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24 Comments

The world's fastest startups are working on just ONE metric...

We're talking Loom, Canva, Figma, Uber and more

Forget Ads, CPC, LTV or any of that jargon.

The most important key metric is TTV

Let's dig into this.

  1. Time to value. i.e, the time from when a customer invests into your product "by signing up" to the time they get the outcome (their pain solved)

This travel time needs to be AS short as possible.

This is how the best are doing it and how you can too.

  1. Loom:

They ask you to download the chrome extension (highest barrier).

You record and video and stop, that's it...the second you share the video the value is achieved

To shorten this they:

  • upload the video async
  • prefill the title
  • auto-copy link
  1. Canva:

Without signing up you can work with a pre-built template
Design the template to

  • Create the exact design
  • Achieve wow factor
  • On download (Ask to sign up)
  1. Uber:
  • Sign up via phone number
  • "Permissioned location access"
  • Choose destination
  • Automatically show you "how much cheaper it is to taxi"
  • Immediate feedback on when taxi arrives (< 5min)
  1. Value is created when the customer can achieve their dream outcome, WITH a certain amount of guarantee, without putting ANY effort & at blazing fast speed

  2. So ask yourself what are the key things you can do to reduce the time to value for your customer.

  • Can you get rid of signups?
  • Show perceived value?
  • Offer a guarantee
  • Make it 1 click instead of 3?

Focusing on this we've seen very good movements in conversions at smartwriter.ai as well

  1. 5

    In conclusion: reduce friction.

      1. 3

        you can add more value to your product, but that sure as heck isn't going to improve your CTR or CR on forms

        you said it yourself

        This travel time needs to be AS short as possible.

        the single reason users jump ship is because things take longer than their short attention span can handle. hence reducing friction by improving forms and auto-filling (like you mentioned) is the most powerful method.

        does random titling videos really add value to the product? yes, it makes sharing faster, but it doesn't necessarily make it better.

        1. 1

          sorry lol i clicked enter, increase value BY reducing friction

  2. 3

    Just wanted to add that we also have to pay attention to all levels of AAARRR funnel. The companies you've mentioned, spend much on building market recognition, company image and trust (aka Awareness, Acquisition levels), and also talk about the problem they solve a lot (Acknowledge). So, their new users are ready for that single "Get the value now" button in their apps and they know what to expect.

    So, I'd advice to warm the user up first and make them WANT to solve that pain and trust your tool before giving it a chance.

  3. 3

    We've been referring to it as TTT. Time to transaction. This is an awesome post 👏

    1. 2

      Thanks mate! TTT love it

  4. 1

    Great write up. Thought provoking!

  5. 1

    SAAS with TTV are better.

  6. 1

    We've been talking about this the other day with my co-founders. Thanks for putting it out with clear examples. I agree with comments below that some level of awareness will boost the process yet TTV/TTT is key! Cheers mate!

  7. 1

    it takes time to undesnt and reach this point. for us it took 1 year, then it starts fly

  8. 1

    Insightful post. Thanks for sharing. We've also eliminated sign up in our current product, and that was a learning from our previous one. We're seeing a marked difference in early user uptake.

  9. 1

    Great insights; thanks :-) I love the straight connection to value.
    But I won't see this as the one and only metric. I see the primary KPI as something I would bet my whole business on when I just optimize that metric. So normally for me the primary KPIs would be revenue related. I think it would be great to see some combination of the TTV with another metric that shows me if my business / revenue is growing :-)

    1. 1

      Ofcourse it should never be treated in isolation, but more so the primary one I've seen the big players work on

      And in the end yes, if revenue isn't growing - nothings worth it

  10. 1

    I strongly believe in this, I think we should let the user try the product first. I built my products Watermark.ink and TinyFunction.com with this approach.

  11. 1

    I knew something from this post. TTV is good metric. Thanks for sharing.

    1. 2

      Love that you did mate!

  12. 1

    Good points. Thanks for sharing @veebuv

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