Last Sunday I sent you an email entitled “My terrible confession”. It had a bit of a strange effect.

Firstly it got a great open rate. Over 10% more people opened that email than the other emails I've sent recently.

Secondly, it got a wonderful response from people. Some people laughing at the story in the email. Others saying how it made a great point that resonated with them. I even got sent a video “reply”.

But it also got one response saying “REMOVE ME FROM THIS SENSATIONALIST MAILING LIST IMMEDIATELY”.

Yep. Someone took huge exception to my use of the word “terrible”.

I exchanged emails with the lady who sent the email. I'm not going to demonize her as some over-excitable loony. She seemed perfectly nice, but said she'd had “experience of terrible things” and so was sensitised to the word.

So what do you do in this case? The temptation given this very strong feedback is to tone down your headlines and message to avoid upsetting anyone.

It would have been an even stronger temptation had I not received all the positive messages.

I've heard other email marketing experts deride the people who complain about their emails. Or say they'd never have become a client anyway.

I'm not so sure that's true. There's nothing wrong with this lady. She's not foolish for taking a dislike to my email. She might even have been a good fit to become a client. I just happen to have hit the wrong hot button with her.

But she's not typical. In the grand scheme of things I got one complaint compared to over a dozen positive emails (and probably even more unvoiced positive responses).

If you let fear of upsetting someone water down what you have to say then you'll also have less of a positive impact on the people attuned to your message.

I'm not saying be disagreeable just for the sake of it. But have the courage to make the points you think are important, and to use the language you think will best get across those points.

You may upset a few people along the way. But you'll hit the spot with an awful lot more. And it's those strong positive responses that build a client base – not mild appreciation.

Be yourself. Be the best, most powerful, most helpful version of yourself you can be. Say what you think will have the greatest positive effect on the most people. Say it in a way that rings true for you.

And you'll change the world in your own small (or big) way.