The rationale behind this is based on the deduction that you would get more responses if more people open the mail.
It is right in theory. But then there is a difference in motivation and interest. If somebody clicks your mail because he is interested in it, you would have higher response rate with more mails being opened.
What would be happening if you dupe somebody to open your mail? He would exit the moment he finds that he is cheated or it is not what he was looking for.
There is another angle to email headlines.
Many people would give catchy headlines which are not blatant lies but vaguely related to content of email.
See this
"What Would Happen If....."
"I am Almost Broke......"
"Trick To Get Listed In Google In 24 Hours"
These kinds of headlines are witnessed by all of us and somehow we are okay with vagueness of the mail headings.
These also use the attention catching for purpose of getting the mail opened.
In contrast there are clear consistent headlines that not only reveal content but also ensure that only interested readers would be opening it.
In my view your email heading should be honestly phrased around your content. It does no harm if you add some spice to it but writing a misleading headline would be detrimental to reputation of your newsletter.
You might get few more opened mails or clickthroughs but in the long run people would stop trusting you.
Trust is very big factor in business building. I am very strong advocator of building trust and reputation.
Duping your subscribers for want of few more clicks is just unimaginable and I would advise desisting from it.
Arun Pal Singh is an internet marketing consultant and web author who runs website http://www.homeforprofits.com to help online entrepreneurs with information and ready made products.
Visit http://www.homeforprofits.com to find how his information can provide the leverage that your business needs to grow and expand.