strategy 7: Streamline Signing Order

Multi-signer documents often stall because of sequential signing requirements. If Person A must sign before Person B gets the document, and Person A is slow, the entire process is delayed.

Solutions:

• Use parallel signing when possible — If signers are filling out independent sections, let them sign simultaneously instead of sequentially.
• Put the fastest signers first — If you know one party signs quickly and another takes time, order them to minimize total wait time.
• Separate documents when practical — Instead of one document with 5 signers, consider whether you can split it into smaller documents that can be completed independently.

Strategy 8: Prepare Documents in Advance

Don't wait until you need a signature to prepare the document. Build a workflow where documents are ready to send the moment a deal is agreed upon:

1. During the negotiation, prepare the contract template with all terms discussed
2. As soon as verbal agreement is reached, send the document immediately — while the momentum is fresh
3. For recurring documents (quarterly renewals, annual agreements), prepare them a week before the due date

Measuring Your Improvement

Track these metrics to measure the impact of your optimization efforts:

• Average time-to-signature — From the moment the document is sent to when all parties have signed
• First-view-to-signature time — How long after opening the document does the signer complete it?
• Completion rate — What percentage of sent documents are actually completed?
• Reminder effectiveness — What percentage of documents are signed after the first vs. second vs. third reminder?

DottiSign provides analytics on these metrics, so you can see exactly where your bottlenecks are and whether your improvements are working.

Putting It All Together: The Optimized Workflow

1. Build your template library with pre-placed fields (one-time setup)
2. When it's time to send, select the template and assign signers (60 seconds)
3. Set an appropriate deadline and automatic reminders (30 seconds)
4. Send the document with a clear, action-oriented email message (30 seconds)
5. Let the reminders handle follow-up automatically
6. Receive notification when signing is complete
7. Download the signed document with full audit trail

Total active time: under 2 minutes. Compare that to the 30-60 minutes of printing, scanning, mailing, and manual follow-up in a paper-based process.