Time to First Value (TTFV)
Average time from contract signature to the customer achieving their first meaningful outcome
What is Time to First Value (TTFV)?
Time to first value is the average number of days from a customer signing a contract to reaching their first meaningful result with the product. It shows how quickly new customers start to benefit.
The faster customers see value, the more likely they are to stay, so it is one of the strongest early predictors of retention.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Customer Success & Service
- Sub-function
- Onboarding
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Leading
- Impact
- Operational
- Unit
- days
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly / Quarterly
- Formula
- Sum of days from contract signed to first value milestone / Number of new customers
How to calculate it
Add up the days from contract signed to the first value milestone and divide by the number of new customers.
For example, if 20 new customers took a combined 600 days to reach the milestone, the average TTFV is 30 days.
Define the first value milestone clearly for your product, such as the first report produced or the first workflow completed, and track it for every customer.
Where it is used
Improving onboarding
Speed up implementation.
Predicting retention
Spot slow starters.
Setting customer expectations
Agree realistic timelines.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Choose a milestone that predicts renewal.
- Segment by customer size, since bigger customers take longer.
- Track the stage where customers stall.
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