DocuSign UX Update: Product Suicide and a Digital Unicycle Clown

Posted on by Nick Selby 2 mins read
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A couple of weeks ago I logged in to Docusign for the same thing I always do: get a document signed by me and someone in another location. That’s the product’s entire purpose. Docusign had “updated” its user interface. Gone was the simple workflow: upload file, add recipients, mark signature fields, send. In its place: a murderously distracting AI widget that made Clippy look like an old friend. More like the dancing Fig Newton, the digital equivalent of a guy on a unicycle pointing at himself with both thumbs shouting, “Look at me! Look at me!”

The intent was to encourage me to use their fecal AI tool. We’re back to Clippy; In the same way I didn’t need help writing a letter, I don’t need help from a seething, electricity-hogging and hallucinating tool in signing one.

When I asked customer support why I couldn’t use the tool I paid for, they said: “The behavior you’re seeing is due to our recently introduced interface update, which has changed the way certain actions, including adding recipients, appear on the screen. I understand that this new experience is not working well for you, and I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience it has caused. If you prefer not to use the new interface, you can disable it by following the steps below.”

The steps failed.

Canceling my account, I tried to download the documents I’d saved over two years. Ha! The Docusign customer support bot offered two options to bulk download my envelopes: a paid Windows add-on or their REST API using HTTPS endpoints and OAuth authentication.

This user lock-in is exactly what Attorneys General across the US have been combating with media subscriptions. I wrote the API script and downloaded my files, but imagine someone less comfortable doing that—the only option is paying again for your own documents?

The shamefully stupid executives at Docusign implemented this merely to prove they’re an AI company (and incidentally hike prices). They’ve sent me to Google Workspace eSignatures. Sure, there are a couple of things I’ll miss, but when companies treat customers this way, there should be a price they pay.