Kia ora, thanks for your interest in how we calculate an experience's ranking score. It's at the core of Rankers so I'm pleased you're curious.

The ranking score percentage is used to compare and sort experiences in ranking tables. It is not necessarily a direct measurement of the quality of a particular experience as rated by its customers. I've found it a useful tool to allow me to find the best experiences with confidence. But I've also found it important to read the customer reviews before making any final judgements!

We calculate an experience's ranking score using a multi-factor data model instead of a raw data average (mean). This model takes into account several important questions. For instance - is there a trusted body of reviews? What is the age of a review and is the review from a credible source?

Below you'll find details around some of the important factors that went into calculating the ranking score for Akaroa Dolphins.

If you have any questions or comments about our ranking score calculation please get in touch at info@rankers.co.nz. We don't believe this is perfect or complete so we're always interested in ways we might make improvements.

Cymen Crick's avatar

Cymen Crick

Rankers Owner

Akaroa Dolphins

Valid Reviews

79 Valid Reviews

The Akaroa Dolphins experience has a total of 80 reviews. There are 79 valid reviews that are included when calculating the ranking score and 1 invalid review that are excluded from the calculation. Reviews can be excluded only when a reviewer is not verified or after an investigation by our team determines the reviewer is not genuine.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 79 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 32
41%
9/10 26
33%
8/10 15
19%
7/10 3
4%
6/10 3
4%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

90.25% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Akaroa Dolphins valid reviews is 90.25% and is based on 79 valid reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here as a comparison to the weighted average.

Face-to-Face Reviews

59 Face-to-Face Reviews

The Rankers team meets with travellers while they’re in New Zealand and conducts face-to-face surveys. These reviews, in our opinion, are the most trusted in the industry and represent a critical control sample. To our knowledge, we are the only travel review website in the world that has gone to this extent.

More about face-to-face reviews

Within the 79 valid reviews, the experience has 59 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 59 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 19
32%
9/10 20
34%
8/10 14
24%
7/10 3
5%
6/10 3
5%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

88.31% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Akaroa Dolphins face-to-face reviews is 88.31% and is based on 59 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

90.67%

Rankers calculates a weighted mean as a base average on which we can improve. Individual review's ratings are given a weight based on several factors. The weight of a review determines the overall impact it'll have on the final weighted average.

Recent reviews have more weight as they are more relevant and reflect the experience as it currently operates. Over time reviews become less relevant and loose their impact on the ranking score.

Low rating reviews carry slightly less weight. This dampens the effect of very low ratings for every experience across the board. This is especially important when the experience has few reviews overall and a single negative rating can grossly mischaracterise an experience. Consistent poor reviews will still result in the experience receiving a comparitively low ranking score.

Credible sources provide reviews that can be trusted. If we have verified a reviewer is genuine via a face-to-face meeting then the review carries additional weight.

Reviewer Rating Age Relative Weight
Lucy C 9/10 2006 days 100%
Christine 9/10 2065 days 97%
Tracey Cron 9/10 2096 days 96%
Inga Hoffmann 10/10 2796 days 66%
Freddrick Weiser 9/10 3133 days 50%
Mike Dw 9/10 3249 days 45%
Nolwen 9/10 3609 days 29%
The Beans 10/10 3617 days 29%
Ross D 10/10 3623 days 29%
Peter Passlack 10/10 3626 days 29%
Chea Hao Wong 10/10 3678 days 27%
Caroline Shaw 10/10 3848 days 19%
Pierre Mathis 10/10 3859 days 19%
Brenda Oomen 10/10 3862 days 19%
Estelle Daniel 10/10 3866 days 18%
Kim-Lara 8/10 3881 days 17%
Tamara 10/10 3895 days 17%
Sandra P 10/10 3922 days 16%
Marie Schmid 10/10 4250 days 1%
Angie Cairns 10/10 4280 days 0%
Jimmy Shaw 10/10 4533 days 18%
Wendy Hawkins 8/10 4954 days 18%
Roger Hawkins 9/10 4954 days 18%
Tanja Schlagermann 10/10 4961 days 18%
Alexander Mukasa 10/10 4961 days 18%
Erik Muchembled 10/10 4963 days 18%
Andrea Lang 8/10 4965 days 18%
Xtian_P 10/10 5049 days 18%
michellephil 10/10 5110 days 18%
nztintin 10/10 5324 days 18%
mandd 10/10 5324 days 18%
Orlando 9/10 5336 days 18%
Uwe Herrdum 9/10 5340 days 18%
Francis Corrigan 9/10 5354 days 18%
John & Vicki 9/10 5431 days 18%
G Tulloch 9/10 5653 days 18%
Edward Marhi 8/10 5656 days 18%
Robin Adair 9/10 5677 days 18%
Sandra Schulz 9/10 5684 days 18%
Derek Puplett 9/10 5694 days 18%
Martin Current 9/10 5705 days 18%
Hartmut Vogt 10/10 5706 days 18%
allesca 9/10 5810 days 18%
Mary Van 8/10 5871 days 18%
penz 9/10 5933 days 18%
victoriauk 8/10 5963 days 18%
Susanne Strassmann 6/10 6061 days 15%
M Sicard 9/10 6065 days 18%
Lasse Olesen 9/10 6076 days 18%
Keith Wilde 8/10 6078 days 18%
Sarah Goeckener 9/10 6155 days 18%
katharina 10/10 6155 days 18%
Katrin Wennin 8/10 6156 days 18%
Thorben Thede 9/10 6157 days 18%
Roma 10/10 6168 days 18%
HairyHaggis 10/10 6175 days 18%
Ronny 6/10 6394 days 15%
ChristinaV 10/10 6398 days 18%
JudithLehr 6/10 6401 days 15%
Steven 10/10 6405 days 18%
StijnH 8/10 6406 days 18%
FramiskaH 8/10 6407 days 18%
StefanGermany1 8/10 6407 days 18%
JaninaF 10/10 6407 days 18%
Tatjane 9/10 6420 days 18%
XaviG 9/10 6423 days 18%
JesusB 7/10 6423 days 17%
Denk 8/10 6451 days 18%
Katie Mitchell 10/10 6540 days 18%
Ben Ackland 8/10 6776 days 18%
Tessa McCormick 8/10 6786 days 18%
John Beirne 10/10 7143 days 18%
ranker_110 7/10 7147 days 17%
Christine 10/10 7152 days 18%
Helle 9/10 7154 days 18%
John 7/10 7154 days 17%
Reggie 10/10 7155 days 18%
Dave 9/10 7166 days 18%
Beate 8/10 7167 days 18%

Adjustments

Several adjustments to the weighted average are added to improve relevancy and credibility. These adjustments apply equally to all experiences that meet the criteria.

Sample Size Adjustment

No Adjustment

A reasonable number of reviews are necessary in order for the average to be credible and for an experience to take a prime position within the ranking tables. As such, experiences with only a few reviews have a moderated score. This does not mean that the experience or the reviews can't be trusted. The Akaroa Dolphins experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-3.21% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 69 days. However the Akaroa Dolphins experience does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

In addition, an experience's ranking score may be adjusted for each day there is no new ranking. After 1 day the adjustment comes into effect. The maximum number of days that can be adjusted for is 200 days. Due to the seasonal nature of many businesses, this adjustment is applied dynamically throughout the year.

The Akaroa Dolphins experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
… …
197 -3.16%
198 -3.17%
199 -3.19%
200 -3.21%
201 -3.22%
202 -3.24%
203 -3.26%
… …

Balancing Adjustment

1.38% Adjustment

Every experience's review score is adjusted to balance out the disproportional number of negative reviews that are contributed.

You won't be surprised to learn that disgruntled customers are more likely to leave a review than happy ones. They are motivated to share their experience and warn others. We consider this a good thing and it's why reading the reviews is important. However we've learned it can misrepresent the experience in a more overall sense.

We apply a balancing adjustment to counteract this effect and ensure the ranking score is a more fair representation of the experience. This adjustment is applied equally to all experiences.

Final Ranking Score

89%

The final ranking score once any adjustments, ratings, and rounding has been applied. This value is recalculated each day and a short rolling average is applied. Therefore it may not be precisely accurate based on the other values presented.