Best of 2023: National Notary Day Edition

Our Founder and CEO Pat Kinsel always concludes celebratory remarks with one simple statement: "I believe that our best work is yet to come.”

Time and time again, he’s proven right. We continue to produce our best work together, alongside our partners and our customers – especially the notary community.

We can’t wait to share what’s in store for 2024 (and even sooner!), but we’d be remiss not to celebrate the progress we’ve made over the past year, both with and due to notaries across the country.

From helping us make legislative history to setting the gold standard for service excellence, here’s a look at our favorite highlights from 2023 in honor of National Notary Public Day:

California, here we come.

In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 696 — the CA RON bill — into law. Once implemented, notaries in the Golden State will be able to perform online notarizations, giving them the tools they need to participate and compete in the digital economy. Moreover, businesses and consumers can rest assured that even if you’re working across state lines, your document will be recognized in California as legal and valid.

It’s a legislative milestone that we spent the better part of the past eight years working towards, and one that wouldn’t have been made possible without the tenacity and steadfast support of the notary community. In the final month leading up to the California State Legislature’s SB 696 vote, hundreds of notaries sent letters to their representatives advocating on behalf of the bill, inevitably securing its passage.

Notaries were true champions in this Herculean effort for their willingness to make their voices heard, and encourage others within their networks to do the same. Their leadership is a driving force in our advocacy efforts at every level, from grassroots all the way to Capitol Hill.

A new era for the Notarize Network.

In June, we announced Proof — the world’s first identity-assured transaction management platform. Proof is the only signature platform to receive the Kantara Trust Mark for Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) certification. This means Proof has been vetted to meet the rigorous digital identity verification requirements set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Despite an increasingly digital world, humans — especially notaries — will always be the center of trust. That’s because of the imperfections that will always persist within automated machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The notaries on our platform who power the Notarize Network are mission-critical as trusted agents of the internet.

Our customers have come to know and trust the Notarize Network with their most important transactions. We’re excited about the opportunities notaries have to expand their roles and verify identities as trusted referees. With true on-demand functionality, the Notarize Network is made available to customers 24/7.

The future of decentralized trust relies on the scale and sophistication of the Notarize Network, which is not only the direct byproduct of what you have helped us build, but a colossal opportunity for notaries to be on the forefront of digital transformation in identity verification, too.

Notary feedback drives product feature innovation.

When you ask, we listen. Our Product Team regularly takes notary feedback and incorporates it into the platform so that you can have the best experience possible. 

We’re “big thinkers” and builders at Proof, but we also see the value of smaller scale feature updates more consistently over time, too. Last month, we were able to do a little bit of both with the launch of two new key features:

Notary Backgrounds:

What they are: A selection of branded background images notaries can choose from for their calls on the Proof platform. Notaries can also blur their background.

Why they matter: We’re living in a remote-first world, which means the notaries who use our platform can serve customers from home, the office, their place of business, or their favorite coffee shop on the corner. Notary Backgrounds allow notaries to provide a more professional and on-brand customer experience while also allowing for greater privacy.

New Fraud Prevention Tools:

• Potentially Fraud Meeting Termination: A selection within the Meeting Termination Reason drop-down menu which allows notaries to flag transactions or behaviors which they suspect to be fraudulent or high-risk.
• Identity Alerts: Notifications sent to the notaries during the notary meeting if there’s a likelihood that the ID provided is an electronic replica.
• Request for Biometric Identity Verification: A capability that allows notaries to prompt signers for enhanced biometric identity verification. 
• Exclusive Content for Fraud Prevention Education: A series of trainings now available to notaries on how to mitigate, detect fraud, and act on suspected fraud.

Why they matter: These steps are the first of many that we’re taking towards empowering notaries as trusted agents and equipping them with the tools they need to combat forgery and stop fraud in its tracks.

Connecting as a community.

If there’s one thing to know about our team, it’s that we care deeply about the notary community. So much so, that we take every opportunity to connect in-person, even if just for a few days. Here’s where we landed this year:

📍 Scottsdale, AZ: In May, we attended the National Notary Association (NNA)’s annual conference for the sixth consecutive year. It’s an organization and event that we have a long-standing relationship and appreciation for, but this year proved special in that we hosted a panel with notaries exclusively from the Proof platform, who spoke directly to their success as independent notary business owners while sharing their top-learnings as industry pioneers. Thank you to Aretha Hughes, Dushunna Scott, Jenn Willour, and Kyle Beam for your participation and partnership.

📍 San Diego, CA: In July, brought a powerhouse team representing our Notary Operations, Product, and Marketing teams to the 5th annual Loan Signing System Conference as the lead sponsor. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: With our valued industry partner and pioneer Mark Wills at the helm, this community has an energy and entrepreneurial spirit like no other, and we feel incredibly fortunate to get to experience it alongside the notaries within our own platform’s community, too.

Data that demonstrates impact.

The customer service excellence provided by Notarize Network is unrivaled, and we’ve got the numbers to prove it.

Our customer satisfaction (CSAT) score is how we evaluate the customer experience we provide on our platform. While it’s expressed as a percentage and translated to a 5-star scale, it also factors in the verbatim feedback of our customers. 

Spoiler alert: Our score continues to soar year-over-year as a direct result of our Notarize Network of notaries. Here’s what we mean:

CSAT Score for 2023: 98% / 4.9 Stars

Our near-perfect score isn’t just spectacular, it’s also 30% higher than the universal CSAT average of 75%. But, it’s the customer verbatims that tell the true story of what the number means. Here are a few of our favorites:

“Edward was excellent! We were able to finish the entire process in less than 6-minutes! I wish I could use him for everything I need notarized.” - Retail Signer

“Monique was so wonderful! If I lived in the same area, I’d be delivering cookies! I could not have dreamed up a better interaction if you paid me to.” - Retail Signer

“I use Notarize quite frequently and Dalarrian has been the BEST so far. Efficient with great instructions. AND he did it all with a smile. Thank you Dalarrian!” - Service Link Signer

“Lola was very kind and helpful, the process was smooth and she double checked everything to ensure the documents were correct! Thank you Lola for your awesomeness.” - Title One Signer

“Brock was exceptional and professional. He helped me troubleshoot my webcam because of poor image quality. I really appreciate Brock’s help.” - iPostal Signer

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With that, we know that our best work is yet to come — thanks to you.