How independent & small notaries can use Persona for secure, remote identity verification

Notaries and Persona

As more notarizations happen remotely and the risk of identity fraud increases, independent notaries and small notary teams need a reliable way to verify identities—without sacrificing convenience or security. Whether you’re helping someone sign a deed of trust, a power of attorney, or closing on a home, confirming someone’s identity is one of the most important steps in the process. That’s where Persona comes in.

What is Persona (and Why It’s Useful for Notaries)?

Persona is a flexible, easy-to-use identity verification platform that helps you confirm someone’s identity quickly and securely—no tech team or complicated setup required.

For small notary businesses, Persona makes it easy to:

  • Verify your client’s identity before a signing—especially if you’re working with someone remotely or through a platform
  • Confirm that the person signing is physically present and matches their ID
  • Collect and store identity documentation with timestamps for your records
  • Reduce the chance of fraud while staying compliant with local and state requirements

Whether you’re a mobile notary meeting someone at their home or running a growing notary service with a small team, Persona lets you add an extra layer of trust to every notarization.

What Persona Products Do Notaries Use?

Most notaries use a combination of the following tools:

Inquiries

Inquiries let you send someone a secure link by text or email that walks them through a quick, mobile-friendly identity verification process. No downloads required. You can also embed this flow into your website or client portal.

You can customize the experience to match your brand and collect any extra information you need before the signing.

Verifications

Inside an Inquiry, you can turn on Verifications such as:

  • Government ID Verification – Automatically check IDs like driver’s licenses and passports to confirm they’re real and valid.
  • Selfie Verification – Ask the signer to take a quick selfie, and Persona will confirm it matches the photo on their ID.

You can even decide if you want results to automatically pass/fail, or route anything suspicious for manual review.

⚠️ Persona gives you tools to help verify identity, but you’re still responsible for following your local notary laws and making the final decision.

Explore Persona’s Templates and Solutions for indendent and small notaries

If you’re not sure where to start, head to the Persona Dashboard homepage, click Explore all solutions, and browse prebuilt templates.

Many notaries choose the KYC (Know Your Customer) solution, which includes a government ID check and selfie verification.

Here’s also a quick and interactive demo of the starting solution as well as a few solutions and templates:

Notary demo experience

How to Get Started

Getting started is easy—even if you’re a team of one.

You can create a free Persona account and request a trial in just a few minutes. Choose from:

  • Sandbox Trial – Lets you test Persona’s features using simulated data.
  • Production Trial – Lets you use Persona with real signers. You’ll get 50 free services and need to complete a quick business verification step.

Both trials last 60 days and give you full access to Inquiries, Verifications, and more.

Moving from Trial to Real Use

Most notaries move to our Essential Plan at $250/month. That includes:

  • 500 services per month (which covers most solo and small team volumes)
  • Government ID and Selfie Verification
  • Branding, audit trails, and reporting tools

If you’re just getting started or run a very small operation, you might also qualify for our Startup Program—a one-year discounted option that supports newer businesses.

You can upgrade directly in your Persona dashboard by going to Organization > Billing.