Best. What is best? Often it’s the thing at the top of a list built around the opinions of experts or based on a survey of hundreds of people. Best can often be what gets airplay, even though that doesn’t make it best in any truly meaningful way. These kinds of best are dubious and arguable. Finding some sort of meaningful best requires testing. It requires pitting rival against rival. It requires standing competitors up to scrutiny. The best must be the most reliable, dependable, or effective; pick your measurable. Only this will deliver an unquestionable number one. 

Favorite, on the other hand, is different. Favorite is all in the eye of the beholder. Favorite may dispute every reliable metric. Favorite can defy logic—in fact, it almost always does. When you think of your favorite pizza, it’s probably not on the NY Times’ best pizza list; it’s more likely some sloppy pie loaded with cheese and garlic that wouldn’t get an honorable mention on any reputable top 100 chart. Yet, it’s your favorite, not because it’s a culinary prize winner or because it has the most beautiful presentation, but because it brings with it a load of memories. Maybe it reminds you of hanging out with friends, that first date with your partner, that halcyon summer of your senior year in high school, or good times with family. The smell, the look, and the taste all bring you comfort and happiness—there’s a reason we call such things comfort food.  

What’s interesting is how often favorite beats best. I have been with friends who will go out of their way to get a favorite when what is “best” is right in front of them. I’ve even done it myself. Why? Because comfort beats the experts or test winners more times than not. We humans like comfort. We like certainty, safety, and what we trust … even if something else has been deemed better. 

So, what’s the lesson? Never discount the importance of those hard-to-define, hard-to-measure human things that can make your product, service, and experience the favorite. Relying on being the best can bring you trophies, but being the favorite can bring you customers. 

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