Shopping for Uverse deals really requires one to understand how Uverse deals work, especially since there is danger lurking in the room. Before we discuss the danger, let’s take a brief look at how and why AT&T Uverse deals worked online:
AT&T is a large corporate entity that runs multi-billion dollar ad campaigns, but many people are immune to the effects of these campaigns. That’s why AT&T has approved other companies to act as its affiliates or partners. These companies are free to use whatever technique they deem persuasive to generate additional sales. AT&T offers customers a discount, generally known as Uverse deals on the web, to attract these customers through third-party affiliates.
Affiliates must do something to generate these sales, whether it’s creating useful data or content, or finding unique niches that AT&T doesn’t see in its monolithic size. Either way, the goal of any business starting an affiliate program is to increase their overall customer base and offer incentives to those organizations that can help them do so. What a company like AT&T doesn’t want to do is offer lower prices to potential customers who don’t need third parties, like affiliates, to close the deal.
So what is the danger? The danger comes in the form of so-called affiliate sites that ask users to clear their browser cache and/or download their cookies before signing up for exclusive Uverse offers without providing any content or reason to jump on the Uverse bandwagon. The same Uverse deals are available elsewhere on sites that actually follow the Uverse affiliate program guidelines, and this is very important because it’s all about dividing the pie versus growing the pie. If affiliates just use price as an incentive, then Uverse’s offerings will wither and die. If affiliates are trying to steal sales by requesting a cache to be cleared, then they are not actually earning your commission.
These affiliates undermine the entire system that sets up Uverse deals for consumers that AT&T can’t attract with its existing marketing efforts. Good affiliates who add value to the system by making comparison tables or writing helpful content help grow the pie by giving users a reason to sign up in addition to the discount. If everyone just signed up for a discount, then the discount would have to go away or AT&T wouldn’t be able to sustain its Uverse business and meet investor expectations, both of which are long-term losses for everyone, including customers.