Set Up E-Signature Reminders and Expiry in Dochly
Why reminders matter
Without automatic reminders, unsigned documents require constant manual monitoring — someone on your team has to check signature status and individually chase each outstanding signer. For high-volume workflows, this manual overhead adds up quickly.
Documents with configured reminders complete signing significantly faster and at higher rates than those without. The first reminder — typically sent 2–3 days after the initial request — recovers the highest percentage of stalled signatures. Each subsequent reminder has diminishing returns but still contributes to overall completion.
Research across e-signature platforms consistently shows the highest response rates for reminders sent at day 2–3 (enough time to sign initially, reminder arrives before they forget) and again at day 7 (midpoint follow-up). A final reminder 2–3 days before expiry creates urgency without being aggressive.
Reminder settings
Configure automatic reminder schedules in Dochly → Settings → E-Signature → Reminders. These settings apply org-wide to all signature requests unless overridden per request or per template.
Settings → E-Signature → Reminders
RecommendedMaster toggle for automatic reminder emails. When enabled, Dochly sends reminders at the configured intervals for every pending signature request.
Recommended: Always enableHow many days after the initial request to send the first reminder. Sent only if the request is still unsigned at that point — no reminder is sent if the signer has already signed.
Recommended: 3 daysOptional second reminder. Sent only if still unsigned. Typically set at the midpoint of the signing window — creates a second touchpoint without being excessive.
Recommended: 7 days (for a 14-day expiry window)A "last chance" reminder sent a set number of days before the signing link expires. Highly effective — creates urgency and captures signers who planned to sign but kept postponing.
Recommended: 2–3 days before expiryMaximum number of reminders sent per request. Prevents over-emailing a signer who is genuinely unavailable. Setting a limit also avoids your emails being marked as spam by the signer's email server.
Recommended: 3 reminders maximum per requestVisualising a reminder schedule
Here is how a recommended 14-day reminder schedule looks across the full signing window for a single request:
sent
reminder
reminder
reminder
expires
Signer receives the signature request email with the signing link. The 14-day countdown begins.
Sent only if the request is still unsigned. Subject: "Reminder: your agreement is ready to sign." Recovers the highest percentage of stalled requests — most signers who open this email sign within the day.
Midpoint follow-up for signers who missed the first reminder. Subject: "Your agreement is still awaiting your signature." Shorter, more direct than the first reminder.
Urgency reminder. Subject: "Your signing link expires in 3 days." Explicitly mentions the expiry deadline — creates urgency without being aggressive. Most effective reminder for procrastinating signers.
Signing link deactivated. Status updates to "Expired" on the Salesforce record. Sender is notified. New request must be sent if signing is still needed.
Customising reminder email content
Each reminder can have a distinct subject line and email body — configured in Settings → E-Signature → Email Templates → Reminder Emails. Varying the tone across reminders (first: friendly, second: direct, final: urgent) improves response rates compared to sending identical emails three times.
Subject: "Reminder: your [Document Name] is ready to sign"
Body: Hi {{Contact.FirstName}}, just a friendly reminder that your agreement is waiting for your signature. It only takes a moment — click below to review and sign. If you have any questions, please reply to this email.
Subject: "Action needed: your agreement is still unsigned"
Body: Hi {{Contact.FirstName}}, we noticed you haven't had a chance to sign your {{Template Name}} yet. Click below to complete your signature. If anything is unclear, we're happy to help.
Subject: "Your signing link expires in 3 days"
Body: Hi {{Contact.FirstName}}, your signing link for {{Template Name}} will expire on {{Expiry Date}}. Please sign before then to avoid needing to restart the process. Click below to sign now.
Reminder emails support merge fields — use {{Contact.FirstName}} for personalisation, {{Template Name}} for document context, and {{Expiry Date}} in the final reminder to communicate the deadline concretely. Personalised reminder emails have significantly higher open and action rates than generic ones.
Expiry settings
The signing expiry is how long the signer's link remains active. After expiry, the link stops working and the request status changes to Expired. A new request must be sent to restart the signing process.
Settings → E-Signature → Expiry
RequiredThe number of days the signing link remains active from the date of sending. Applies to all signature requests unless overridden per template or per request.
Recommended: 14 days for most workflowsSend an email notification to the record owner when a request expires without being signed. Allows the sender to immediately follow up and send a new request without discovering it later.
Recommended: Always enableOptionally update the E-Signature Status field on the record to "Expired" automatically. Useful for Salesforce reports and dashboards that track outstanding signing requests — expired requests are clearly distinguished from active "Sent" requests.
Recommended: Enable — keeps pipeline reports accurateChoosing the right expiry period
The right expiry period depends on the document type, urgency, and your sales cycle. Here are recommended expiry periods for common document workflows:
Short expiry — high urgency
Proposals with expiring pricing, time-sensitive quotes, end-of-quarter deals, or documents where delay signals disinterest. Creates urgency but gives enough time for signer review. Use with 3-day and 5-day reminders.
Standard expiry — most contracts
Standard commercial contracts, NDAs, service agreements. Two weeks gives signers ample time while maintaining reasonable urgency. Recommended default for most organisations. Use with 3-day, 7-day, and 11-day reminders.
Extended expiry — complex agreements
Large enterprise contracts requiring legal review, agreements with multiple internal approvers, or documents sent to organisations with long procurement cycles. Use with weekly reminders (days 7, 14, 21, and 28).
Long expiry — compliance and HR
Annual compliance acknowledgements, HR policy documents, and regulatory filings where the recipient has a long window to respond. Use with monthly reminders and a final reminder 7 days before expiry.
The expiry period and reminder schedule work together — always configure reminders relative to the expiry period. For a 7-day window, reminders at day 3 and day 5. For a 30-day window, reminders at day 7, day 14, and day 27. The final reminder should always be 2–3 days before expiry regardless of the total window length.
What happens when a request expires
Signing link deactivated
At the expiry date and time, the signer's link immediately stops working. If the signer clicks their original email link after expiry, they see an "This link has expired" message — they cannot sign using the original request.
Status updates to "Expired"
The E-Signature Status field on the Salesforce record updates to "Expired". The Dochly signature tracking panel on the record shows the expiry date and time. The request is removed from the "Active" count in the E-Signature dashboard.
Sender notified (if enabled)
The record owner receives an email notification: "[Contact Name] has not signed [Document Name] — the signing link expired on [Date]. Click here to send a new request." This prompts immediate follow-up action.
New request required to restart signing
To get the document signed, the sender must send a new signature request from the Dochly tracking panel. The new request can use the same generated document or a newly generated one. The expired request and its partial audit trail remain on the record as a permanent historical record.
Per-request overrides
The org-level reminder schedule and expiry period are defaults — you can override them for any individual signature request when sending. This is useful when a specific deal has different timing requirements than your org default.
In the Send for Signature modal, the Expiry and Reminders sections show the org defaults. Click Override to set different values for this specific request — e.g. 7 days instead of 14, or add a reminder on day 5 for a time-sensitive deal. Overrides apply only to that request — the org default is unchanged.
Set reminder and expiry defaults at the template level — applies to all requests generated from that specific template. E.g. the NDA template always uses 7-day expiry; the annual contract template always uses 30-day expiry. Template defaults override org defaults but can still be overridden per request.
Escalation after expiry
When a signature request expires, the most effective escalation approach is a Salesforce Flow triggered by the E-Signature Status field changing to "Expired". This automates the follow-up process without requiring the sender to manually check and act.
Build a record-triggered Flow: When E_Signature_Status__c changes to "Expired" → create a Task on the record assigned to the owner with Subject = "Follow up — contract not signed — resend needed" and Due Date = TODAY + 1. This ensures every expired request surfaces as a task for the rep within 24 hours.
Build a Salesforce report: Opportunities where E_Signature_Status__c = "Expired" AND Signed Date is blank. Add to the sales manager dashboard as "Contracts needing re-send." Review weekly — a high expired rate indicates the signing window is too short or reminders aren't resonating.
Frequently asked questions
Automatic reminders and well-configured expiry periods maximise signing completion rates with zero manual effort. Final guide in this series: E-Signature Troubleshooting — Common Errors and Fixes in Dochly — diagnose and fix every common e-signature issue.
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