Ranking Score Explained

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

90.96%

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 1826 days 100%
Christine 9/10 1885 days 98%
Tracey Cron 9/10 1916 days 96%
Inga Hoffmann 10/10 2616 days 69%
Freddrick Weiser 9/10 2953 days 55%
Mike Dw 9/10 3069 days 51%
Nolwen 9/10 3429 days 37%
The Beans 10/10 3437 days 37%
Ross D 10/10 3443 days 36%
Peter Passlack 10/10 3446 days 36%
Chea Hao Wong 10/10 3498 days 34%
Caroline Shaw 10/10 3668 days 27%
Pierre Mathis 10/10 3679 days 27%
Brenda Oomen 10/10 3682 days 27%
Estelle Daniel 10/10 3686 days 27%
Kim-Lara 8/10 3701 days 26%
Tamara 10/10 3715 days 26%
Sandra P 10/10 3742 days 24%
Marie Schmid 10/10 4070 days 11%
Angie Cairns 10/10 4100 days 10%
Jimmy Shaw 10/10 4353 days 0%
Wendy Hawkins 8/10 4774 days 19%
Roger Hawkins 9/10 4774 days 19%
Tanja Schlagermann 10/10 4781 days 19%
Alexander Mukasa 10/10 4781 days 19%
Erik Muchembled 10/10 4783 days 19%
Andrea Lang 8/10 4785 days 19%
Xtian_P 10/10 4869 days 19%
michellephil 10/10 4930 days 19%
nztintin 10/10 5144 days 19%
mandd 10/10 5144 days 19%
Orlando 9/10 5156 days 19%
Uwe Herrdum 9/10 5160 days 19%
Francis Corrigan 9/10 5174 days 19%
John & Vicki 9/10 5251 days 19%
G Tulloch 9/10 5473 days 19%
Edward Marhi 8/10 5476 days 19%
Robin Adair 9/10 5497 days 19%
Sandra Schulz 9/10 5504 days 19%
Derek Puplett 9/10 5514 days 19%
Martin Current 9/10 5525 days 19%
Hartmut Vogt 10/10 5526 days 19%
allesca 9/10 5630 days 19%
Mary Van 8/10 5691 days 19%
penz 9/10 5753 days 19%
victoriauk 8/10 5783 days 19%
Susanne Strassmann 6/10 5881 days 17%
M Sicard 9/10 5885 days 19%
Lasse Olesen 9/10 5896 days 19%
Keith Wilde 8/10 5898 days 19%
Sarah Goeckener 9/10 5975 days 19%
katharina 10/10 5975 days 19%
Katrin Wennin 8/10 5976 days 19%
Thorben Thede 9/10 5977 days 19%
Roma 10/10 5988 days 19%
HairyHaggis 10/10 5995 days 19%
Ronny 6/10 6214 days 17%
ChristinaV 10/10 6218 days 19%
JudithLehr 6/10 6221 days 17%
Steven 10/10 6225 days 19%
StijnH 8/10 6226 days 19%
FramiskaH 8/10 6227 days 19%
StefanGermany1 8/10 6227 days 19%
JaninaF 10/10 6227 days 19%
Tatjane 9/10 6240 days 19%
XaviG 9/10 6243 days 19%
JesusB 7/10 6243 days 18%
Denk 8/10 6271 days 19%
Katie Mitchell 10/10 6360 days 19%
Ben Ackland 8/10 6596 days 19%
Tessa McCormick 8/10 6606 days 19%
John Beirne 10/10 6963 days 19%
ranker_110 7/10 6967 days 18%
Christine 10/10 6972 days 19%
Helle 9/10 6974 days 19%
John 7/10 6974 days 18%
Reggie 10/10 6975 days 19%
Dave 9/10 6986 days 19%
Beate 8/10 6987 days 19%

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

-3.74% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 60 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 -3.68%
198 -3.70%
199 -3.72%
200 -3.74%
201 -3.76%
202 -3.77%
203 -3.79%

Balancing Adjustment

1.42% 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.