Setting Signature Rules for Estimates

Availability: all plans

A signature rule decides what a customer must do to accept an estimate online, based on what the estimate is worth. The rule says that at or above an amount, the customer must sign. You can add as many rules as your business needs, and when an estimate matches more than one, the highest applies. How much proof to ask for is your decision; ServiceVisit does not make a legal finding on your behalf.

Before you start

You need permission to manage estimates to open the page and change rules.
Starting with no rules is a normal way to run. With no rules, customers can accept any estimate with a single click. The page says this directly, and it is not an unfinished setup.
Rules apply to online acceptance by the customer. Signing in person always needs a signature, and a verbal authorization records none, whatever your rules say.

Steps

Open Settings, then the Signature Rules tab.
Read How your customers accept estimates. Your current rules are listed under Your rules, with the columns Estimate total and Customer must.
To start from a suggestion, select Use the recommended rule. It appears only while you have no rules, and adds a rule requiring a signature at 500 dollars or more. It is offered, never applied for you.
To write your own, go to Add a rule.
In Estimate total of at least, enter the amount.
In Customer must, choose Sign to accept or Click to accept.
Select Add rule. A confirmation says that estimates of that amount or more need a signature.
To delete a rule, select Remove on its row.

What customers see

When an estimate reaches a rule that requires a signature, the customer's estimate page tells them that the estimate totals a given amount, so their signature is required to approve it, and the Quick Approve button is not offered. They use Sign to Approve instead. When no rule reaches the estimate, they see both options and a statement that they can accept without signing, though signing is the clearest record.

The statement the customer is shown is saved with the acceptance, along with its version, so you can later see exactly what they were told.

Tips

Rules are matched on the estimate total. If you set one rule at an amount and another higher, the higher rule governs larger estimates.
A signed acceptance shows the customer's signature image in the authorization record.
Changing or removing a rule does not alter estimates that were already accepted. Their record keeps the statement the customer saw at the time.

If something goes wrong

If you cannot open the page, you do not have permission to manage estimates.
If the message says your rules could not be loaded, refresh the page. This is different from having no rules, and the page does not show the empty-state wording in that case.

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