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 Ben Lomond 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

Ben Lomond Track

Valid Reviews

38 Valid Reviews

The Ben Lomond Track experience has a total of 38 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 38 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 14
37%
9/10 9
24%
8/10 10
26%
7/10 4
11%
6/10 1
3%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

88.16% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Ben Lomond Track valid reviews is 88.16% and is based on 38 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

35 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 38 valid reviews, the experience has 35 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 35 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 11
31%
9/10 9
26%
8/10 10
29%
7/10 4
11%
6/10 1
3%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 0
0%

87.14% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Ben Lomond Track face-to-face reviews is 87.14% and is based on 35 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

87.02%

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
Raphaele 10/10 2157 days 100%
Dale Simpson 9/10 2780 days 70%
Josh Mills 9/10 2796 days 69%
Gielis and Anne 10/10 2803 days 69%
Rachael Sleege 7/10 2826 days 63%
Natasha 6/10 2870 days 56%
Oliver Francis 7/10 2870 days 61%
Nanda Dyke 9/10 2901 days 64%
Clayton Helzer 8/10 2929 days 62%
Dylan Dorman 8/10 2934 days 62%
Isabel 7/10 3129 days 50%
Max 10/10 3139 days 53%
Ellie 8/10 3140 days 52%
Holly Cooper 8/10 3144 days 52%
Anke Vater 8/10 3152 days 52%
Joerg 8/10 3153 days 52%
Helen Hazelwood 9/10 3157 days 52%
Patrick Edwards 10/10 3237 days 49%
Danica Vrsaljko 10/10 3514 days 36%
Markus Johannes 10/10 3514 days 36%
Julie 10/10 3648 days 29%
Stefanie 10/10 3861 days 19%
Mike Gemmill 10/10 3904 days 17%
Anna Guzewiez 9/10 3912 days 17%
Claire 9/10 4258 days 0%
Petra Blumberg 8/10 4264 days 0%
Francois Marchar 10/10 4268 days 0%
Madeleine Mueller 10/10 4628 days 19%
Ed & Katie Riches 9/10 4635 days 19%
Aoife Lillis 8/10 4640 days 18%
Thomas Krause 9/10 4646 days 19%
Alfred & Henrike 10/10 4677 days 19%
Chris Muller 7/10 4718 days 17%
Fasto Maserati 10/10 4979 days 19%
Hendrik Behrens 9/10 4983 days 19%
Lukis Haertel 8/10 5014 days 18%
Jess 10/10 5328 days 19%
Richard 8/10 5358 days 18%

Adjustments

No Adjustment

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

Balancing Adjustment

1.45% 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

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.