Time to Value (TTV)
Also known as: Time to First Value, TTFV
The time it takes for a new customer to achieve their first meaningful outcome or value milestone after purchase. This is not just 'go live'; it's when the customer experiences the value they were promised.
Formula
Date of first value milestone - Date of contract start (in days)Who Is This Metric For?
Track for each new customer to ensure they hit value milestones on time and flag delays early.
Benchmark across the team and identify which CSMs or segments consistently achieve faster TTV.
Use TTV data to identify product friction that slows time-to-value and prioritize UX improvements.
Priority by Stage
Start by defining what 'value' means for your product. Even an informal TTV target is better than nothing.
Define TTV formally by segment. This becomes the north star for your onboarding playbook.
TTV should be tracked, benchmarked, and actively optimized. Correlate TTV with first-year retention to prove its impact.
Benchmarks
| Segment | Good | Great | World Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low Complexity | Under 14 days | Under 7 days | Under 3 days |
| Moderate Complexity | Under 45 days | Under 30 days | Under 14 days |
| High Complexity | Under 90 days | Under 60 days | Under 30 days |
Common Mistakes
- Defining TTV as 'go live' rather than 'first value realized'. A customer can be live and still not getting value
- Having one TTV target across all segments. Enterprise onboarding is fundamentally different from SMB self-serve
- Not connecting TTV to downstream metrics like retention. If you can't prove faster TTV leads to better retention, it's just a vanity metric