Time to First Value (TTFV)

TTFV measures how quickly a new user reaches the first outcome that proves value. It is the speedometer of onboarding.

TTFV is the elapsed time from signup to the first event that delivers meaningful value.

Instrument critical events and compute medians. Removing friction in discovery and setup typically reduces TTFV and lifts activation.

Time to First Value measures how quickly a new user reaches the first outcome that proves your product's value. Instrument critical events, compute medians, and remove friction in onboarding. Faster TTFV typically lifts activation and retention across cohorts.

Use event timestamps to compute medians.

Use event timestamps from signup to first value and compute median time across the cohort.

Median 2.4 days from signup to publish.

Provide a median days example from signup to publish or equivalent value event.

Poor event definitions, ignoring segment complexity, and overly broad windows hide true time to value.

Varies by product; aim to reduce by 20–50% via onboarding improvements.

Targets vary by product; aim to reduce TTFV through onboarding improvements.

Instrument key events end‑to‑end and prefer median rather than mean.

TTFV connects to activation rate and retention as upstream drivers.