Online services
“Gives customers security and
peace of mind”
Jan-Willem Broekx
(56), COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR OF INDEPENDER
Independer:
champion of ‘making complex choices simple’
For Independer, 2023 was a great year. In these turbulent times of high inflation, unrest on the energy market and an overstrained housing market, the comparison site represents a reliable beacon for more and more people. Commercial Director Jan-Willem Broekx talks about growth, personalised choices and financial peace of mind.
The commercial director has been with the young company, which has been part of DPG Media since 2018, for sixteen years now − in various positions. “Sixteen years sounds like a long time, but so many new things happen here and I feel so incredibly at home that I literally go into work with a smile on my face every day,” says Broekx. He praises the youthful enthusiasm that typifies the company. “With a relatively high number of young people and a special mix of very diverse backgrounds and niche expertise, we manage to achieve great growth figures every year.”
This was the case in 2023 as well. In the area of health care, the ‘switch market’ for health insurances was smaller last year than in 2022.
Independer nonetheless managed to stabilise its market share. Broekx: “In the last seven weeks of the year, hundreds of thousands of people consulted Independer.nl to compare health insurance packages. In that period, Independer was also increasingly presented as an authority by different media. Independent and respected.”
The same goes for the car insurance market. The sale of car insurances is obviously strongly tied in with car sales. Broekx: “Even though those sales aren’t what they used to be yet, we managed to significantly increase the number of car insurances taken out via Independer in 2023. Quite some car insurers raised their premiums considerably, to compensate for increased costs. “This encourages consumers to compare and try to find a better deal somewhere else.”
Meet Annelotte van Melick (22), Expert Team Insurance at Independer. Together with her team she gives advice to many Dutch people every day, because in the world of insurance it’s sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees. From cars to health insurance: they know what suits you best. Where does her interest in insurance come from and what exactly is the unique Independer team spirit?
Independer is seen as trustworthy because when you compare insurance products on the site, the search results include insurers with which Independer doesn’t have a partnership. “If you’re looking for a car or home insurance, we’ll always show you the top three best insurances for your situation. This includes − even in first place − insurers with which we don’t collaborate. But we do it anyway, because our main aim is to provide solid guidance to customers. That’s how you grow trust.”
“This way,” says the commercial director, “you can really set yourself apart with the right tools and expertise. Using all of the data and personal details, Independer can quickly transform the consumer’s selection process from a dark, menacing cloud to crystal-clear skies. As the service provision is growing increasingly personal and relevant, we see that the number of consumers in need of an Independer expert’s help is getting smaller and smaller. If they do reach out, it’s often via our chatbot or WhatsApp.”
Independer was founded in 1999 and was visited 20 million times in 2023.
Monthly expenses
Independer is more than an insurance comparison site. “As a platform for monthly expenses, we want to play a role in all of the consumer’s major household expenditures. That’s why we made an important change within two product groups: the energy market and mortgages.”
For a long time, the energy market was in a deadlock. Due to the war in Ukraine, energy rates were increasing so fast that energy suppliers discontinued their sales. Broekx: “But we didn’t spend that period doing nothing. Digital developments are taking place at lightning speed and customers are growing more and more demanding: as companies are continuously providing better help to the customer through personalised choices, they can pick the cheapest option, but also the greenest one. This way, we keep progressing. We don’t want to follow, but lead the way.”
These days, fixed energy contracts are being concluded again. In this area as well, Independer increasingly seems to be consumers’ number one source of information, resulting in great growth figures and a rising market share. When it comes to mortgages, the strategy has also been adjusted. “We are and will remain an online platform,” says Broekx. “We have a great position in the online mortgage market and users are very happy. Having said that, the majority of Dutch people is very tense about taking out a mortgage online. They prefer to see a mortgage advisor ‘in the flesh’.”
This is why Independer started collaborating with Van Bruggen Adviesgroep at the end of 2022. “Not only do they have seventy mortgage offices throughout the Netherlands, but they also have very high customer satisfaction. The collaboration has existed for just over a year now and it’s been excellent. There’s a great foundation for continued growth.”
