Time to Value
How long it takes a new customer to get their first meaningful result from your product. Faster TTV = lower churn, faster expansion, more referrals. It's the most underrated metric in SaaS because it sits between Sales and CS — and nobody owns it.
Time to Value is where most revenue leaks start in customer success — and nobody's measuring it.
Sales closed the deal. CS is ramping the customer. But what's the goal? 'Successful onboarding' is not a metric. First value realization is.
For a CRM: TTV might be first pipeline report generated. For analytics: first insight that drove a decision. For automation: first workflow that saved manual hours.
The companies with best retention define TTV precisely, measure it obsessively, and optimize ruthlessly. Everyone else crosses their fingers and hopes customers figure it out.
Define ItOther Definitions
“Time to Value is the duration between purchase and the customer achieving their first significant value milestone. It's a leading indicator of retention and expansion.”
“TTV measures how quickly customers realize meaningful outcomes from your product. Reducing TTV directly correlates with improved customer lifetime value and Net Revenue Retention.”
“Time to first value indicates onboarding effectiveness. Products with fast TTV see lower early churn and higher product adoption rates.”
Time to Value measures the gap between purchase and first meaningful outcome. Gainsight positions it as a retention leading indicator. Totango connects shorter TTV to higher LTV and NRR. ChurnZero emphasizes its role in reducing early churn.
TTV optimization requires: (1) Defined value milestones — specific, measurable outcomes; (2) Onboarding design — guided paths to first value; (3) Measurement — tracking time to milestone by segment; (4) Intervention — identifying stuck customers before they churn; (5) Continuous improvement — analyzing what accelerates or blocks value.
TTV varies by product complexity, customer segment, and implementation requirements.
MistakesCommon Mistakes
Defining TTV as 'onboarding complete' instead of value realized
No measurement of TTV — assuming it's happening
Same TTV target for all segments regardless of complexity
Onboarding ends before value is confirmed
No intervention playbook for customers with long TTV
Knowing the definition won't fix the leak.
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