Best Electronic Signature Software 2021

How to Use PandaDoc: Customer Tips & More

PandaDoc is an electronic signature solution with over 20,000 customers. We spoke with PandaDoc customers to get their most valuable insights on how to use the product.

Electronic signature software tools enable individuals and organizations to create and manage their legal documents. The best solutions include these core electronic software features – legally binding signatures, templates, a document editor, audit reports, flexible signing, and document storage.

PandaDoc has all of these features and is one of our favorite electronic signature tools. In addition to being an effective general solution, the platform includes several valuable features built specifically for sales teams.

The tips and recommendations below from us and actual PandaDoc customers will help you use PandaDoc to the best of its capabilities. For a complete overview of PandaDoc, read SoftwarePundit's PandaDoc review.

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PandaDoc Customer Tips & More

We spoke with actual PandaDoc customers who gave us their best tips and opinions on how to use PandaDoc. This includes the features that they found to be the most helpful for managing their electronic documents and signatures. We highlight their recommendations below, and include screenshots of PandaDoc’s actual product.

Take Advantage of the Content Library

One of the features that differentiates PandaDoc from its competitors is the content library. You can use this to store any content you create and add to your documents. This feature is typically found in electronic signature tools built for sales teams like PandaDoc and Proposify.

PandaDoc Content Library

Customers use the content library to store the content they frequently use in their documents. They like how keeping items in your content library saves you time because with it you do not have to keep creating proposals from scratch. Chris Post from 2M Locating loves the content library because he can use it to store elements that will easily allow you to keep your language consistent in all future documents.

Creating & Using Templates

Templates are incredibly useful and important for automating document workflow. By reusing them, you can save time and maintain consistency when it comes to your documents. PandaDoc allows you to upload and create your own templates, and offers a library of over 450 pre-built templates for its users. Customers like Ian Kelly, from NuLeaf Naturals, find the templates offered by PandaDoc impressive and help simplify the proposal creation process.

PandaDoc Template

Customers recommend using the trial period to better understand how to create and edit templates before purchasing PandaDoc. They also suggest creating all of the templates you need right after purchasing the software, so that they’re accessible when you actually need them. David Gail from Anura also recommends that if you are using your own templates, that you should learn to make them from scratch entirely in PandaDoc. This is because importing or uploading templates that you’ve made in other applications does not work as well as the they should.

Use CSS for the Document Editor

PandaDoc includes an editor that is intuitive and efficient, but is limited when it comes to styling customizations. Chris Post from 2M Locating mentioned that it is hard to be creative when using PandaDoc’s standard editor. This is because it forces you to add fields and other content blocks onto a rigid layout – you might not get your logo or dates exactly where you want them. because its features are geared towards creating boxy layouts.

PandaDoc Document Editor

Therefore, many customers recommend using CSS for more in-depth designs. This is applicable when you want to style template layouts and add your own brand-specific colors and fonts. However, PandaDoc does not offer direct support for CSS, so you’ll need to develop this expertise on your own. They recommend consulting your own design team for any help needed.

Try PandaDoc’s Free Plan

We’re huge fans of PandaDoc’s free plan. It is the only electronic signature solution that offers a free plan that lets you upload and send an unlimited number of documents for e-signature. You can also use the free plan to collect payments. The general consensus is that the free plan is robust, effective and best for people whose electronic signature process primarily focuses on obtaining signatures.

Many of the customers we’ve interviewed including David Gail from Anura and Andy from The House Guys stated that the free plan was what caused them to choose PandaDoc over other pricier solutions like DocuSign. Andy also mentioned that out of all the software tools, PandaDoc has the best free plan.

Getting Online Payments

PandaDoc allows recipients to make payments from within documents – something not possible in most electronic signature software. Customers have stated that this feature significantly reduces the time it takes to receive payments. They also state that it is simple to use with the help of integrations with Stripe and Paypal.

However, some have also claimed that the payment feature in PandaDoc is somewhat limited. Currently, it does not allow you to bill for unforeseeable charges like for emergencies. It also does not allow you to divide a payment total to be paid in separate amounts.

Integrating with PandaDoc

Many electronic signature solutions allow users to integrate their existing software applications to further streamline document workflow. Therefore it is important that said integrations run quickly and smoothly. Some of the more popular integrations involve CRMs – Salesforce, HubSpot, PipeDrive – which are typically used to pre-populate client information into documents.

Many customers mentioned how easy it is to set up integrations with PandaDoc. Ian Kelly, from NuLeaf Naturals, stated that he is impressed with how seamless the integrations offered by PandaDoc have been. In fact, most of the complaints about PandaDoc integrations involve there not being enough of them.

Use Recipient Analytics to Understand Client Behavior

PandaDoc offers a feature called recipient analytics, which provides information on how a client is interacting with your document.

PandaDoc Recipient Analytics

As seen above, the data points PandaDoc offers include:

  • How many times a client has viewed the document and a page
  • The total time a client has spent on each document and page
  • When a client last viewed each document
  • If a client has downloaded each document

This information is especially vital for sales teams who want to make sure their documents are in the best condition to close the most deals. PandaDoc customers use this feature to improve the effectiveness of their documents, which helps shorten the sales cycle and increase revenue.

SoftwarePundit’s Take on PandaDoc

Here at SoftwarePundit, we love using PandaDoc. We often use the free plan, which is perfect for those who just need a solution to obtain electronic signatures. We’ve also ranked it the second highest out of all of the electronic signature solutions we’ve reviewed so far. It is one of the more advanced tools in the market, but we find its platform approachable and intuitive.

How to Get Started with PandaDoc

PandaDoc offers a free trial of their Business plan for 14 days and as mentioned above, they also offer a robust free plan. We recommend taking full advantage of the trial to get used to the software and its features.

To learn more about PandaDoc, try it for free today.

Amy Yang

Amy Yang is a Junior Research Analyst at SoftwarePundit, where she conducts in-depth analyses on software markets and products. Amy has expertise in content production and managing digital and social platforms. She has a Bachelor of Science in Communication & Media, and a Minor in Web Programming and Applications from NYU. You can connect with Amy on LinkedIn.

Amy is an expert in several software categories including:

  • Course creation software
  • Electronic signature software
  • Social media software
  • Website builder software

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