PandaDoc Research Reveals Companies Recognize the Value of Digital Docs But Struggle to Create Compelling and Effective Digital Proposals

Third-party research from PandaDoc, the leading all-in-one document workflow automation platform, confirms that businesses are embracing the use of digital documents but still struggle to create documents that are compelling and effective.

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PandaDoc polled more than 1,000 professionals at businesses of varying sizes and industries to assess their pain points in digital document creation and collaboration.

Survey respondents recognize that digital documents are easier to create, collaborate on and complete than paper versions; generate cost savings; and offer increased productivity.

Still, an overwhelming majority of professionals – close to 91% – find business proposals difficult to create, while nearly 92% find it challenging to create HR documents.

“Our survey data demonstrates that while professionals across industries understand the value of going digital, they are frustrated because they feel they need to spend copious amounts of time working on their documents instead of putting their documents to work for them,” said Shawn Herring, PandaDoc VP, Marketing. “Documents remain the essential glue of how business gets done, but many professionals are still stuck in manual legacy processes, or facing challenges in their digital document creation. The data clearly indicates that professionals are ready for solutions that foster simple, smooth and integrated interactions for all the stakeholders involved in digital document preparation, distribution and completion.”

Professionals Prefer Digital Documents
The survey demonstrates that a strong majority (56%) of professionals prefer electronic contracts over paper versions.

Nearly half (46.5%) have digitally signed a legal document or contract, while more than a third have signed health-related documents (37.4%); informational contracts (35.1%); employment contracts (34.2%); and sales proposals and quotes (33.1%).

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Problems Persist for Digital Business Document Creators
Although professionals prefer digital documents over paper versions, they also acknowledge that problems persist. More than a third (35.3%) cite concerns that digital documents are difficult to integrate with other technology and systems of record. Survey respondents are also frustrated with the difficulties encountered when integrating a simple eSignature (28.3%); collaborating (27%) and designing a professional looking document (26.3%).

Survey participants emphasize there are too many document versions to manage and the creation process takes too long. Nearly half (47.5%) of respondents reveal that business contracts and proposals take longer to create than expected.

PandaDoc solves these challenges and more, offering an innovative way of treating “documents as apps,” with automated workflows providing for real-time editing, collaboration, tracking and approvals. Its easy-to-use document editor and template library, with more than 750 templates, streamlines document design. The PandaDoc solution seamlessly integrates with software already in use by businesses, allowing users to collect or sign unlimited documents from practically any tool and store them securely.

Simple Designs Are Favored
The survey also asked participants about their preferred aesthetic when designing documents. The top three indicated are simple (28.3%), modern (24.9%) and traditional (24.8%). By a solid margin, the font type of choice for document creation is Times New Roman (30.4%), followed by Arial (19.1%) and Calibri (8.8%).

When asked people from which cities are the hardest to work with on negotiating and signing proposals and contracts, professionals singled out New York (31%), citing they are always in a rush.

Methodology
The third-party research cited in this release was conducted by Propeller Insights and PandaDoc to assess the pain points associated with digital document creation and collaboration. The study took place July 7-14, 2021, and surveyed more than 1,000 professionals at businesses of varying sizes and industries.

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