Ranking Score Explained

Hi, 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 Heaphy Track.

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

Heaphy Track

Valid Reviews

48 Valid Reviews

The Heaphy Track experience has a total of 48 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 48 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 22
46%
9/10 12
25%
8/10 10
21%
7/10 3
6%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 1
2%

89.58% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Heaphy Track valid reviews is 89.58% and is based on 48 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

43 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 48 valid reviews, the experience has 43 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 43 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 18
42%
9/10 12
28%
8/10 9
21%
7/10 3
7%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 1
2%

88.84% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Heaphy Track face-to-face reviews is 88.84% and is based on 43 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

90.96%

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
Fi 10/10 3063 days 100%
Jonas Neumann 10/10 3077 days 99%
Theresa Flach 9/10 3077 days 98%
Jonathan Maus 10/10 3384 days 73%
Selina 7/10 3391 days 67%
Robin Stamm 8/10 3393 days 71%
Quentin Neulens 10/10 3409 days 71%
Jonathan Maus 8/10 3409 days 69%
Stephanie Pope 9/10 3415 days 70%
Mia Gaynor 10/10 3421 days 70%
Timon Flick 8/10 3427 days 68%
Cosmo Hartuna 9/10 3436 days 68%
Nils Kissel 10/10 3438 days 69%
Fiona and Matthew 8/10 3446 days 66%
Florian Klein 1/10 4082 days 0%
Tina Hilbich 9/10 4112 days 12%
Sanne Meijer 9/10 4113 days 12%
Matt Sidaway 10/10 4176 days 7%
Clara Hayes 8/10 4184 days 6%
Trish Pope 10/10 4193 days 6%
AnnaM 10/10 4464 days 33%
Supiot Zudovic 10/10 4477 days 33%
Wayne Kerr 10/10 4482 days 33%
Ken Milligan 8/10 4482 days 32%
Alessandra 10/10 4484 days 33%
Paul Liecke 9/10 4497 days 32%
Stella Thoben 9/10 4497 days 32%
Karina Gratz 9/10 4499 days 32%
Tobi 10/10 4500 days 33%
Dupont 9/10 4501 days 32%
Bill and Noreen 10/10 4521 days 33%
Hanle 7/10 4570 days 30%
Jessica Marling 9/10 4850 days 32%
Chris 9/10 4883 days 32%
Leander Siegert 7/10 4887 days 30%
Alfred & Henrike 10/10 4914 days 33%
Lydia McLean 10/10 4967 days 33%
Ross Mepham 10/10 5165 days 33%
Lorraine Leonard 10/10 5203 days 33%
Jane Cullum 8/10 5207 days 32%
Patrick Gloede 8/10 5209 days 32%
Daniel Dubach 10/10 5254 days 33%
Amy 9/10 5530 days 32%
Kerry Wood 8/10 5593 days 32%
BenH 10/10 5619 days 33%
rosil 10/10 5925 days 33%
Martina Bumiller 10/10 5930 days 33%
Viktoria Stoffel 8/10 5932 days 32%

Adjustments

No Adjustment

Several adjustments to the weighted average may be added to improve relevancy and credibility. Heaphy Track does not meet the criteria for any of these adjustments to apply.

Balancing Adjustment

0.87% 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 folk 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

92%

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.