The ROI Measurement Crisis: Why Almost Half of Indonesian Marketers Still Can’t Explain Their Digital Spend

The Question Every Marketing Leader Eventually Faces

It usually happens in a meeting.

The campaign has ended. The numbers look good. The presentation deck is ready.

Then someone from leadership asks a simple question:

“So… what did we actually get from this?”

For many marketing leaders in Indonesia, this is where the confidence starts to fade.

Clicks, impressions, views, and engagement are easy to report. But when the conversation shifts to revenue, growth, or business impact, the story becomes harder to tell.

This is the reality behind what we call the ROI Measurement Crisis, and it is affecting nearly half of marketers today.

Indonesia Is Spending More on Digital, But Understanding Less

Indonesia’s digital marketing investment has grown rapidly over the last few years. With one of the largest online populations in the world, brands are pouring budgets into paid media, influencers, content, marketplaces, and CRM platforms.

According to Statista (2024), digital ad spend in Indonesia continues to grow year over year, especially in performance-driven channels.

Yet despite this growth, our experience shows that almost half of our clients struggle to clearly justify their digital marketing spend to leadership.

This does not mean marketing is not working.It means most brands do not have the right systems to measure it properly.

When “Good Performance” Still Feels Unconvincing

Many brands come to Sunrise with a familiar situation:

• Paid ads are running well

• Social content is active

• Influencers are delivering reach

• Sales teams are busy

  
  

But when asked:

• Which channel actually drives growth?

• What should we scale next quarter?

• Where can we cut spend without hurting revenue?

  
  

The answers are often based on assumptions, not evidence.

That is because most brands measure marketing in separate pieces, not as one connected journey.

Each platform reports its own success. Each vendor claims impact. But no one sees the full picture.

The Real Issue Is Not Budget, It Is Measurement

The biggest problem is not how much brands spend on digital marketing.

It is how they measure it.

Many Indonesian companies still rely on:

• Platform-level metrics such as ROAS, CPC, and reach

• Last-click attribution

• Isolated reports from different partners

• Dashboards that look impressive but do not answer business questions

  
  

Without a unified measurement framework, marketing performance becomes difficult to explain and even harder to defend.

As Google’s Southeast Asia research highlights, brands without strong measurement systems are far less confident in their marketing decisions, even when performance is strong.

Why This Matters to Decision Makers

For CMOs, Heads of Marketing, and Business Leaders, this creates real consequences:

• Budgets get questioned or cut

• Marketing is seen as a cost, not an investment

• Strategy becomes reactive instead of intentional

• Teams focus on short-term wins over long-term growth

  
  

For procurement and leadership teams, the lack of clarity makes it nearly impossible to decide what is truly worth paying for.

This is where marketing stops being a growth driver and starts becoming a risk.

What High-Performing Brands Are Doing Differently

The brands that move past this crisis do not chase more channels or bigger budgets.

They do three things differently:

1. They Measure What Matters to the Business

Instead of focusing only on clicks and impressions, they connect marketing to:

• Revenue contribution

• Customer acquisition cost

• Repeat purchase and retention

• Long-term brand impact

  
  

2. They Look at the Full Customer Journey

They understand that customers do not convert in one step.

Digital ads, content, social media, marketplaces, and offline touchpoints all play a role. Strong measurement connects these touchpoints into one clear story.

3. They Use Data to Guide Decisions, Not Just Reports

Measurement is not just for reporting results. It is used to:

• Decide where to invest next

• Optimize campaigns in real time

• Align marketing, sales, and leadership

This shift turns marketing from guesswork into governed growth.

Where Sunrise Brings Real Expertise

At Sunrise, we are not just running campaigns. We help brands understand what is actually driving their growth.

Our expertise lies in:

• Building clear, business-focused measurement frameworks

• Connecting media, content, and performance into one view

• Helping leadership teams trust marketing data

• Turning insights into confident decisions, not just dashboards

We translate complex digital performance into simple, meaningful insights that decision makers can act on.

Because great marketing is not just about execution. It is about clarity.

The Bottom Line: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Improve It

Indonesia’s digital landscape will only become more competitive.

Brands that continue to rely on surface-level metrics will struggle to scale.

Brands that invest in proper measurement and clarity will move faster, smarter, and with confidence.

The difference is not budget.It is understanding.

Ready to Make Your Marketing Easier to Explain and Defend?

If your team is running strong campaigns but still struggling to answer “what is really working?”, Sunrise can help.

📞 Book a discovery call with Sunrise Digital Marketing and explore how clearer measurement can turn your digital marketing into a reliable growth engine.

References

Google. (2023). The future of measurement in Southeast Asia. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com

McKinsey & Company. (2023). Reinventing marketing through data and analytics. https://www.mckinsey.com

Statista. (2024). Digital advertising spending in Indonesia. https://www.statista.com