One possible reason is that an Activity QA URL was previously loaded in the browser. When this URL is accessed, it sets a cookie that persists the selected experience, even if the query parameters are no longer present.
Solution: Clear your browser cookies and cache, then reload the page. Note: It's recommended to use an incognito window when accessing an Activity QA URL to avoid this issue.
Activity Is in “Draft” But Content Was Already Saved to Page via VEC
When using Visual Experience Composer (VEC), especially with single-page applications (SPAs), Target might store DOM modifications locally or in browser memory.
If you previewed the experience and that preview version got cached in your browser, it can persist for your session or until you clear cache.
Experience Is Being Rendered by Target Library (at.js or mbox.js)
Even if an activity is not “live,” if the Target at.js library calls the experience definition from the server, and the experience was published once and then paused, the cached experience might still be served until cache expires.
Target’s CDN has a TTL (Time To Live) on activity delivery — sometimes up to 30 minutes or more unless manually flushed.
QA URL or Preview Mode Parameter Left in Place
If someone accessed the site with ?mboxEdit=1, ?targetpreview=true, or similar preview parameters, the browser may continue to render experiences based on that — especially in persisted localStorage or third-party cookies.
Auto-Target or Recommendations Artifact
If you're using Auto-Target, Automated Personalization, or Recommendations, and the control logic was left in place, a variant might appear even with the activity paused if the model script is still active on your page.
Test in in-cognito window. It should be showing up in normal browser due to caching (Once QA url runs on the browser, it drops cookies in the browser.)
