Multichannel eSignature notifications: what IAM teams need to know

TL;DR: Email-only agreement workflows create delay, missed signatures, and compliance exposure, while SMS and multichannel notifications improve completion rates and speed in customer-facing processes, according to OneSpan and cited market research. The identity lesson is that digital agreement flows now depend on channel reach, consent handling, and controlled delivery as much as on the signature step itself.

NHIMG editorial — based on content published by OneSpan: Comment les notifications multicanal redéfinissent le retournement des accords Signature électronique Ralitsa Miteva, septembre 4, 2025

By the numbers:

• 84 % des consommateurs ont choisi de recevoir des SMS de la part des entreprises en 2025.
• Les SMS ont un taux d'ouverture de 98 %, dont 90 % sont lus dans les trois minutes.
• 72 % des sociétés financières ont intégré les SMS dans leurs stratégies de communication.

Questions worth separating out

Q: How should organisations use SMS in eSignature workflows without creating compliance risk?

A: Use SMS only where the organisation can prove consent, maintain opt-out handling, and preserve an auditable record of when and why the message was sent.

Q: Why do email-only agreement flows cause more business friction than teams expect?

A: Email-only flows depend on inbox behaviour, spam filtering, and user attention, all of which are outside the organisation’s direct control.

Q: What breaks when consent tracking is missing from multichannel signing journeys?

A: The organisation can no longer show that SMS reminders were lawful, properly targeted, or revocable.

Practitioner guidance

• Map critical agreement journeys by completion risk Identify which contracts, disclosures, and approvals fail most often in email-only flows, then classify them by business impact, signer type, and jurisdiction.
• Separate consent evidence from message delivery Store opt-in, opt-out, and channel preference records alongside the workflow record so compliance teams can prove lawful communication after the fact.
• Define SMS usage rules for regulated workflows Limit SMS to workflow events that benefit from short, time-sensitive prompts, and document when the channel must fall back to email.

What's in the full article

OneSpan's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:

• Specific examples of SMS reminder messages used across signature workflows
• The compliance framing for TCPA, CASL, and CTIA in multichannel notifications
• The white-label presentation model and how it affects user-facing agreement journeys
• The business-case framing for reducing abandonment in customer-facing agreement flows

👉 Read OneSpan's analysis of multichannel notifications for eSignature workflows →

Multichannel eSignature notifications: what IAM teams need to know?

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