What is TTV (Time to Value)?
Time to Value measures the gap between signup and a user's first experience of the product's core benefit. The value moment differs by product, such as a first successful payment, published page, or invited teammate. Activation measures whether users reach that moment; TTV measures how long it takes.
Formula
TTV = timestamp(first value moment) - timestamp(signup)TTV is the elapsed time between signup and a defined first value moment. For example, if a user signs up at 9:00am and makes their first successful API call at 9:18am, TTV is 18 minutes. Report a distribution, such as the median and 90th percentile, because a few slow outliers can distort an average.
Benchmarks and interpretation
- Check whether shorter TTV is associated with higher activation and retention in your own cohorts; there is no universal target
- Self-serve and PLG products aim for a value moment within the first session whenever possible
- Enterprise and implementation-heavy products have naturally longer TTV measured in days or weeks, not minutes
- Track TTV as a distribution (median and 90th percentile); an average can hide slow cases, and users who never reach value need separate reporting
- Compare TTV only against your own past cohorts, since the value moment is unique to your product
When to use TTV
- Pinpointing where in onboarding new users stall before reaching first value
- Setting a concrete speed target for onboarding redesigns and measuring the result
- Comparing TTV across segments to see which user types reach value fastest
- Building a faster path to the value moment to lift activation and early retention
- Reporting average TTV instead of the distribution, while also omitting users who never reach value unless you report them separately
- Defining the value moment as a setup step (account created) rather than a genuine benefit the user feels
- Treating one TTV target as universal when enterprise and self-serve users have very different realistic timelines
- Remove or defer every onboarding step that is not on the critical path to the first value moment
- Use templates, sample data, or guided setup to let users hit value before they have done all the configuration
- Watch TTV and activation together: fast TTV among users who activate can coexist with many users who never reach that point
Common questions
Time to Value (TTV) is how long it takes a new user to reach their first real value moment after signing up. The value moment is product-specific, such as a first successful payment or a first invited teammate. Compare it with activation and early retention to see whether reaching value faster helps users stay.
Define your value moment, then measure the elapsed time between each user's signup and the moment they reach it. Report it as a distribution, using median and 90th percentile rather than a single average, because slow outliers can hide an otherwise fast experience. For example, signup at 9:00am and a first successful API call at 9:18am is an 18-minute TTV.
Activation rate measures whether new users reach the value moment; time to value measures how fast they get there. They are two views of the same onboarding goal: one is a percentage, the other is a duration. A product can have a high activation rate but still lose users to a painfully slow TTV.
A shorter TTV can reduce the time before users experience a product benefit. Compare TTV with activation and early-retention cohorts to assess whether an onboarding change helps.
Go deeper: Retention Analytics: Where Users Leak
Read the full guide on TTV.
Related calculators
Use these calculators to examine metrics related to TTV.