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Why Do Women Love

Lemonade More?
What is it about the way were remaking insurance that appeals to women
more?

#news #transparency

Yael Wissner-Levy

Why do women love Lemonade more? Thats the question that has puzzled Lemonade
HQ in recent weeks. What is it about the way were remaking insurance that appeals
to females more?

Rewind to the stats that triggered the debate: half of our customers (policyholders)
are women. Yup, its an almost clean 50:50 split.

It didnt start that way. Back in our launch in September 2016, in our rst
Transparency Chronicle, we noted that while our demographic was young and urban,
it was mostly male in tune with the industry norm.

In that post, which served up the stats 48 hours after our launch, we alluded to the
expected demographics:

Research conducted by our team shows that insurance is mostly

purchased by guys (ladies time to change this!) and the trac we
received proved this true. 82.64% of our visitors were male and 17.36%
female.

Women Convert Better

 Well, times they are a-changin, and its incredible to see that women have not merely
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achieved parity amongst Lemonades subscribers, but:

Women are actually more likely to buy a Lemonade

policy than their male counterparts.

Thats the kicker: as Lemonade grew exponentially, our female demographic grew
disproportionately so. In fact, despite the trac ratio staying true to form, women
were converting to Lemonade better!

To put it in context, in the US, a male is 50% more likely to buy a home insurance
policy than a female. But at Lemonade, a woman is 50% more likely to buy a policy
than her male counterpart! Something about Lemonade is bucking the national trend,
in a good way, and the debate at HQ revolves around Why Do Women Love Lemonade
More?

Women make up half of the worlds population, and represent more than half of
global grads. Were nancially independent, and an increasing part of the workforce.
So whats the big deal?

Research published in the Harvard Business Review granted nancial services the lovely
title of being the industry least sympathetic to women. In the same HBR survey,
respondents ticked o a shopping list of criticism on how theyre treated by nancial
institutions, such as: lack of respect, poor advice, contradictory policies, one-size-
 ts-all forms, and a seemingly endless tangle of red tape that leaves them exhausted
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and annoyed.

As unfortunate and, quite frankly, lame as it sounds, its no surprise that a 2010
survey by Prudential noted that 86% of women believe themselves unable to choose
nancial products. In fact, eight in 10 women confess they have refrained from
discussing their nances with those they are close to.

Insurance is a male-dominated industry, generally marketed by and for males, as was

evident in a survey conducted by the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundations
(IICF) 2016 Women in Insurance Conference Series. Although the report notes that
progress is (kind of?) being made, insurance was ranked as being a largely
unsupportive industry within nancial services. Another study of the insurance
industry reveals that just 12% of women are in top management positions and only
1% of insurance businesses have a female CEO.

Financial Feminism

If you take a step away from insurance and look at corporate America, youll see an
equally gloomy picture: fewer women run big companies than men named John. Talk
about a glass ceiling.
 Pushing the progress is inevitable approach aside, former Merrill Lynch CEO and
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current founder of Ellevest, Sallie Krawcheck, coined 2017 asthe year in which
nancial feminism becomes a thing. Women empowerment, Krawcheck notes, is
not something that should be granted, and nancial feminism recognizes that
women already have tremendous power and the means to increasingly use that power.

One way she suggests women use this power is by directing purchases to reward
companies that align with womens values. Im going out on a limb here to declare
that Lemonades almost equal male:female divide isnt something coincidental. And
its not because we have embarked on a women only marketing scheme. Women are
not a homogenous, one-size- ts-all group, and gender-role marketing undermines
that very notion.

So Why Do Women Love Lemonade More?

The best way to nd out was to ask the women of Lemonade themselves.

Some mentioned the social good mission of Lemonade:

Brooke, a renter in NY, wrote that if there could be a charitable element to every one of my
xed expenses, the companies providing them would be a no-brainer. I love that getting to
pick the charity that could receive a donation personalizes the experience, and the report
Lemonade put out after the Giveback was incredible to read.

Lynn, a renter-turned-homeowner in NY, wrote loved that I was doing a bit of good while
getting insurance. Being able to support an organization like Women in Need (WIN) just
through your usual boring insurer is unreal.

Jourdan,a renter in California, wrote that Lemonade being a B-Corp was the main reason I
joined. I love supporting businesses like Lemonade as an entrepreneurmyself Im all about
B-Corps!

Others found that the experience buying a Lemonade policy was more pleasant than
other insurance companies:

Paola, a renter in NY, said Your website looks very dierent from any other insurance
companies. Its cute and fun and young, as is the app.

Amy, a renter in NY,wrote that she joined Lemonade because it oereda rate 25% of my
previous rate with Allstate, that covered even more than my plan with Allstate, that didnt
require me to spend an hour cataloging the items in my home, that made it easy to switch and
cancel with my previous plan, and that was clear and easy to understand.
 Amy wasnt the only one who commented on how easy Lemonade was to use. In fact,
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the women I spoke to overwhelmingly cited the ease of use:

Mary, a renter in NY noted how it was easy to see how my premium would change when I
added dierent things, it was just so easy and inexpensive! After reading about Lemonade
though, even if it had been a little more money I might still have gone with it because of all the
transparency, the Giveback and how youre trying to disrupt the insurance market! I think
thats great!

Carmen, a renter in NY, wrote that Lemonade was laid out in an incredibly simple way; I
knew exactly what I was signing up for, and how much it would cost. I didnt feel like I was
being ripped o or taken advantage of.

I think that is part of the fear most people have surrounding most nancial services products
that they are confusing, they wont understand what theyre purchasing, and will ultimately
be oversold and underserved. Add in that traditionally the insurance industry has a terrible
reputation for doing just that, and I think you have the perfect storm. Id also add that I think
women tend to feel less condent with money than men do which has nothing to do with
their actual ability to make good nancial decisions; I think its more a dumb social construct.

Cutting Through The Red Tape

It appears that at the very least, Lemonade is cutting through the seemingly endless
tangle of red tape that typically has turned women, and anyone who feels
underserved, away. Furthermore, it seems that people want insurance driven not only
by technology, but by behavioral economics and social good.

With all thats coming out from Silicon Valley, on how women have been treated by
the male-dominated industry, I say with con dence that Im proud to work with a
team that is nearing its own 50:50 male:female divide, with both genders taking on
leading roles in the company.

Treating humans respectfully, eciently, and honestly, with sophisticated technology

and ensuring transparency, is not only good business, its what we truly believe in.

If were able to allow people who are underrepresented feel equal, on an even
foothold, then yes, that is progress.

Yael Wissner-Levy
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