Google Analytics says "This email doesn't match a Google Account"

You created a service account in Google Cloud, copied its email, pasted it into Google Analytics under Admin → Account access management → Add users, and got back:

This email doesn’t match a Google Account.

The email is correct. The service account exists. The fix is to wait a few hours and try again.

Why this happens

A service account email like reporting@my-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com is a real Google identity, but it lives in your project’s IAM directory first. Google Analytics resolves the email against Google’s account directory, and a freshly created service account (or one in a freshly created project) doesn’t show up there immediately. Until it does, the Analytics UI treats the email as if it doesn’t exist.

There is no setting you missed. You don’t need to grant the service account any extra IAM role for Analytics to find it. The account just needs to propagate.

What to do

1. Confirm the service account email is correct. It should end in .iam.gserviceaccount.com and match what you see in the Google Cloud console under IAM & Admin → Service Accounts.
2. Close the Analytics tab.
3. Come back in a few hours and add the service account email again. It will be accepted.

That’s the whole fix. Annoying, but consistent.

What not to do

• Don’t recreate the service account. A second one will hit the same delay.
• Don’t recreate the Cloud project. Same problem, plus more setup.
• Don’t grant the service account roles/iam.serviceAccountUser or any other IAM role hoping it changes anything. Analytics doesn’t check IAM roles before resolving the email.