Update: Google Analytics still off-limits to new users

The problems didn't stop there. He set up a filter based on documentation he found in the online help, "but the results never showed up," he wrote. "After talking with the Google Support team, it turns out the help pages where wrong. The e-mail support tech was able to point me in the right direction, and we got everything working the way that it was supposed to."

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Jupiter Research analyst Eric Peterson says that right now customer support is a big issue affecting Google Analytics, after the stampede of new users joined back in November. "The major problem people are having is the one we predicted all along: that it's not very well supported," he said.

Currently, Google Analytics provides a free help center and e-mail support to all users via this Web site, http://www.google.com/support/analytics, which is staffed by a team of specialists. More free resources are available at http://www.google.com/analytics/conversionuniversity.html.

Meanwhile, Google Analytics users who are also large advertisers in Google's AdWords program can get free support directly from their Google account teams, which are trained on Google Analytics, according to the Mountain View, California, company.

Finally, Google also has a stable of trained third-party partners that can provide consulting and support for a fee. A list of those partners can be found here: http://www.google.com/analytics/support_partner_provided.html.

But ultimately, if a customer isn't getting a prompt answer to a support question "then we're not happy about that obviously," Google's Holden said.

Google should also continue improving the Google Analytics features. For example, POP's Whitmore is currently looking to offer another Web analytics service to clients for whom Google Analytics isn't sophisticated enough.

"Google Analytics is a fantastic product, but it isn’t top end. It’s good but it isn’t the best analytics solution out there," Whitmore said. "Some of our clients do very well using Google Analytics but others need a more sophisticated solution, so that's why we’re looking at other providers."