The digital advertising strategies of Indian brands are evolving rapidly in alignment with fast-shifting consumer demands. At the moment, every brand is finding new methods to reach a wider network of audiences. Added to this, India has recently emerged as the third largest digitalised country in the world, which presents a welcome opportunity for brands to tap into all-embracing campaigns.
As per the India Brand Equity Foundation, the Indian advertising market is likely to grow 11.8% to touch US$ 14.75 billion (INR 1, 22, 155 crore) this year, primarily driven by digital media, which is poised to upsurge at almost 16% to arrive at US$ 6.98 billion (INR 57,757 crore). Spearheading this growth, the FMCG and the auto industry may emerge as key players. In the future, it is anticipated that the Indian digital advertising market will rise at a CAGR of 10% to reach US$ 20.53 billion (INR 1, 70, 000 crore) by 2028.
Given the sizeable digital advertising industry of India which forms the core of the nation’s marketing ecosystem, it is worth diving deep into its effectiveness. Undeniably, it has a massive impact on a range of brands, from e-commerce to retail and financial services, in driving traffic, speeding up revenues and converting leads. However, more often than not, numerous brands face challenges in measuring their digital advertising ROIs. The main reasons for this are:
Presence of Omni-channel: On several occasions, consumer interactions with a certain brand happen across different channels before the actual conversion. Therefore, to accurately pinpoint and give credit to a single channel becomes difficult. On top of this, many brands frequently struggle to manage and optimise diverse channels regularly which adds to the problem of accurate measurement. Commonly, it is observed that a viewer may spot an advertisement online but choose to make the purchase offline. Such increases the hassle of attributing the sale to the online campaign.
Regional Variations: To reach comprehensive and effective measurement, brands face issues due to changes in consumer preferences, behaviours, and online interactions, especially coming from different regional segments. This directly impacts ROI calculations and makes the process more complex. Hence, while running digital advertising campaigns, it takes a while for companies to establish what works for them in different belts of India.
Fragmented Attribution Models: A particular model may highlight and assign credit to certain touch points like first, last or linear click. Thus, concluding as to which is the most apt becomes a demanding process for brands. As every platform has its own set of algorithms, it may lead to inaccuracies in tracking the efficiency of digital advertising campaigns. Moreover, the Indian ecosystem currently lacks robust tools that can take into consideration cross-channel and cross-device interactions which adds to the issues of measuring the ROIs effectively.
Measurement and Tracking Concerns: While measuring the ROI of digital advertising campaigns, data privacy concerns have a big role to play as they add to the intricacy of tracking user behaviour online. Whenever consumers opt out of cookies or data sharing, the data needed for their interaction with advertisements becomes limited. In light of this, many tracking platforms end up leaving out granular insights about certain sections of the Indian market.
Mixed Behaviour Patterns: Many times, consumers behave contrarily to their regular patterns based on trends, events and seasonal variations. This distorts the standard metrics involved in calculating digital advertising ROIs. For instance, special occasions such as Valentine’s Day lead consumers to engage in buying more specialised products which may otherwise not be the case. Besides, in the age of social media, consumers are often quick to skip from one consumption pattern to another. This complicates the process of tracking and attributing their behaviours online.
Prolonged Conversions: While many may think that digital advertising campaigns show immediate results, this is not always the case. On several occasions, conversions may be delayed, making attribution to a single campaign tough. Its delay could be due to a long customer journey with users interacting with multiple advertisements many times. Immediate conversions, though desired by many brands, often fail to show a broader impact of the campaign.
It is worth noting that every digital advertising campaign includes different targets and end goals. While some may improve brand recall, others boost customer loyalty or awareness. Thus, it becomes puzzling for brands to evaluate the measurement of digital advertising ROIs and quantify such factors in monetary ways.
To bridge this gap, brands need to tap into cutting-edge marketing data reporting tools. They can greatly benefit from tools that offer quick, actionable data analysis and allow them to focus more on strategy than sorting out data. It may also be able to provide them with custom data views and insightful reports to identify the relevant data for enhancing business operations.
In times to come, to arrive at accurate insights while measuring the ROIs of digital advertising campaigns in India, brands must opt for the most suited attribution model that aligns well with their business goals and includes multi-tracking touch points. Moreover, they ought to invest in advanced analytics tools to uncover the behaviours of their users more comprehensively. With this, tailored conversion tracking can go a long way for brands to gather complete data on their users. As one looks into the future, brands are increasingly shifting their focus towards Tier-II and Tier-III cities, recognising their vast untapped potential. With internet penetration on the rise, now a growing number of consumers are present online, creating new opportunities for niche digital advertising.
In sum, it can be said that brands must overcome the challenges of measuring digital advertising ROIs. In achieving this, they should invest in advanced technologies that can pave the way for understanding global and local nuances. By refining their attribution models, and analytics tools as well as re-imagining their current approaches, they will certainly maximise the potential of digital advertising in the nation.
