"Warm regards" is a professional but slightly dated email closing, friendly without being casual, appropriate for business contexts, common in formal or client-facing communications. It occupies the middle ground between "Best" (casual) and "Sincerely" (formal). But here's the uncomfortable truth: the closing is irrelevant. Nobody converts based on your sign-off.
The email subject line, first sentence, and relevance to the recipient drive whether someone opens and replies. Everything else, tone, closing, formatting, is marginal compared to reaching the right person with the right message at the right time.
Common Email Sign-Offs and Their Signals
Best, casual, modern, most common in tech/startup world. Signals: approachable, not stuffy. Risk: too informal for some traditional industries.
Kind regards, professional, slightly formal, common in Europe. Signals: respectful, business-appropriate. Risk: can feel generic.
Warm regards, professional, slightly warmer than "kind regards." Signals: friendly-but-professional, used by senior execs, consultants, coaches. Risk: can feel try-hard if misused.
Sincerely, formal, traditional, most corporate. Signals: serious, business-appropriate. Risk: feels outdated, impersonal.
Cheers, casual, friendly, modern. Signals: approachable, younger demo. Risk: too informal in some contexts.
Thanks, casual, implies specific ask. Signals: actionable, direct. Risk: assumes they owe you something.
Best wishes, formal, friendly. Common in congratulations or relationship-building emails. Signals: genuine goodwill.
Regards, formal, neutral, professional. Signals: all-business. Risk: cold, distant.
The Real Determinants of Email Success
Subject line is 50% of email success. "Check this out" gets deleted. "Case study: how Company X increased CAC efficiency 40%" gets opened. Subject lines that trigger curiosity, reference credibility, or indicate business value work. Generic openers fail.
First sentence determines whether they keep reading. If the first sentence is about you ("My name is X, I'm a Sales Development Rep"), they stop. If it's about them ("I noticed you recently published a case study on customer data platforms"), they keep reading.
Relevance determines response. If you're emailing the right person (someone who actually needs what you're selling) with context (you've done research on their business), your response rate jumps from 2% to 10-15%. If you're emailing generic lists with no personalization, your response is <1% regardless of how nice your closing is.
Body copy should be short, specific, and action-oriented. Long emails get skimmed and deleted. Emails with asks that are too big ("let's schedule a 30-min call") convert worse than emails with small asks ("quick question: are you managing [specific problem] for your team?").
Crafting Cold Email That Works
The structure: subject line (compelling, not clickbait) → opener (about them) → credibility (why you're contacting them) → value (what you're selling/asking) → ask (small, easy to say yes to) → closing (professional, but the closing doesn't matter much).
Example: "Subject: Your blog post on [topic], one question. Hi [Name], I read your piece on X in [Publication] last week, specifically your point about Y was spot-on because [relevant reason]. Quick question: are you currently exploring [solution] for [problem]? Curious if it's on your roadmap. Best, [Your name]"
Why it works: subject line is specific, opener references something real you read, credibility is built through your interest and research, the ask is small (just a yes/no question), and the closing is casual and professional.
Bad example: "Subject: Interested in improving your sales process? Hi, I'm [Name] from [Company]. We help teams like yours increase their conversion rate. I think we could be a great fit for your needs. Let's jump on a call next week. Best, [Name]"
Why it fails: subject line is generic, opener is about you, no research shown, the ask is too big (30 min call), and they don't know if it's relevant to them.
Email Personalization at Scale
One-to-one personalization doesn't scale beyond 20-30 emails per day. Beyond that, you need template-based personalization: standardized framework with fields you fill in based on research. Or AI-powered personalization that uses information about the recipient to generate unique email bodies.
Tools like Lemlist and Instantly have AI email generation: they take your base template and recipient data (job title, company, recent news, website content) and auto-generate personalized variations of your email. This doesn't replace research, but it saves time on variation writing and increases open rates by 30-50% vs. generic blast emails.
Lessie: Find the Right People and Write Emails That Land
The perfect sign-off won't save an email sent to the wrong person. Lessie solves both problems — finding the right recipient and writing the right message:
- 50M+ profiles, 95% verified emails — Stop guessing at email addresses. Lessie searches 100+ sources and delivers validated direct contacts for decision-makers.
- AI-personalized email copy — Lessie reads each recipient's background — their role, company, recent activity — and drafts a message tailored to them. Not a template with merge fields. A genuinely relevant email.
- 85% open rate, 3x reply rate — When the right person gets a relevant, personalized email, they open it. Lessie users see open rates 4x higher than industry average.
- Works for every outreach type — Sales prospecting, influencer partnerships, investor pitches, talent recruiting, and partnership requests. One tool, six use cases.
Your sign-off matters less than your message and your targeting. Lessie handles both.