Ranking Score Explained

Kia ora, 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

91.22%

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 3239 days 100%
Jonas Neumann 10/10 3253 days 99%
Theresa Flach 9/10 3253 days 98%
Jonathan Maus 10/10 3560 days 72%
Selina 7/10 3567 days 66%
Robin Stamm 8/10 3569 days 69%
Quentin Neulens 10/10 3585 days 69%
Jonathan Maus 8/10 3585 days 68%
Stephanie Pope 9/10 3591 days 68%
Mia Gaynor 10/10 3597 days 68%
Timon Flick 8/10 3603 days 66%
Cosmo Hartuna 9/10 3612 days 66%
Nils Kissel 10/10 3614 days 67%
Fiona and Matthew 8/10 3622 days 65%
Florian Klein 1/10 4258 days 3%
Tina Hilbich 9/10 4288 days 7%
Sanne Meijer 9/10 4289 days 7%
Matt Sidaway 10/10 4352 days 2%
Clara Hayes 8/10 4360 days 1%
Trish Pope 10/10 4369 days 0%
AnnaM 10/10 4640 days 44%
Supiot Zudovic 10/10 4653 days 44%
Wayne Kerr 10/10 4658 days 44%
Ken Milligan 8/10 4658 days 43%
Alessandra 10/10 4660 days 44%
Paul Liecke 9/10 4673 days 44%
Stella Thoben 9/10 4673 days 44%
Karina Gratz 9/10 4675 days 44%
Tobi 10/10 4676 days 44%
Dupont 9/10 4677 days 44%
Bill and Noreen 10/10 4697 days 44%
Hanle 7/10 4746 days 41%
Jessica Marling 9/10 5026 days 44%
Chris 9/10 5059 days 44%
Leander Siegert 7/10 5063 days 41%
Alfred & Henrike 10/10 5090 days 44%
Lydia McLean 10/10 5143 days 44%
Ross Mepham 10/10 5341 days 44%
Lorraine Leonard 10/10 5379 days 44%
Jane Cullum 8/10 5383 days 43%
Patrick Gloede 8/10 5385 days 43%
Daniel Dubach 10/10 5430 days 44%
Amy 9/10 5706 days 44%
Kerry Wood 8/10 5769 days 43%
BenH 10/10 5795 days 44%
rosil 10/10 6101 days 44%
Martina Bumiller 10/10 6106 days 44%
Viktoria Stoffel 8/10 6108 days 43%

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

0.84% 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.