“I’ve had cancer three times in my life.” And the third time, I was driven crazy by all the well-intentioned messages and phone calls. So I misused a travel app to track my journey to health. “It actually worked so well that we thought: why doesn’t this already exist?” says Pien, colleague and mother of Stamps innovator Tess. This was the start of the development of the Stamps app. A platform where people can safely and securely share their stories during turbulent times or when life doesn’t go as planned. Through the app, help can be offered and requested at the most convenient times.

During Bevrijdingsfestival Utrecht, Stamps researched how visitors prefer to receive news from someone who is ill. They could also indicate their preferred navigation style in the app. A special element was the ‘Wall of Love’. Here, visitors created an immediate connection by sending a card directly to a loved one during a difficult time.

During the festival, 70 cards were sent to people who couldn’t be there—a small but powerful action that immediately underlined the essence of Stamps: connection during difficult times.

The tests showed that users prefer to schedule help via a calendar view—by first choosing when they are available. They did, however, indicate that they would like to be able to filter by tasks they enjoy or are good at. An interesting detail: women primarily plan based on time, while men first look at the type of task. Regarding updates about a sick person, most people preferred weekly notifications. At the same time, the need is highly dependent on the relationship to the sick person and the seriousness of the situation. Upon first encountering the app, many users were hesitant to immediately create an account or share personal information. It must be clear from the very beginning that Stamps is a safe and private environment.

Based on these insights, the app will be further developed. The help module will get a calendar-based structure with the option to filter by task type. The in-app texts will be sharpened to build trust from the start, and users will get the chance to look around first before creating an account. Work is also being done on personalized notifications, tailored to the relationship with the sick person (for example, via ‘circles’). Small pop-up questions will be added to the app to continuously gather feedback. In addition, Stamps will focus on increasing brand awareness within hospitals in the near future to grow the number of users.