The compliant electronic signature for your brokerage, at a fixed price

In brief

• For an insurance broker, the eIDAS-compliant electronic signature is legally sufficient for the mandate, the advice sheet and the membership form, and it also produces the time-stamped evidence file that regulation requires you to keep.
• A typical subscription involves 3 to 5 documents to sign: brokerage mandate, information and advice sheet, membership form, sometimes a SEPA mandate and cancellation of the previous contract.
• In a paper or email-PDF circuit, the signature time is measured in days; online, most clients sign within the day.
• SaaS tools cost 20 to 60 € per month per user, more with the API; a custom integration connected to your CRM is €880 with me, once, no per-seat subscription.
• Honest limit: the tool documents your duty of advice, it doesn't replace it. Advice stays human, and it's you who provides it.

The problem, concretely

A brokerage subscription is never "a contract to sign". It's a pile: the brokerage mandate (or engagement letter), the information and advice sheet that formalizes your duty of advice, the membership form or special conditions, often a SEPA mandate, sometimes a cancellation letter to the previous insurer. Three to five documents, each with its mandatory clauses, its fields to fill with the same client information, and its signature to obtain.

In the artisanal version, it looks like this: copy-paste the client's details into each Word template, export to PDF, send by email, the client prints, signs, scans (or not), sends back one page out of three, you follow up, a signature is missing, you send again. Between the oral "yes, I'll sign" and the complete file, several days frequently go by, sometimes two weeks. And every day that passes is a client who may change their mind, compare elsewhere, or simply forget.

The second problem is less visible but more dangerous: compliance. The Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) requires you to formalize the client's demands and needs and to be able to prove the advice given. If a dispute arises three years later and your advice sheet is a PDF signed with a pen, scanned crookedly, filed "somewhere" in a mailbox, your evidence file is fragile. The ACPR supervises distribution, and it's up to the broker to demonstrate the work was done.

Before / after: the subscription circuit

Here are the two versions of the same file, step by step.

Before (manual): 1. re-entering the client information into 3 to 5 Word templates; 2. proofreading to check the mandatory clauses; 3. PDF export and email sending; 4. waiting, the client prints and signs when they remember; 5. manual follow-up after a few days; 6. receiving sometimes incomplete scans; 7. filing by hand in the client file. Count 15 to 25 minutes of handling per file, not counting follow-ups, and a signature time entirely dependent on the client's goodwill.

After (automated): 1. the documents are generated from the client record in your CRM, in seconds, mandatory clauses included since they live in the template; 2. the client receives a signature link, signs on their phone in two minutes, all documents at once; 3. if they haven't signed, a follow-up goes out automatically at D+2 then D+5; 4. at signature, the time-stamped evidence file (identity, date, document integrity) is archived, the signed PDF is filed in the client record, and the status switches to "signed" in your CRM. Your intervention: zero, except if the client calls to ask a question. Which is exactly when you're useful.

This is the principle of the electronic signature module I deliver: not another software with a per-seat subscription, but a circuit connected to your existing tools.

Mini-case: the Verlat Courtage firm

Fictional but realistic case. Verlat Courtage, three people: two brokers and an assistant, about 40 subscriptions a month in health, provident and commercial property insurance.

Before: the assistant spends on average 20 minutes per file preparing the documents, plus the follow-ups. On 40 files, that's about 13 hours a month of pure office work. The average time between the client's agreement and the complete signed file: 6 days. And each month, two or three files "evaporate" along the way: the client dragged their feet, then changed their mind.

After: automatic generation from the CRM, sending for signature right after the appointment. Preparation drops to 3 minutes per file (visual check before sending), i.e. 2 hours a month instead of 13. Most clients sign the same day, while the decision is still warm. Follow-ups go out on their own. If just one additional file closes each month thanks to the shortened delay, at 300 or 400 € average commission, the circuit pays for itself in a few months on that line alone, before even counting the 11 hours given back to the assistant.

Which eIDAS signature level for which document?

The European eIDAS regulation defines three levels, and this is where many brokers overspend. The practical rule:

• Simple signature: sufficient in practice for the brokerage mandate, the information and advice sheet, the membership form and the SEPA mandate. These are common documents with low dispute rates, and the evidence file (verified email, SMS code, time-stamping, document fingerprint) is more than enough to establish who signed what and when.
• Advanced signature: to consider for high-stakes financial contracts (heavy provident, significant capital) or when your partner insurer requires it. It cryptographically binds the signatory to the document with reinforced identity verification.
• Qualified signature: the legal equivalent of the handwritten signature, with a reversal of the burden of proof. It's rarely needed for common insurance distribution, and its per-signature cost (identity verification each time) reserves it for documents where a text requires it.

I detailed these levels in eIDAS signatures explained simply. The right reflex: match the level to the document type, don't over-secure everything "just in case". And if in doubt on a specific product, a question to your legal counsel costs less than qualified signatures on all your forms.

Compliance as a benefit, not a constraint

This is the point I find most underestimated. The IDD asks you to document the advice: gathering demands and needs, providing pre-contractual information, justifying the recommendation. A well-built electronic signature circuit turns this constraint into an automatic by-product: each advice sheet is generated with the data actually gathered, signed by the client, time-stamped, archived with its evidence file. The day the ACPR or a dissatisfied client asks "prove the advice given on 12 March", you pull out the file in two clicks instead of digging through mailboxes.

On BeForBuild.com, my B2B SaaS, I integrated exactly this kind of circuit: document generation from business data, online signature, archived proof. I built it alone, it runs in production, and it's this proven building block I adapt to a brokerage's context rather than starting from scratch. On the choice of the signature building block itself, I compared the options in Yousign vs Documenso.

The honest limit, now: no tool does the advising for you. The machine guarantees the sheet is complete, signed and archived; it doesn't guarantee the recommendation is relevant. The duty of advice remains a human act, committed, and it's precisely the time the circuit gives you back that should go back into it.

How much it costs (and what it brings back)

Market side: SaaS signature platforms (Yousign, DocuSign and the like) bill roughly 20 to 60 € per month per user for standard plans, more as soon as you need the API, advanced templates or automatic follow-ups. Over three or four years, a three-person firm leaves several thousand euros there, and automatic document generation from the CRM often remains to be done on the side. A custom integration by an agency commonly ranges from 8,000 to 20,000 €.

My offer is in between: an already-built building block, which I adapt to your document templates and your CRM. The signature module (sending, eIDAS levels, follow-ups, evidence file, archiving): €880. Automatic document generation from your data (mandates, advice sheets, forms, no re-entry): €440. Fixed prices, announced before we start, no per-seat subscription.

The return calculation is simple and I invite you to do it with your numbers: (office hours saved × hourly cost) + (files saved by the shortened delay × average commission), compared to a one-time cost. In the Verlat case above, the order of magnitude is payback in under a year, often much less.

Where to start

1. The free 30-minute audit. We look together at your current circuit: which documents, which CRM, how many files a month, where it rubs. You leave with an honest opinion, including "a simple Yousign subscription is enough for you" if that's the case.

2. A pilot scope. We first automate your most frequent subscription, from the client record to the signed and archived file. One file type, measurable results in a few weeks.

3. The extension. Once the pilot is validated, we extend to the other products, riders, renewals, and possibly neighboring automations: due-date follow-ups, file completeness, document tracking.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS) · EUR-Lex
• Directive (EU) 2016/97 on insurance distribution (IDD) · EUR-Lex
• ORIAS · register of insurance intermediaries