Although return on investment (ROI) and time-to-value are closely related concepts, the two metrics measure different aspects of your training. Understanding the full potential and maximizing the impact of your programs requires that you distinguish between the two.  

What is time-to-value? 

In the context of customer success, time-to-value is a metric that quantifies how long it takes a product to deliver meaningful, tangible benefits. It’s measured starting at either the point of sale or the point at which customer onboarding begins. Tracking time-to-value provides a business with a window into the effectiveness of its customer education and may also help improve the overall user experience. 

Optimizing time-to-value generally has a positive impact on satisfaction, adoption, and retention.

The less time it takes for a new customer to start seeing benefits from their purchase, the better. To that end, there are a few things a business can do to improve time to value: 

• Identify key features associated with product adoption. 
• Eliminate bottlenecks and quit points in onboarding materials.
• Employ experiential learning rather than passive, static forms of training.
• Ensure the customer journey is seamless from first contact to final sale.
• Optimize the user experience within the software.

Time-to-value is not strictly regarded as a training metric — it’s more training-adjacent. It has a tangential relationship with both time-to-competency and time-to-productivity, which measure how quickly a learner is able to apply knowledge or skills acquired from training. 

It’s also frequently used as a key performance indicator when measuring the ROI of a customer education program.  

What is ROI in training? 

ROI is a more general metric that compares the cost of a training program against its benefits or returns. Although usually viewed within a monetary context, the metric isn’t always about finances. There are a number of ways training might yield positive results for a business, not all of which can be quantified with dollar signs: 

• Fewer errors
• Increased productivity
• Boosted customer satisfaction
• Higher sales 
• Improved employee retention
• Reduced overhead
• Lower customer acquisition cost
• Higher customer lifetime value
• Better employee morale
• More workplace collaboration

To accurately calculate the ROI of a training initiative, start with a well-defined budget and a clear idea of your training objectives. Consider both the short-term and long-term impact of your training, and find key performance indicators that you can link to each goal. Examples include: 

• Learner satisfaction
• Sales numbers
• Helpdesk resolutions
• Pass/fail rate for certain activities
• Customer satisfaction score
• Software or feature utilization
• Average deal size

We’ve even created a training ROI calculator to help get you started. 

Training ROI vs. time-to-value 

From a virtual training perspective, the key difference between ROI and time-to-value lies in their separate focuses. The former tends to be more broad and aligned with the company’s long-term goals. The latter is concerned with the customer journey. 

Both metrics are summarized below. 

	Return on Investment	Time-to-Value
Focus	Business-oriented	Customer-centric
Purpose	Measures the overall return of a training program based on its cost.	Identifies how long it takes to see returns from a product to optimize onboarding.
Goal	Guide budget decisions and strategic decision-making for corporate learning and development.	Optimize both the onboarding process and overall experience for new customers.
Applications	Tracks training impact, informs budget decisions, and prioritizes programs that deliver measurable business value.	Monitors user ramp-up speed, identifies onboarding friction, and guides adjustments to accelerate time-to-productivity.
Benefits	Justifies spending to leadership and may be used to acquire more funds for training.	Improves customer adoption, satisfaction, and retention by promoting a more cohesive onboarding experience.
Measurement	Typically expressed as a percentage.	Typically expressed in days or weeks.
Formula	[(Benefits-Costs)/Costs]	Product Adoption Date – Onboarding Start Date