✎Contracts in practice

In four steps, and the third is the one you should not skip:

1. Create a new sending — search for the recipient in the address book.
2. Choose the documents and fill in the details. Several documents can be bundled in one sending.
3. Look at the preview — exactly as the recipient sees it.
4. Send.

What you notice in step 3 and nowhere else: a placeholder that was not replaced, a wrong amount, a paragraph that does not fit this case, an address from an old address line.

Allow half an hour for the first sending. By the third it will be five minutes — because the templates are in place by then.

Three or four are enough to start with, and nobody manages to maintain more at the beginning anyway:

• A quote or an order confirmation for signature. That is the document you will need most often.
• A contract for your service — a framework agreement for recurring work, a contract for work or services for one-off assignments.
• A non-disclosure agreement, if you see internal information before the assignment.
• A data processing agreement (AVV), if you process personal data of your customer — that is almost always the case with website and marketing work.

The quickest way there: take the appropriate sample, choose “Adopt as your own template” and replace the paragraphs that do not suit you. Then have it reviewed legally once — that is a one-off cost and then applies to all sendings.

If you already have a contract checked by your solicitor, upload it as a PDF instead of typing it out.

So that you do not write the same paragraph afresh in every template — and so that it reads the same everywhere.

What is worth turning into a text block:

• Service descriptions that recur.
• Payment and termination terms.
• Notices that belong in every document.
• Data protection paragraphs.

What is not suitable as a text block: anything that differs from case to case — amounts, deadlines, names. That is what placeholders and your own fields are for.

The real value shows when you make changes: if a clause changes, you change one text block instead of twenty templates. And the twentieth one you would otherwise have overlooked no longer exists.

Name text blocks after their content, not after the occasion. “Payment terms 30 days” rather than “for Meier”.

Almost always one of two things:

• A required field is empty. Aurora Hive Sales names it and blocks sending for signature. That is a brake, not an error message — a contract with a gap is worse than one that is not finished yet.
• The document lacks a signature field for the recipient. That happens with uploaded files where the fields have not been placed yet.

What to do: add the detail, place the field — or take the document out of the sending if it is not needed in this case.

What you should not do: fill the detail with a dummy value and hope nobody looks. In case of doubt, an unclear or incomplete clause is interpreted to the disadvantage of the party that drafted it.

Go through the whole preview once before sending. It is usually two or three places.

Because there you see what the recipient sees — and that is different from the editing window.

What stands out in the preview:

• Placeholders that were not replaced because they are misspelt.
• Paragraphs that do not fit together because two text blocks say the same thing.
• Wrong amounts — a wrong figure stands out more in context than in the field.
• The order of the documents, if it is not right.
• For uploaded files: whether the signature fields are in the right place and whether a Word conversion has kept the layout.
• How long it has become.

What you should also do before a template goes out for the first time: send a sending to yourself and play through the whole route, up to the countersignature.

That takes ten minutes and finds the mistakes a customer would otherwise find.

On yourself, completely — not just the preview.

The run-through:

1. Send to an address of your own that you do not otherwise use.
2. Read the email as a recipient receives it — on a mobile phone too.
3. Open the link and go through all the documents, to the end.
4. Sign, once drawn and once typed.
5. Countersign and check whether the finished files reach both sides and what the log looks like.

What you are very likely to find: a paragraph that looks different in the finished document than intended, or a step that is awkward on a mobile phone.

Do this before the first real sending — and again whenever a template has changed.

If the header shows a notice about the sending brake, no email goes out; you then only see the procedure in the interface. If no brake is active, emails really do go out — from test and acceptance environments too.

Via a link: open the documents, go through them, draw or type a signature, confirm. The result is PDF files with the signature and a log.

What the recipient needs for this: a browser. No account, no sign-in, no software.

What you should tell them:

• How long the link is valid.
• That they will receive the finished files after the countersignature.
• Whom to contact with questions.

What to bear in mind on a mobile phone: a signature drawn with a finger is rarely pretty — that is legally irrelevant, but occasionally leads to questions. A note (“the signature does not have to look perfect”) removes the uncertainty. Anyone who prefers can type their name instead.

And keep the log. It is what has evidential value, not the image of the signature.

For most business agreements: yes. It is a simple electronic signature, and that is permitted in principle wherever no particular form is prescribed.

It is not sufficient where the law requires written form (Schriftform) — then you need paper with a handwritten signature or a qualified electronic signature. Examples:

• Termination of an employment relationship.
• A guarantee given by a private individual.
• Some consumer transactions and long-term tenancies.

What gives it evidential value: the log — when, from which address, with which document. A simple signature is not the same as a qualified one, but in a dispute it is an indication.

In case of doubt and for anything of significant value: have it checked legally which form is required. That applies particularly to the samples supplied — they are expressly non-binding.

Yes — with “Create & check”. That is the normal case and the route you should take.

What this makes possible:

• Finishing it at your own pace, over several days.
• Having it proofread before anything goes out.
• Adding details that are still missing.
• Adjusting paragraphs, just for this sending.

There is also “Send a draft first” — the document goes out for viewing, but without a signing link. That is the gentle way into a negotiation: you show your terms without already asking for a signature.

What you should bear in mind:

• A draft is not an offer. It has no binding effect as long as nothing has been signed — say so in the accompanying email if it matters.
• Tidy up drafts. A stock of thirty half-finished sendings makes it unclear which ones are actually running.

And the practical tip: if you work on it over several days, check everything again before sending — not just what you changed last.

Through the statuses and the four tiles at the top: Total, Sent, Pending, Completed.

The usual statuses:

• Draft — not out yet.
• Sent — with the recipient, not opened yet.
• Opened — the link has been clicked.
• Signed – countersignature pending — now it is your turn.
• Completed or Cancelled.

What you should do regularly: go through the sent ones — and above all those waiting for your countersignature. A document that has only been signed by one side for three weeks is not a finished contract.

When sending, set a Follow-up for one week later straight away. That is the difference between a contract that is followed up and one that is forgotten.

Call — do not send yet another email.

The reason: an unsigned contract almost always has a cause that you only find out in conversation. The most common:

• A question about a clause that nobody wanted to ask.
• A decision lies with someone else who has not been asked yet.
• Something has changed — budget, schedule, responsibility.
• The link was not found or ended up in spam.

The last of these is more common than you might think, and it is cleared up in a minute: if the case shows “Sent” and not “Opened”, nobody has clicked the link.

What you should do on the call: not push, but ask whether anything is unclear. And afterwards: note what you have found out. If the same clause raises questions three times, it needs rewording.

If the matter is definitely off the table, cancel the sending. Then the link is closed, and the list shows again what is really running.

With one review a year — and with a rule for in between.

Once a year:

• Are the company name, address, representation and register details correct?
• Are prices, deadlines and payment terms correct?
• Have laws changed that affect your clauses?
• Are there text blocks or templates nobody uses any more?

In between: if a clause has caused queries three times, reword it. That is the most reliable signal that it is unclear.

That leaves the point most often overlooked: a changed legal form or address. It appears in every template, and a contract with outdated details is anything from annoying to open to challenge. If you use placeholders for this instead of typed-out details, it takes care of itself.

And the reassurance for in between: a changed template does not change a contract that has already been sent. Every sending keeps a snapshot of its template.

For contracts with consumers, a review by a solicitor every few years is worthwhile.

According to the retention periods under German commercial and tax law — usually six to ten years, counted from the end of the year in which the contract ended.

What this means in practice:

• Back up signed documents separately, rather than only leaving them in the system. A generated document is rebuilt at the touch of a button — the signed one is a piece of evidence. You receive it by email after the countersignature anyway; file it where you also file your accounts.
• Keep the log too. Without it, the electronic signature is harder to prove.
• Delete after expiry, if there is no other reason to keep it.

And the distinction that matters here: the contract is subject to retention obligations; the contact details and notes relating to it are not necessarily. Having to keep the contract does not mean having to keep the entire history.

One sending leads to one signing link for one recipient. If several people on the other side have to sign, create a separate sending with the same documents for each of them — one after the other, with a clear agreement on who goes first.

What you should clarify beforehand:

• Who is actually authorised to represent the company? For a GmbH, the managing directors; for a registered association, the board according to its statutes. A signature from someone without power of representation is not binding.
• Joint representation? If two people have to sign together, you need both.
• Order, if internal approval is required.

What you should do before sending: look it up in the commercial register (Handelsregister) to see who is authorised to represent. It is public and takes two minutes.

On your side it is simpler: countersigning can be passed on as a link to the authorised signatory in your company — they do not need an account of their own for it.

And note to whom you sent it and who signed when. In a dispute about validity, that is the decisive detail.