Learn the 9 biggest benefits of switching from paper contracts to digital contracts at your marina. Plus, discover the industry’s best digital contract and boater management tool.
September 29, 2023
Team Dockwa
Tired of the time consuming routine of manually creating and sending contracts to your boaters? You’re not alone. But there's good news: with the right digital tools, you can streamline the entire contract process, saving yourself hours of tedious work. In this post, we'll explore the key benefits of digital marina contracts and show you why making the switch saves you precious time and money.
Digital marina contracts are agreements between marina operators and boat owners (or renters) that outline the terms and conditions of using the marina’s facilities and services that are sent and signed digitally instead of physically with pen and paper. These contracts can cover a wide range of services and agreements, including:
Dockage Agreements: Contracts for renting a slip or mooring in the marina where a boat can be moored.
Winter Storage Contracts: Agreements for storing a boat on land or in the water during the off-season.
Maintenance Contracts: Contracts for regular maintenance services, such as cleaning, repairs, and inspections.
Transient Dockage Contracts: Short-term agreements for boaters who are staying at the marina temporarily, often while traveling.
Service Agreements: Contracts for specific services provided by the marina, such as fuel, electricity, or water.
These contracts typically include details such as the duration of the agreement, payment terms, rules and regulations of the marina, and liability clauses. They are essential for ensuring clear communication and understanding between the marina and the boaters, helping to prevent disputes and manage expectations.
The problems with paper contracts
You’ve been printing and mailing contracts for years — why change your process now?
For Marina Operators:
Time-Consuming Process
Manual Preparation: Creating, printing, and organizing each contract takes significant time, especially during busy seasons.
Chasing Payments: Tracking down payment, often monthly, is time consuming, decreases cash on hand, and increases accounts receivable. A lose - lose for both accountants and marina operators.
Phone-tag with boaters: You’ll spend hours on the phone calling boaters to confirm that their vessel and personal information is up to date before sending their contract.
Mailing Delays: Mailing contracts can introduce delays, particularly if boaters are not local or are traveling, leading to longer wait times for signed agreements and paid invoices.
Administrative Burden
Tracking and Management: Keeping track of which contracts have been sent, signed, and returned requires meticulous record-keeping, often leading to inefficiencies.
Storage and Retrieval: Physical contracts need to be stored securely, and retrieving specific documents can be cumbersome and lead to misplaced and unsecure documents, especially if they are not well-organized
Increased Risk of Errors
Human Error: Manually entering data into contracts can lead to mistakes, which might require additional time to correct and could lead to disputes.
Lost or Misplaced Documents: Physical contracts are vulnerable to being lost or misplaced, creating potential legal and operational headaches.
Higher Costs
Printing and Mailing Expenses: The costs of printing, postage, and handling physical documents add up, especially for large marinas with many contracts.
Environmental Impact: The reliance on paper and mail contributes to higher operational costs and an increased environmental footprint.
For Boaters:
Inconvenience
Signing and Returning: Boaters need to print, sign, and return contracts, which can be a hassle and time consuming.
Delayed Communication: Mailing contracts back to the marina can cause delays in securing a slip, mooring, or storage, which might be critical during peak seasons.
Lack of Transparency
Limited Access: Once mailed, boaters may not have a copy of the contract readily available, making it difficult to reference terms or conditions.
Tracking Issues: Without digital tools, boaters may not have an easy way to track the status of their contract, leading to uncertainty and potential misunderstandings.
Security Concerns
Loss or Theft: Physical documents can be lost or stolen in the mail, raising concerns about the security of personal and financial information.
Limited Flexibility
No Digital Interaction: Paper contracts don’t allow for easy modifications or updates. If changes are needed, the process requires additional time and effort for both parties.
Switching to digital contracts can help alleviate these issues by streamlining the process, reducing costs, and providing greater convenience and security for both marina operators and boaters.
Assisting reluctant customers
Transitioning to digital contracts can be a challenge for some boaters who are used to the old paper-based system. However, marinas can ease this transition by emphasizing the benefits of digital contracts and offering support along the way.
9 benefits of digital marina contracts
1. Time Savings
Automated Processes: Digital contracts eliminate the need for manual preparation, printing, and mailing, reducing the time spent on administrative tasks.
Instant Delivery: Contracts can be sent, signed, and paid for electronically in minutes, speeding up the entire process. By sending your contracts digitally, you’re more likely to get them back faster. When a boater receives their digital contract, they can quickly review and sign it from any device, no matter where they are.
Send Contracts from Anywhere: A digital contract process only requires an internet connection, so you can work from your phone, tablet, or laptop from anywhere — whether that’s your dock office or the comfort of home.
2. Improved Accuracy
Error Reduction: Digital forms with pre-filled information minimize the risk of human error during data entry.
Real-Time Updates: Any changes or corrections can be made instantly, ensuring that all parties have the most up-to-date information.
Customized for Your Marina: When you go digital, you have more power to control billing schedules and set custom rates for storage, seasonal, and long-term dockage customers. Best of all, updating these settings is quick and easy — it just requires a few clicks within your software.
3. Enhanced Convenience for Boaters
Accessibility: Boaters can access and sign contracts from anywhere, using their smartphones, tablets, or computers. Trust us, boaters will thank you for sparing them from driving to your office or sticking a paper contract in the mail.
Document Management: All documents, including contracts, insurance, and registration papers, are stored in one place within the Dockwa app, making it easy to retrieve when needed.
Provide a Modern Boating Experience: Boaters who use technology in their day-to-day lives and have come to expect the same standards at their marinas. Paper contracts feel cumbersome, time consuming, unsecure, and frustrating to guests that are used to paying and signing for things like rent, hotels, and airfare online. Their experience at your marinas should be no different.
4. Better Communication
In-App Messaging: Dockwa allows boaters to communicate directly with the marina about their contracts or other needs via instant messaging.
Automated Notifications: Boaters receive reminders about contract deadlines, document expirations, and other important dates, reducing the risk of missed deadlines.
5. Cost Efficiency
Reduced Printing and Mailing Costs: Going digital cuts down on expenses related to paper, ink, postage, and storage.
Cut Back on Overtime Hours: With less time spent in the office producing physical contracts, marina staff can spend more time on the docks with guests and less time in the office after hours.
Lower Processing Fees: Pay by bank account options provide marinas with lower processing fees leading to significant savings.
6. Increased Security
Secure Cloud Storage: Digital contracts are stored securely within the cloud, reducing the risk of loss, theft, or unauthorized access.
Audit Trails: Digital systems often provide audit trails that track when a contract was sent, viewed, and signed, offering greater transparency.
7. Streamlined Record-Keeping
Centralized Database: All contracts and related documents are stored in a centralized, searchable database, making it easier to organize and retrieve records.
Access Documents from Anywhere, Anytime: Digital contracts means marina managers can access important contract and boater details without needing to be in the dock office.
Easily Verify Insurance & Registration Documentation: One of the most important parts of the contract process is getting your boaters’ registration and insurance information. Without it, you could be liable for issues that arise. If you send your contracts digitally, you can require your boaters to provide this documentation at the time of signing.
8. Faster Payments
Get Paid Faster: Digital contracts can be linked to online payment options, like pay by bank account and credit cards, allowing boaters to pay fees immediately upon signing. That means less time wasted chasing down payments, and more time focused on keeping your marina running smoothly.
Automated Invoicing: Marinas can automate invoicing, recurring billing, and payment reminders, further reducing administrative workload and eliminating the need to chase checks. Without a digital process, you’d be following up with boaters multiple times per year to collect installments and payments. So why not just set it and forget it, letting your software do the work?
9. Scalability
Handling Growth: As a marina grows, digital contracts can easily scale to accommodate more boaters without a proportional increase in administrative effort.
Adapting to Change: Digital contracts can be quickly modified or adapted to new regulations, pricing structures, or service offerings without the need to reprint and redistribute paper documents.
How to digitize your marina contract process
If you’re ready to go digital, you have a few options:
Good:
It’s never been easier to scan and digitize documents now that so many people have access to a powerful camera in their pocket. You can easily find apps that let you scan paper documents and turn them into image files or editable PDFs.
Simply turning your current forms into digital ones is low-hanging fruit to start the process.
Better:
Converting your paper contracts to digital files is a good start, but you might want to go a step further by paying for a software tool like DocuSign.
Digital signature tools are relatively simple to integrate into your current workflow, and will certainly cut down on the time spent mailing physical contracts.
Best:
For best results, opt for software that handles everything for you. The best platforms will store customer information and contract details, as well as process payments automatically, so you can effortlessly automate the contract sending process.
Dockwa’s digital contract management tool
Dockwa’s marina management software includes comprehensive digital contract management tools that empower you to take your process online.
On average, Dockwa’s digital contract tool saves you 20 minutes per boater.
Dockwa’s digital contract tool empowers you to:
Create and send contracts in minutes. Upload documents, set rates, and bulk-send contract agreements to your customers’ emails with a few clicks.
Know immediately whether or not a contract is signed and paid for. From the Dockwa dashboard, you can see the status of all contracts in real-time, including when a contract was sent, opened, signed, or expired
Simplify contracts for your boaters. E-signatures and multiple payment methods allow boaters to sign and pay for contracts on time automatically.
Customize your contract management process. Set custom rates and billing schedules that match your marina’s needs.
And don’t worry — if some of your boaters prefer the old process, you’ll still have the option of offering in-person signings.
Dockwa's free app allows boaters to review, sign, and pay for their marina contract digitally from anywhere.
How it works
With the free Dockwa app, boaters can easily manage their entire experience—from adding and updating payment information to uploading their insurance and registration documents. This means they no longer need to visit your office to handle transactions, as everything can be done conveniently through the app. Plus, Dockwa supports marinas in making this transition smooth for their customers by providing dedicated assistance and personalized communication templates.
Boaters who adopt the digital platform gain several benefits. They can store all their important documents directly within the Dockwa app and receive timely reminders when these documents are about to expire along with payment reminders for existing reservations. Additionally, their signed contracts are accessible from anywhere, ensuring they always have what they need at their fingertips. The app also offers a direct messaging feature, making it easy for boaters to communicate with the marina. With all these advantages, switching to digital contracts is a win-win for both marinas and boaters.
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