Confusing correlation with causation is at the heart of many strategy mistakes. When this happens, it’s typically not because the strategist doesn’t know that correlation is not causation but rather because they are not disciplined enough to distinguish between the two.
A typical example is when an e-commerce brand laments that their conversion rate is lower on mobile than on desktop, and concludes that it’s because their mobile experience is not as optimized as it could be. In reality, most brands show lower mobile CVR because mobile is used as a discovery vehicle, while desktop is used for conversion.