THERE'S AN APP FEATURE FOR THAT: ESTABLISHING USER PREFERRED MOBILE APP FEATURES THROUGH ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE INTERVIEWS

Abstract

A mobile application's (app) popularity and influence is determined by its users.These users download, use, review and support an app based on a myriad of requirements and needs. The aim of this paper is to showcase the results from asynchronous online interviews, which was focused on exploring the needs of potential users of a mobile blood donation app in South Africa.This paper specifically reports on the results of the 89 interviews conducted with existing and potential blood donors in South Africa during late 2017 and early 2018. As part of a larger, exploratory sequential mixed method research project, the interview schedule described in this paper was guided by the Leximancer analyses of app store reviews of existing blood donation apps, and the results from the interview informed a quantitative questionnaire. The results of the interviews, garnered from a Leximancer analyses, showed that the potential convenience afforded to blood donors by a blood donation app was important ? aspects such as reminders to donateand GPS functionality for finding blood donation events, among others, were mentioned as preferred features by respondents.Furthermore, several respondents noted that a question and answer feature with the blood donation organisation would be a value adding feature in an app of this kind.