Ranking Score Explained

G'day, 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 Driftwood Ecotours.

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

Driftwood Ecotours

Valid Reviews

28 Valid Reviews

The Driftwood Ecotours experience has a total of 28 valid reviews. There are no 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 28 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 20
71%
9/10 7
25%
8/10 0
0%
7/10 1
4%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

96.43% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Driftwood Ecotours valid reviews is 96.43% and is based on 28 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

4 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 28 valid reviews, the experience has 4 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 4 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 2
50%
9/10 2
50%
8/10 0
0%
7/10 0
0%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

95.00% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Driftwood Ecotours face-to-face reviews is 95.00% and is based on 4 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

96.52%

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
Kathryn B 10/10 3988 days 75%
Chris Piper 9/10 4080 days 56%
SuzP 10/10 4353 days 0%
jaylaw 9/10 4384 days 99%
mayan 7/10 4659 days 93%
Wisi_Yvonne 10/10 4688 days 100%
JBuckman 9/10 4719 days 99%
suemarcusshaun 9/10 4811 days 99%
bhurst 10/10 5025 days 100%
greenscribe 10/10 5359 days 100%
coriolis_effect 10/10 5390 days 100%
LisaB 10/10 5418 days 100%
Simon 9/10 5418 days 99%
Mike Everly 10/10 5418 days 100%
Carol 10/10 5418 days 100%
JohnandSue 10/10 5418 days 100%
miriamm 10/10 5449 days 100%
Andrew 10/10 5449 days 100%
Dennis Robinson 10/10 5449 days 100%
Tika Greenlaw 10/10 5510 days 100%
indigo 10/10 5510 days 100%
Marama Markman 10/10 5510 days 100%
Lara Franklin 10/10 5541 days 100%
bahama 10/10 5624 days 69%
robertd 9/10 5624 days 68%
Julia Marshall 10/10 5875 days 100%
Aoife & Colin 10/10 5939 days 69%
Bev 9/10 5939 days 68%

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 Driftwood Ecotours experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-4.07% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 43 days. However the Driftwood Ecotours 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 Driftwood Ecotours experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -4.01%
198 -4.03%
199 -4.05%
200 -4.07%
201 -4.09%
202 -4.11%
203 -4.13%

Balancing Adjustment

0.70% 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

93%

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.