Sorry, not sorry
PDF is still the go-to format for the online distribution of white-papers, reports, case studies and much more in many industries.
But is a format from the Jurassic Park era really the way to go to meet the expectations and opportunities of 2020 and beyond?
Clue: nope
If you want to print that 36 page report and kill another tree, PDF is great, but how many of us are actually doing that? We're way more likely to search for and spend time reading content on our smartphones, tablets or desktops. The PDF doesn't fit these dimensions and affords none of the perks of digital we're growing accustomed to.
A digital-first format makes the most of the opportunities presented by these devices. This includes accessibility for visually impaired readers, flexible navigation (empowering users to go their own way), nifty interactivity, use of video, detailed data capture and much more. Using a static, print format is a wasted opportunity.
One of the most aggravating limitations of the format online is the shockingly poor mobile experience. Reading across a page requires you to pinch and prod the screen to achieve a legible font size. Reading charts often involves not only pinching but then turning of the device to get the full figure into view. Is a smooth, responsive reading experience too much to ask?
Congratulations, someone downloaded the global report you spent 5 months creating. But they didn't actually read it. Or did they? You don't know, because it's a PDF.
The juiciest insight comes from knowing how people interact with the documents you create. Like how long they spent reading each chapter, and which charts they spent the most time exploring. Or whether they read any of your other reports on a given topic.
PDF delivers none of this insight. Without it, you won't be able to evolve your strategy or personalise how you nurture a reader.
Once a PDF has been downloaded, you lose all control of it. Imagine you spot a heinous inaccuracy in the file and upload a new version to your website; the old one is still out there, in circulation, ready to come back and haunt you.
Say you release a new sales enablement pack for your partners, only to discover six months later that two-thirds of them are still using the one from 2016.
If you want complete control over your content (and your brand) to give the best and most accurate experience at every turn, you can't put your trust in PDF.
Design can make or break the success of your communications. Studies show that arguments presented in a visually rich format are 43% more persuasive than text only. But a professionally designed PDF is a costly beast.
Either you can expect to fork out a hefty sum in agency fees or your project ends up stuck in the bottleneck of in-house design queues. Every tweak, amend or update requires an additional round of back and forth, potentially another fee, and a whole lot of wasted time.
The PDF production process is a weak link in the agility of content strategies. In a world where customers expect access to accurate, up-to-date information, anytime, anywhere, this matters.
Bonus reason: 173,000 new variants of PDF fraud were detected in Q1 of 2019 – more than double the figure detected in the entirety of 2018.