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 Elm Wildlife Tours.

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

Elm Wildlife Tours

Valid Reviews

49 Valid Reviews

The Elm Wildlife Tours experience has a total of 51 reviews. There are 49 valid reviews that are included when calculating the ranking score and 2 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 49 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 24
49%
9/10 10
20%
8/10 6
12%
7/10 6
12%
6/10 1
2%
5/10 1
2%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 1
2%

88.16% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Elm Wildlife Tours valid reviews is 88.16% and is based on 49 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

33 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 49 valid reviews, the experience has 33 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 33 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 14
42%
9/10 8
24%
8/10 5
15%
7/10 6
18%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

89.09% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Elm Wildlife Tours face-to-face reviews is 89.09% and is based on 33 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

90.75%

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
Catherine Skow 10/10 3391 days 100%
Beatrice and Cyrill 10/10 3504 days 89%
Yiying Zhang 5/10 4153 days 17%
Patricia Revel 7/10 4276 days 9%
Jacques Revel 7/10 4276 days 9%
Bjorn Van Mulders 10/10 4375 days 0%
Kim Maertens 9/10 4375 days 0%
Jean Ch 10/10 4518 days 51%
Peter Adams 10/10 5030 days 51%
Laura Diepeveen 9/10 5041 days 51%
Kasten Madsen 9/10 5045 days 51%
Baas 8/10 5045 days 50%
Karl Brachtl 10/10 5045 days 51%
Marian Stolker 9/10 5052 days 51%
Ursi Meier 10/10 5059 days 51%
Helle Thomsen 10/10 5143 days 51%
jenckes 1/10 5218 days 21%
KatieW85 10/10 5249 days 51%
Phill2517 8/10 5341 days 50%
JennyAndFelix 10/10 5371 days 51%
Mark Walker 7/10 5390 days 48%
Keith Ogley 9/10 5396 days 51%
Betten 10/10 5401 days 51%
khs 9/10 5402 days 51%
Marco Schoeggl 9/10 5404 days 51%
Danny and Loreen Way 7/10 5418 days 48%
Remco Smit 8/10 5426 days 50%
pamaho 10/10 5492 days 51%
MarcyMark 10/10 5736 days 51%
john england 10/10 5795 days 51%
Stephanie K 10/10 5808 days 51%
AndyL 10/10 5857 days 51%
naturelover 10/10 6046 days 51%
jjakkeren 8/10 6101 days 50%
Greg18 9/10 6132 days 51%
Louise 10/10 6142 days 51%
John&Denise 10/10 6145 days 51%
Christoph 10/10 6160 days 51%
Kristen 9/10 6175 days 51%
Claire 6/10 6187 days 44%
Aileen 9/10 6220 days 51%
Katie Mitchell 10/10 6252 days 51%
Klaus 8/10 6492 days 50%
Claire Masling 10/10 6501 days 51%
Thomas 8/10 6515 days 50%
Timothy 7/10 6547 days 48%
Gerber Liselotte 10/10 6575 days 51%
Will 7/10 6817 days 48%
Sharon 10/10 6860 days 51%

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 Elm Wildlife Tours experience has plenty of reviews and does not meet the criteria for any adjustment.

Recent Reviews Adjustment

-4.06% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 42 days. However the Elm Wildlife Tours 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 Elm Wildlife Tours experience has been adjusted for 200 days. Adjustments are according to the following table.

Days Adjustment
197 -4.00%
198 -4.02%
199 -4.04%
200 -4.06%
201 -4.08%
202 -4.10%
203 -4.12%

Balancing Adjustment

1.51% 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

88%

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.