Ranking Score Explained
Hi there, 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 Cougar Line.
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.
Cougar Line
Valid Reviews
84 Valid Reviews
The Cougar Line experience has a total of 88 reviews. There are 84 valid reviews that are included when calculating the ranking score and 4 invalid reviews 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 84 valid reviews:
| Rating | Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/10 | 53 |
|
63% |
| 9/10 | 15 |
|
18% |
| 8/10 | 11 |
|
13% |
| 7/10 | 2 |
|
2% |
| 6/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
| 5/10 | 1 |
|
1% |
| 4/10 | 1 |
|
1% |
| 3/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
| 2/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
| 1/10 | 1 |
|
1% |
92.50% Average
The raw data average (mean) for all the Cougar Line valid reviews is 92.50% and is based on 84 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
31 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 84 valid reviews, the experience has 31 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.
Below is the distribution of ratings for the 31 face-to-face reviews:
| Rating | Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/10 | 5 |
|
16% |
| 9/10 | 13 |
|
42% |
| 8/10 | 9 |
|
29% |
| 7/10 | 2 |
|
6% |
| 6/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
| 5/10 | 1 |
|
3% |
| 4/10 | 1 |
|
3% |
| 3/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
| 2/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
| 1/10 | 0 |
|
0% |
84.52% Average
The raw data average (mean) for all the Cougar Line face-to-face reviews is 84.52% and is based on 31 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.
Weighted Average
96.95%
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 | Face-to-Face | Weight | Relative Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabrielle Johnston | 10/10 | 467 days | 65.44 | 100% | |
| nzthrillseekers | 10/10 | 831 days | 16.04 | 25% | |
| Sandra Wilson | 10/10 | 862 days | 13.6 | 21% | |
| Wolfgang | 9/10 | 1116 days |  |
4.96 | 8% |
| Robyn Hallowell | 9/10 | 1474 days | |
4.26 | 7% |
| Polly Foster | 10/10 | 1715 days | 3.79 | 6% | |
| Ben and Morgane | 9/10 | 1781 days | |
3.66 | 6% |
| Simon L | 10/10 | 2112 days | 3.01 | 5% | |
| Anthony Richards | 10/10 | 2171 days | 2.89 | 4% | |
| Yana W. | 10/10 | 2202 days | 2.83 | 4% | |
| James Wilson | 10/10 | 2263 days | 2.71 | 4% | |
| Shirley Piggott | 10/10 | 2416 days | 2.41 | 4% | |
| Howie Weir | 8/10 | 2505 days | 2.13 | 3% | |
| Nadine | 8/10 | 2549 days | |
2.05 | 3% |
| Sian Harries | 10/10 | 2567 days | 2.12 | 3% | |
| Sasha and Sandra Bonavia | 9/10 | 2567 days | |
2.12 | 3% |
| Denise Albrecht | 10/10 | 2571 days | |
2.11 | 3% |
| svenanka | 10/10 | 2597 days | 2.06 | 3% | |
| fayedoig | 10/10 | 2811 days | 1.64 | 3% | |
| voyager64 | 10/10 | 2811 days | 1.64 | 3% | |
| Jonathan Tuthill | 9/10 | 2827 days | |
1.61 | 2% |
| EmmaNewman | 10/10 | 2842 days | 1.58 | 2% | |
| Hiro1403 | 9/10 | 2842 days | 1.58 | 2% | |
| RichardClough | 10/10 | 2902 days | 1.46 | 2% | |
| Michelle | 10/10 | 2902 days | 1.46 | 2% | |
| jennyhuckstep | 10/10 | 2902 days | 1.46 | 2% | |
| AnneGrange | 10/10 | 2902 days | 1.46 | 2% | |
| Rhi | 10/10 | 2902 days | 1.46 | 2% | |
| kainga | 10/10 | 2902 days | 1.46 | 2% | |
| skphilpott | 1/10 | 2933 days | 1.02 | 2% | |
| Cornelia & Josef | 9/10 | 2945 days | |
1.38 | 2% |
| SimonPayne | 10/10 | 2963 days | 1.34 | 2% | |
| Beachfan | 10/10 | 2994 days | 1.28 | 2% | |
| calamityalex | 10/10 | 2994 days | 1.28 | 2% | |
| Brian & Di | 8/10 | 3190 days | |
0.86 | 1% |
| Janice OConnor | 9/10 | 3191 days | |
0.9 | 1% |
| W Groshops | 7/10 | 3197 days | |
0.81 | 1% |
| Richard Broughton | 9/10 | 3202 days | |
0.88 | 1% |
| nzMuppet | 10/10 | 3208 days | 0.86 | 1% | |
| Hartheib Schmid | 4/10 | 3211 days | |
0.68 | 1% |
| Katharina Dierkes | 5/10 | 3223 days | |
0.68 | 1% |
| Isbabel | 9/10 | 3234 days | |
0.81 | 1% |
| didine | 10/10 | 3236 days | 0.81 | 1% | |
| grumpy2 | 9/10 | 3267 days | 0.75 | 1% | |
| Mattie | 10/10 | 3328 days | 0.63 | 1% | |
| Bianca | 10/10 | 3389 days | 0.51 | 1% | |
| Vanessa | 10/10 | 3512 days | 0.27 | 0% | |
| letstraveltogether | 10/10 | 3542 days | 0.21 | 0% | |
| JTT | 10/10 | 3542 days | 0.21 | 0% | |
| Theresa | 10/10 | 3561 days | |
0.17 | 0% |
| bdgenge | 10/10 | 3573 days | 0.15 | 0% | |
| SB | 9/10 | 3575 days | |
0.15 | 0% |
| Helen Power | 9/10 | 3596 days | |
0.11 | 0% |
| Adriane | 8/10 | 3597 days | |
0.1 | 0% |
| chloeA | 10/10 | 3601 days | 0.1 | 0% | |
| Markus | 10/10 | 3617 days | |
0.06 | 0% |
| Duncan Fea | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| Heather | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| Annie | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| sue pentelow | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| jenny | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| lizi | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| judy | 10/10 | 3632 days | 0.04 | 0% | |
| ronella | 10/10 | 3663 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Barney_Biker | 10/10 | 3693 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Ruth Kinder | 10/10 | 3724 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| NZJenJen | 8/10 | 3754 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Tanya | 10/10 | 3877 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Colleen Doherty | 10/10 | 3877 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| penny hoyle | 10/10 | 3877 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Esther Craddock-Taylor | 10/10 | 3877 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Conrad Duden | 10/10 | 3907 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| scottl | 10/10 | 3907 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| BrunoS | 8/10 | 3942 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Eva Duessler | 10/10 | 3997 days | 0.0 | 0% | |
| Groen | 8/10 | 4019 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Frauke | 10/10 | 4038 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Caroline Cole | 8/10 | 4284 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Andy | 8/10 | 4350 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Lauren | 8/10 | 4614 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Cohen | 7/10 | 4633 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Andreas | 8/10 | 4673 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| Elaine | 9/10 | 4685 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
| KikiNelissen | 9/10 | 4685 days | |
0.0 | 0% |
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 Cougar Line experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.
Recent Reviews Adjustment
-3.98% Adjustment
There may be an adjustment if an experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 60 days. However the Cougar Line 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 199 days.
The Cougar Line experience has been adjusted for 199 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.
| Days | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| … | … |
| 196 | -3.92% |
| 197 | -3.94% |
| 198 | -3.96% |
| 199 | -3.98% |
| 200 | -4.00% |
| 201 | -4.02% |
| 202 | -4.04% |
| … | … |
Final Ranking Score
93%
The final ranking score once adjustments and rounding has been applied. This value is cached and recalculated each day. Therefore it may not be precisely accurate based on the other values presented.
If you have any questions or comments about our ranking score calculation please get in touch at info@rankers.co.nz.