Order data for your geo test
A one-page spec you can forward to whoever owns your order data. Last updated: July 2026.
What to send
One CSV. One row per day per postcode district. Four columns:
date, postcode, orders, revenue
2026-06-01, LS1, 14, 1210.50
2026-06-01, M4, 9, 803.00
2026-06-02, LS1, 11, 985.20
...- date. One row per day. YYYY-MM-DD is safest.
- postcode. The outward code: the part before the space, like LS1 or M4. Full postcodes are also fine.
- orders. The number of orders for that district on that day.
- revenue. Optional. Order value in pounds. With it we measure revenue lift as well as order lift.
History: 18 months if you have it. 12 weeks is the working minimum.
Why we ask for so little
We do not want customer data. A date, an area code and a count. No names, no addresses, no order IDs, no customer references. Files are read in memory to run the analysis and are never stored.
Getting the outward code from a full postcode
In every valid full UK postcode the last three characters are the inward code: a digit then two letters, no exceptions. So the outward code is what remains after you remove spaces and drop the last three characters.
Excel or Google Sheets:
=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""),LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))-3)SQL:
left(replace(postcode, ' ', ''), length(replace(postcode, ' ', '')) - 3)This only applies to columns holding full postcodes. If your column already holds outward codes, send it as-is.
Formatting that does not matter
- Duplicate rows. Two rows for the same district and day are fine. We sum them.
- No pre-aggregation. A row per order is fine. Add an orders column of 1s and we sum it. Revenue sums naturally from the value column.
- Full postcodes. Fine. We read only the geography. Near region boundaries a full postcode maps slightly more precisely than an outward code.
- Weekly rows. Daily is preferred, but weekly totals also work. We build our own weeks either way.
The one thing to avoid
Running totals. Each row must be that day's count, not a cumulative total to date. A cumulative export looks like normal data and silently breaks the analysis, so double-check this one.
If any of this is a hassle
Send the postcode column as-is, in whatever shape your export tool produces. We read only the geography, truncate on arrival and never store the file. Nobody should be blocked on formatting.
Questions: jedwrigley@tryholdout.com