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

91.18%

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 1718 days 100%
Christine 9/10 1777 days 90%
Tracey Cron 9/10 1808 days 88%
Inga Hoffmann 10/10 2508 days 64%
Freddrick Weiser 9/10 2845 days 51%
Mike Dw 9/10 2961 days 47%
Nolwen 9/10 3321 days 34%
The Beans 10/10 3329 days 34%
Ross D 10/10 3335 days 33%
Peter Passlack 10/10 3338 days 33%
Chea Hao Wong 10/10 3390 days 31%
Caroline Shaw 10/10 3560 days 25%
Pierre Mathis 10/10 3571 days 25%
Brenda Oomen 10/10 3574 days 25%
Estelle Daniel 10/10 3578 days 24%
Kim-Lara 8/10 3593 days 23%
Tamara 10/10 3607 days 23%
Sandra P 10/10 3634 days 22%
Marie Schmid 10/10 3962 days 10%
Angie Cairns 10/10 3992 days 9%
Jimmy Shaw 10/10 4245 days 0%
Wendy Hawkins 8/10 4666 days 13%
Roger Hawkins 9/10 4666 days 14%
Tanja Schlagermann 10/10 4673 days 14%
Alexander Mukasa 10/10 4673 days 14%
Erik Muchembled 10/10 4675 days 14%
Andrea Lang 8/10 4677 days 13%
Xtian_P 10/10 4761 days 14%
michellephil 10/10 4822 days 14%
nztintin 10/10 5036 days 14%
mandd 10/10 5036 days 14%
Orlando 9/10 5048 days 14%
Uwe Herrdum 9/10 5052 days 14%
Francis Corrigan 9/10 5066 days 14%
John & Vicki 9/10 5143 days 14%
G Tulloch 9/10 5365 days 14%
Edward Marhi 8/10 5368 days 13%
Robin Adair 9/10 5389 days 14%
Sandra Schulz 9/10 5396 days 14%
Derek Puplett 9/10 5406 days 14%
Martin Current 9/10 5417 days 14%
Hartmut Vogt 10/10 5418 days 14%
allesca 9/10 5522 days 14%
Mary Van 8/10 5583 days 13%
penz 9/10 5645 days 14%
victoriauk 8/10 5675 days 13%
Susanne Strassmann 6/10 5773 days 11%
M Sicard 9/10 5777 days 14%
Lasse Olesen 9/10 5788 days 14%
Keith Wilde 8/10 5790 days 13%
Sarah Goeckener 9/10 5867 days 14%
katharina 10/10 5867 days 14%
Katrin Wennin 8/10 5868 days 13%
Thorben Thede 9/10 5869 days 14%
Roma 10/10 5880 days 14%
HairyHaggis 10/10 5887 days 14%
Ronny 6/10 6106 days 11%
ChristinaV 10/10 6110 days 14%
JudithLehr 6/10 6113 days 11%
Steven 10/10 6117 days 14%
StijnH 8/10 6118 days 13%
FramiskaH 8/10 6119 days 13%
StefanGermany1 8/10 6119 days 13%
JaninaF 10/10 6119 days 14%
Tatjane 9/10 6132 days 14%
XaviG 9/10 6135 days 14%
JesusB 7/10 6135 days 12%
Denk 8/10 6163 days 13%
Katie Mitchell 10/10 6252 days 14%
Ben Ackland 8/10 6488 days 13%
Tessa McCormick 8/10 6498 days 13%
John Beirne 10/10 6855 days 14%
ranker_110 7/10 6859 days 12%
Christine 10/10 6864 days 14%
Helle 9/10 6866 days 14%
John 7/10 6866 days 12%
Reggie 10/10 6867 days 14%
Dave 9/10 6878 days 14%
Beate 8/10 6879 days 13%

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

-4.06% Adjustment

There may be an adjustment if this experience hasn't received any reviews within the last 42 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 -4.00%
198 -4.02%
199 -4.04%
200 -4.06%
201 -4.08%
202 -4.10%
203 -4.12%

Balancing Adjustment

1.44% 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.