Google and Urchin

[Discovery]

Has anyone implemented Urchin from Google?

I know Urchin has been around for a while, however it was only last week that I noticed Google was promoting it within adwords.

I took a test drive and I am very impressed. Unfortunately, they dont have any tech support, No phone and no response to email over the past 5 days.
(Flooded by Google adverts like us?)

Your opinion and thoughts on a proper set up of this tool would be highly valued.

Cheers,

Discovery

[exposuredotcom]

Yes + opinion:

Immediately after learning (from SearchEngineRoundtable.com - rustybrick) that Google had acquired Urchin and then that Urchin would be dropping its prices while also adding profiles/sites, we quickly (finally) subscribed to the Urchin service.

We did so after confirming all of the pricing and service opportunities that had been mentioned elsewhere. I did this personally via telephone. I called Urchin and got right through within 20 seconds to a rep who answered all of my questions (without requiring a tech/engineer) and without needing me to log my personal/company contact info just to get a few questions answered. I was surprised that I didn't need to supply my name nor the name of my 1st born to get questions answered, as with most companies.

Anyway, I got my questions answered and subscribed. They were busy for a few days, so the 2-3 initial questions I had took longer than I'd hoped to get answered, but I always received a positive reply from one apparently-dedicated staffer. And when replying to her she personally addressed my requests. Every time favorably and with the best of attitude and helpfulness.

Google/Urchin still has yet to do a good job of promoting itself via Urchin.com
(Why don't they say up-front that 50 websites/profiles are included?)

Working for/as a business that always had small/medium-sized clientele, we are very happy to finally have the opportunity to use a service such as Urchin. The new pricing allows us to do so for ourselves while providing our clients with the in-depth reporting and conversion tracking we'd previously done so via various in-house programming techniques.

Urchin is well worth the $$, especially now.
I'm happy to finally be a customer; now that the cost allows me to be.

Regarding whether they are too busy to respond to emails, maybe... but try using the telephone. I've always had my call answered by a human-being on the first ring. RE: Emails, they've been relatively slow, lately... but their responses have always come (I don't worry that they won't reply) and they have so far always answered my questions completely.

Thanks, Tim

[Vladimiras]

The system itself is brilliant, though the support is quite poor.
Sometimes it takes a couple of days for a support ticket to be replied.

Also, they really do have a lot of work on self promotion to do. Some really great functions are very far from being obvious.

[Discovery]

Thanks for the input, I certainly agree, this is a great product/service. I'm amazed that I don't see Google mentioned prominently on their website. Also, I have scoured the site, but still can only find email links to contact them, no phone number. Don't tell me I have to resort to a... a telephone b b b book.

Have you been able to add cost data? A quick how did you do it would be fantastic.

The site overlay feature is great and goal setting is easy to set up and provides a wealth of instant feedback.

Perhaps there is another forum for deeper discussion on analytics.

Cheers,

Discovery

[AussieWebmaster]

The system itself is brilliant, though the support is quite poor.
Sometimes it takes a couple of days for a support ticket to be replied.

Also, they really do have a lot of work on self promotion to do. Some really great functions are very far from being obvious.
That's pretty sad... maybe the reason Urchin sold... did not want to do the marketing and promotion stuff

[Chris Boggs]

We still use Urchin 4 and 5, and are working towards using 6 with some newer clients. I run reports each month and they are a very helpful in the analysis of a site's performance.

I know that Urchin has promoted itself very well at SES conferences, and I used to see their stickers in a lot of random places in San Diego. Perhaps their contact information is being updated since the Google purchase?

[AdWordsRep]

I saw this thread linked-to over in the AdWords Forum, where you'll more normally find me, and just wanted to jump to say that I'll pass the feedback along.

I'm not a part of the Urchin team* myself, but am really thrilled to have them here at Google - and I'll make sure that they see this thread.

AWR


* (I did manage to talk my way into an Urchin t-shirt, though. Heheh.)

[Vladimiras]

I know that Urchin has promoted itself very well at SES conferences, and I used to see their stickers in a lot of random places in San Diego. Perhaps their contact information is being updated since the Google purchase?

For a couple of last months they'r only "FAQ" in "Top 10 FAQs" category is "Google Acquistion FAQ".

They have some new help articles on help.urchin.com all the time - but you have no other way to know they're there - but to visit all categories often. Last issue of "Urchin News" was dated December 2004.

I guess someone important is out.

And no - I still can't get cost information in Urchin. Latest support answer was something: "We will need to further investigate... We will follow up with you as soon as...".

[AussieWebmaster]

I saw this thread linked-to over in the AdWords Forum, where you'll more normally find me, and just wanted to jump to say that I'll pass the feedback along.

I'm not a part of the Urchin team* myself, but am really thrilled to have them here at Google - and I'll make sure that they see this thread.

AWR


* (I did manage to talk my way into an Urchin t-shirt, though. Heheh.)
I think the fact that you have Urchin in the top PPC spots is a little over kill... money really does not change hands... just juggling of entries in two sets of balance sheets... it is much easier taking a loss leader and call it brand development when you do not actually have to find the money....