If you want to be a better marketer, you always need brands you admire and aspire to be. Simply following and engaging with a few favorites on a regular basis can inspire you to think differently about the brand you’re building and how to go about it.

As Exhibit A of this fact, may we present a favorite of ours: Lemonade. If you’re not familiar with Lemonade, they are a millennial-focused, digitally-oriented insurance company. But in reality, Lemonade is much more than that – they offer one of the most consistent, unique brand experiences of any company, insurance or otherwise.

Our recommendation: Just go through one online shopping experience for insurance on Lemonade’s site. We promise it will be unlike any other experience you’ve ever had shopping online. It’s human, unique, simple and even a little bit fun – which is saying a lot when you’re shopping for insurance.

If you don’t have the time to truly engage with Lemonade, have no fear – we’ve taken some time to do some of the learning for you. Here are a few things you can learn from the brand:

Lesson 1: Digital Should Still Be Human

Purchasing insurance online can be perceived as complicated, but Lemonade’s great user experience breaks down the process in a way that’s easy to understand and that makes users feel in control and confident about their decisions. 

When you shop on Lemonade, you’re greeted by a “human” robot named Maya who walks you through the insurance shopping process online. Maya is friendly, fun, and totally relatable – she gives you the feeling that even though you’re shopping with AI, there is an actual person there guiding you through the process.

The lesson? Especially in today’s fragmented, isolated digital age, delivering a human experience still matters. At our core, humans are hardwired as social creatures – a digital experience that can fulfill those social cravings can mean more brand affinity and memorability.

Lesson 2: Small Moments Matter

Check out the below screen grab of an exchange with Stephen from the Lemonade customer service team about a pet insurance policy:

You may have noticed a dog. Wearing a tie. On a computer. WHAT?! We love it. When talking pet insurance with customers, you’ve got your customer service reps including an animated GIF of a cute little pup.

Here’s the lesson: Not everything has to be about a big, branded advertisement worth millions of dollars. Sometimes it’s the little things – something clever embedded in a customer service exchange, that can be unexpected, buzz-worthy, and oh-so-cute.

Lesson 3: Help Your Customers Fulfill a Purpose

Lemonade is a public benefit corporation – or B Corp – meaning that it is held to a series of really stringent standards on being a company that gives back to society. One of the clearest examples of how the company does this is it’s Giveback program, which enables customers to select a charity to support upon getting a policy – Lemonade then donates up to 40% of unclaimed premiums to the causes its customers care about. 

In 2022, Lemonade donated $1,873,588 to 59 non-profits. And they’re doing all that by empowering their customers to use Lemonade’s service to self-direct funding to causes they care about.

The lesson: Most now accept that businesses should be a force for societal change and betterment – but the next chapter for brands is to find a way to embed purpose right into the business model of a company itself, while also inviting customers to share in and shape that purpose as the company evolves.

Today’s TLDR: Want to take a step today towards becoming a better marketer? Follow Lemonade, and you’ll learn a whole lot.