Did you know that the PDF is almost 30 years old?
Three decades ago, every computer had a different way of interpreting and displaying file formats. A file looked completely different if it was on a Mac, Windows, or UNIX computer. Imagine the chaos when trying to share documents - you didn’t know if your report would look like the Mona Lisa or a Picasso!
In 1993, Adobe co-founder John Warnock released the first version of the PDF. Over the subsequent years, PDFs became an accepted standard for document sharing.
Life has changed a lot over the last 30 years. The problems and expectations of users today have also changed. Today, PDFs can cause more problems than they fix. Here are 3 reasons why PDFs suck for your sales contracts.
Did you know that 50% of all emails are opened on a mobile device?
Have you ever tried to read a PDF on your phone?
PDFs are especially bad for sales contracts because they force your customer to wait until they’re in front of a desktop to review. This could be hours, if not days, later! By then, your email could be at the bottom of their “priority” pile and, as we all know, time kills all deals.
The last time you opened up a PDF, did you know:
That’s why PDFs use these super easy to read bold and underlined fonts.
OR HAVE SECTIONS IN ALL CAPS WHICH ARE DEFINITELY NOT INTIMIDATING
Or include these intuitive and user-friendly ____________ fields.
(Please excuse my sarcasm.)
All of these beautiful and aesthetically pleasing changes require your customer to read and digest the entire document. This takes time, adds friction and delays signing.
PDFs do exactly what they were meant to do: transmit information in an unchanging, emotionless, and dead presentation.
But when was the last time you wanted your product’s sales pitch associated with something described as “emotionless and dead?”
Today’s sales contracts need to be dynamic - customers often request changes. Forcing your customers to use emails to review all of the back and forth redlines is cumbersome and annoying.
The sales contract is one of the last steps in your product’s sales pitch - don’t use an emotionless and dead PDF. Instead make your sales contract dynamic, web-native, and mobile-friendly.
Interested in learning more or having our team review your sales contracts? Let’s talk.
