Mumbai: Nearly half of B2B marketers in India say they have to justify marketing spend to C-suite every month.The majority of B2B marketers say value metrics are stronger indicators of campaign success. Over 9 in 10 B2B marketers agree that they are seeing improved ROI when using AI to build and optimise campaigns.
The pressure for B2B marketers is intensifying as nearly half of them in India have to justify marketing spend to C-suite executives on a monthly basis, according to new research from LinkedIn, a professional network and a B2B advertising platform. With the length of B2B buying cycles getting longer, the majority (89%) of B2B marketers say that it’s getting harder to measure long-term impact of a campaign.
LinkedIn’s new ‘B2B ROI Impact’ research, which surveyed over 1,000 B2B marketers in the US, UK, France, and India, highlights the ongoing pressures that marketers face to demonstrate the impact of their work on company revenue. 84% of B2B CMOs in the country say that proving campaign return-on-investment (ROI) has become more important in the past two years.
Research shows that there are three key barriers B2B marketers face when demonstrating ROI — lack of standardised industry benchmarks and metrics, particularly for B2B campaigns (42%); difficulty in accurately attributing conversions to specific campaigns (39%), integration issues between different data platforms (39%); and lack of organisational alignment on metrics between sales and marketing (38%).
Sachin Sharma, director, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, India, said, “As proving ROI remains the core priority for Indian B2B marketers in 2025, their relationship with senior leaders will be in sharper focus. With 9 in 10 already using AI tools to improve campaign returns and measure ROI better, B2B marketers must work with leaders to prioritise ‘value metrics over volume metrics’. To do this, they must adopt the right AI tools that can help measure a campaign’s impact with greater precision – resulting in real business outcomes.”
Majority of B2B marketers say value metrics are stronger indicators of campaign success
Although research finds that volume metrics, like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Cost per Engagement (CPE), and Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) are some of the most frequently requested metrics from senior leadership, B2B marketers know that mindsets need to shift. Despite data showing that 46% of senior leaders in India are focused on RoAS, B2B marketers consider value metrics, like Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), as stronger indicators of campaign success.
Looking ahead into the next year, B2B marketers say that understanding buyer intent – a buyer’s likelihood to purchase – will be the biggest challenge in proving campaign effectiveness, signaling the criticality in effectively measuring qualified leads. As a result, over half (53%) of B2B marketers are pivoting to a buyer group marketing strategy to influence purchase decisions and drive conversions, and focusing on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) in reporting.
96% of B2B marketers believe that AI will have a positive impact on measurement. As the buying group continues to evolve and B2B marketers find it harder to reach the right decision-makers and prove campaign effectiveness, more than 9 in 10 B2B marketers in India believe AI will have a positive impact on measurement over the next five years.
And, 94% of B2B marketers also agree that they are seeing improved ROI when using AI to build and optimise campaigns. Research shows that they are using AI to enhance audience segmentation and targeting (65%), drive predictive analytics for better lead scoring (61%), personalise content at scale (57%), and optimize ad spend and creative content in real time (55%).
When looking to the future, B2B marketers believe that over the next five years, AI will prove to be the most valuable in measuring ad effectiveness (62%); content creation and personalisation (60%); and predictive analytics (53%)
Saloni Javeri, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at L’Oréal India said, “LinkedIn’s unique blend of professional networking and content marketing enables L’Oréal to connect with key stakeholders—industry professionals, potential employees, investors, and consumers. Through targeted campaigns like L’Oréal Sense of Purpose, we’ve strengthened brand awareness, corporate reputation, and engagement within a highly relevant and influential audience. LinkedIn’s sophisticated targeting and analytics help us measure impact, optimize campaigns, and maximize ROI.”
LinkedIn added that it continues to invest in solutions to help B2B marketers measure campaign performance and business impact
LinkedIn said that it is strengthening its measurement solutions to help B2B marketers track campaign performance and business impact more smartly. New investments in Conversions API (CAPI) and Revenue Attribution Report (RAR) include:
Conversions API: With Conversions API, B2B marketers can connect their first-party data – both online and offline customer interactions – to LinkedIn to target audiences that are most likely to take action. When paired with campaign goals, this can be an incredibly effective tool to drive ROI. Beyond optimising lead generation campaigns for impressions, clicks and general leads, marketers can now optimise for qualified leads—those that meet their marketing or sales-qualified criteria (MQLs or SQLs).
As a result, with Conversions API, marketers are achieving on average a 31% increase in attributed conversion, seeing a 20% decrease in cost per action, and early results show a 39% decrease in cost per qualified leads.
Aditi Oleman, Head of Marketing at Cashfree Payments, talks about how LinkedIn helps drive business impact, “LinkedIn is where we build our brand and spark real conversations with the right audience. Whether it’s launching new products, engaging SMBs, or sharing industry insights, LinkedIn ensures we’re reaching decision-makers who matter. The professional environment, precise targeting, and analytics don’t just boost visibility—they drive action. It’s not just another channel for us; it’s where thought leadership turns into real business impact.”
Revenue Attribution Report: When B2B marketers connect their opportunity and pipeline data to LinkedIn directly or via Marketing Partners, they can prove account-level impact of their campaigns on sales metrics with the Revenue Attribution Report (RAR). RAR enables advertisers to tie marketing efforts to real business outcomes with metrics, such as revenue influenced, return on ad spend, and pipeline.
