If you're building a data-led strategy to drive product growth, there are three critical metrics you must track consistently:

1. Time to Value (TTV)

2. Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs)

3. Product Adoption Indicator (PAI)
   

Each of these metrics gives you a powerful lens into how users interact with your product, from their first impression to long-term usage—and ultimately, conversion and retention.

1. Time to value

Time to Value measures how long it takes for a new user to experience the core value of your product. It begins when a user signs up and ends at their first meaningful interaction—typically when they hit a key activation event or reach their first “aha moment”.

The shorter this period, the better. The faster users see value, the more likely they are to convert, stay, and engage.

How to reduce TTV? Optimize your onboarding around these questions:

• Who is your user?

• What are their goals and desired outcomes?

• What lifecycle stage are they in?

• What core actions must they complete to achieve value?

Personalization is key. Tailoring onboarding flows to user segments (e.g., persona, industry, or use case) dramatically improves your ability to reduce friction and accelerate Time to Value.

Distinguishing “Aha Moment” vs. Activation

Many teams lump the "aha moment" and "activation" into one metric—but they’re not the same:

• The “aha moment” is perceived value. It’s when a user gets that first mental “click” and understands what your product can do for them.

• Activation is when a user experiences real value by taking an action with your product.

Example:

In Userpilot’s onboarding, users often experience the “aha moment” when they install the Chrome extension and preview a product experience. However, for full activation, they need to install the JavaScript snippet and launch a live experience with real data.

Installing their Chrome extension doesn’t involve a lot of friction, and can be easily done as part of the user’s first-time experience (Aha moment). On the other hand, installing the JavaScript snippet, creating the first experience, and deploying live will take some time. (User Activation).

This is a key insight: design your first-time experience to quickly deliver the "aha moment", then gradually guide users to full activation.

👉 Tip: Map out the exact steps users take from sign-up to perceived value and then to experienced value. Optimize for speed and clarity.

2. Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs).

A Product-Qualified Lead is someone who has experienced enough value from your product to indicate a strong likelihood of converting to a paying customer.

Let’s clarify what PQLs are not:

• They’re not just trial users or freemium signups.

• They’re not MQLs or leads who downloaded a whitepaper.

• They’re not users who simply log in once.

PQLs are defined by behavior. They’ve crossed a specific threshold in your product that demonstrates clear intent and value alignment.

Examples of PQL triggers:

• Activated their account and completed a core task.

• Created their first project and invited a teammate.

• Integrated your product with a core tool in their stack.
  
  

Your job: Define the behavioral milestones in your product that indicate real value has been unlocked. That’s your PQL definition.

👉 Why it matters: PQLs outperform traditional MQLs when it comes to conversion rates—because the product has already done the heavy lifting of showing value.

3. Product Adoption Indicator (PAI).

Product Adoption Indicators are usage-based metrics that signal a user has adopted your product into their workflow and is likely to stick around.

While Time to Value and PQLs help you understand the early journey, PAIs reflect habit formation—how deeply integrated your product has become.

Example:
Slack doesn’t consider a team truly onboarded until they’ve sent 2,000 messages. That’s not just a vanity metric—it’s a strong adoption threshold correlated with long-term retention.

Why PAIs matter:

• They’re leading indicators of retention.

• They help predict monetization.

• They signal readiness for upsell, expansion, or success milestones.

Your PAI should reflect repeated, value-driven engagement that ties back to your core product promise.

👉 Ask yourself:

• What’s the usage pattern that distinguishes sticky users from casual ones?

• What level of engagement truly sets users up for long-term success?
  
  

Bringing it all together

A data-led product strategy connects Time to Value, PQLs, and PAIs into a seamless growth engine:

• Reduce TTV to drive early wins and engagement.

• Track PQLs to qualify users with the highest conversion potential.

• Monitor PAIs to ensure users move from value perception to long-term retention.
  
  

These three metrics aren’t just KPIs—they’re growth levers. Use them to drive onboarding, product marketing, success strategies, and roadmap prioritization.

💡 Final Questions to Reflect On:

• What’s your product’s “aha moment” and activation event?

• Have you clearly defined a PQL based on user behavior?

• What’s your version of a Slack-style 2,000-message threshold?

If you don’t know the answers yet, now’s the time to explore them.

Let your product data guide the way.