Hey, 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.

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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

90.84%

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 1926 days 100%
Christine 9/10 1985 days 97%
Tracey Cron 9/10 2016 days 96%
Inga Hoffmann 10/10 2716 days 66%
Freddrick Weiser 9/10 3053 days 50%
Mike Dw 9/10 3169 days 45%
Nolwen 9/10 3529 days 29%
The Beans 10/10 3537 days 29%
Ross D 10/10 3543 days 29%
Peter Passlack 10/10 3546 days 29%
Chea Hao Wong 10/10 3598 days 27%
Caroline Shaw 10/10 3768 days 19%
Pierre Mathis 10/10 3779 days 19%
Brenda Oomen 10/10 3782 days 19%
Estelle Daniel 10/10 3786 days 18%
Kim-Lara 8/10 3801 days 17%
Tamara 10/10 3815 days 17%
Sandra P 10/10 3842 days 16%
Marie Schmid 10/10 4170 days 1%
Angie Cairns 10/10 4200 days 0%
Jimmy Shaw 10/10 4453 days 15%
Wendy Hawkins 8/10 4874 days 14%
Roger Hawkins 9/10 4874 days 14%
Tanja Schlagermann 10/10 4881 days 15%
Alexander Mukasa 10/10 4881 days 15%
Erik Muchembled 10/10 4883 days 15%
Andrea Lang 8/10 4885 days 14%
Xtian_P 10/10 4969 days 15%
michellephil 10/10 5030 days 15%
nztintin 10/10 5244 days 15%
mandd 10/10 5244 days 15%
Orlando 9/10 5256 days 14%
Uwe Herrdum 9/10 5260 days 14%
Francis Corrigan 9/10 5274 days 14%
John & Vicki 9/10 5351 days 14%
G Tulloch 9/10 5573 days 14%
Edward Marhi 8/10 5576 days 14%
Robin Adair 9/10 5597 days 14%
Sandra Schulz 9/10 5604 days 14%
Derek Puplett 9/10 5614 days 14%
Martin Current 9/10 5625 days 14%
Hartmut Vogt 10/10 5626 days 15%
allesca 9/10 5730 days 14%
Mary Van 8/10 5791 days 14%
penz 9/10 5853 days 14%
victoriauk 8/10 5883 days 14%
Susanne Strassmann 6/10 5981 days 12%
M Sicard 9/10 5985 days 14%
Lasse Olesen 9/10 5996 days 14%
Keith Wilde 8/10 5998 days 14%
Sarah Goeckener 9/10 6075 days 14%
katharina 10/10 6075 days 15%
Katrin Wennin 8/10 6076 days 14%
Thorben Thede 9/10 6077 days 14%
Roma 10/10 6088 days 15%
HairyHaggis 10/10 6095 days 15%
Ronny 6/10 6314 days 12%
ChristinaV 10/10 6318 days 15%
JudithLehr 6/10 6321 days 12%
Steven 10/10 6325 days 15%
StijnH 8/10 6326 days 14%
FramiskaH 8/10 6327 days 14%
StefanGermany1 8/10 6327 days 14%
JaninaF 10/10 6327 days 15%
Tatjane 9/10 6340 days 14%
XaviG 9/10 6343 days 14%
JesusB 7/10 6343 days 13%
Denk 8/10 6371 days 14%
Katie Mitchell 10/10 6460 days 15%
Ben Ackland 8/10 6696 days 14%
Tessa McCormick 8/10 6706 days 14%
John Beirne 10/10 7063 days 15%
ranker_110 7/10 7067 days 13%
Christine 10/10 7072 days 15%
Helle 9/10 7074 days 14%
John 7/10 7074 days 13%
Reggie 10/10 7075 days 15%
Dave 9/10 7086 days 14%
Beate 8/10 7087 days 14%

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

-2.00% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 125 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 -1.97%
198 -1.98%
199 -1.99%
200 -2.00%
201 -2.01%
202 -2.02%
203 -2.03%

Balancing Adjustment

1.16% 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

90%

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.