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

90.02%

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 3015 days 100%
Beatrice and Cyrill 10/10 3129 days 90%
Yiying Zhang 5/10 3778 days 22%
Patricia Revel 7/10 3901 days 21%
Jacques Revel 7/10 3901 days 21%
Bjorn Van Mulders 10/10 4000 days 15%
Kim Maertens 9/10 4000 days 15%
Jean Ch 10/10 4143 days 3%
Peter Adams 10/10 4655 days 26%
Laura Diepeveen 9/10 4666 days 26%
Kasten Madsen 9/10 4670 days 26%
Baas 8/10 4670 days 25%
Karl Brachtl 10/10 4670 days 26%
Marian Stolker 9/10 4677 days 26%
Ursi Meier 10/10 4684 days 26%
Helle Thomsen 10/10 4768 days 26%
jenckes 1/10 4843 days 0%
KatieW85 10/10 4874 days 26%
Phill2517 8/10 4966 days 25%
JennyAndFelix 10/10 4996 days 26%
Mark Walker 7/10 5015 days 23%
Keith Ogley 9/10 5021 days 26%
Betten 10/10 5026 days 26%
khs 9/10 5027 days 26%
Marco Schoeggl 9/10 5029 days 26%
Danny and Loreen Way 7/10 5043 days 23%
Remco Smit 8/10 5051 days 25%
pamaho 10/10 5117 days 26%
MarcyMark 10/10 5361 days 26%
john england 10/10 5420 days 26%
Stephanie K 10/10 5433 days 26%
AndyL 10/10 5482 days 26%
naturelover 10/10 5671 days 26%
jjakkeren 8/10 5726 days 25%
Greg18 9/10 5757 days 26%
Louise 10/10 5766 days 26%
John&Denise 10/10 5769 days 26%
Christoph 10/10 5785 days 26%
Kristen 9/10 5799 days 26%
Claire 6/10 5812 days 20%
Aileen 9/10 5844 days 26%
Katie Mitchell 10/10 5877 days 26%
Klaus 8/10 6117 days 25%
Claire Masling 10/10 6126 days 26%
Thomas 8/10 6140 days 25%
Timothy 7/10 6172 days 23%
Gerber Liselotte 10/10 6200 days 26%
Will 7/10 6442 days 23%
Sharon 10/10 6485 days 26%

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

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

Balancing Adjustment

1.64% 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.