Let me tell you about the dumbest thing tree service owners do with their marketing budget.

They spend $50-200 acquiring a customer through Google Ads or LSAs. The customer hires them for a $1,500 tree removal. The job gets done. The customer is happy. And then... nothing. No follow-up. No seasonal reminders. No maintenance offers. Radio silence.

Two years later, that same homeowner needs another tree trimmed. Do they call you? Maybe, if they kept your business card and can find it. More likely, they Google "tree service near me" and your competitor spends $150 to acquire the customer you already paid to acquire once.

You're letting your competitors steal your own customers because you have no system for staying in touch.

Email marketing solves this, and the ROI is absurd. For every dollar spent on email marketing, businesses see an average return of $44. Not $1.44. Forty-four dollars.

Why? Because you already paid the acquisition cost. These people already know you, trust you, and have seen your work. Getting them to hire you again doesn't require convincing them you're legitimate. It just requires reminding them you exist.

But most tree services don't email their customers. Ever. They collect email addresses on intake forms and do absolutely nothing with them. It's leaving money on the table at a scale that would make you sick if you actually calculated it.

Here's what systematic email marketing looks like for tree services: automated sequences that educate customers, remind them about seasonal maintenance, offer preventive services, and ask for referrals. All running in the background while you're actually doing tree work.

No manual effort. No remembering to send emails. Just a system that turns past customers into repeat revenue.

Stop treating email like an occasional newsletter you send when you remember. Build these automated sequences once and let them run forever.

1. The Welcome Series (Days 1-30 After First Job)

What it does: Turns new customers into educated advocates who understand tree care and think of you as the expert.

The sequence:

Why it works: Most customers don't think about trees until there's a problem. This sequence positions you as the ongoing expert, not just the emergency removal service. By day 30, they see you as "their tree guy," not "a tree service we hired once."

2. Seasonal Reminder Sequence (Quarterly)

What it does: Reminds customers about seasonal tree care before they think about it themselves.

The timing:

Why it works: Tree care is naturally seasonal, but homeowners forget. This sequence positions your services as preventive, not reactive. Customers hire you before the emergency happens, which means better scheduling for you and better pricing (emergency work compresses margins).

3. Maintenance Package Promotion (After 6-12 Months)

What it does: Converts one-time customers into recurring revenue through annual contracts.

The offer:

Why it works: Homeowners don't want to think about tree maintenance. They want to know it's handled. Annual contracts are easier to sell than individual services because they solve the "forgetting about it" problem. For you, they provide predictable revenue and scheduling stability.

4. Reactivation Campaign (18-24 Months After Last Contact)

What it does: Wins back customers who haven't hired you recently.

The sequence:

Why it works: Many customers aren't ignoring you intentionally. They're just busy. A systematic reactivation sequence captures the 20-30% who would hire you again but needed a reminder.

5. Referral Request Sequence (After Every Completed Job + Quarterly)

What it does: Systematically generates neighbor referrals and online reviews.

The timing:

Why it works: Customers are most likely to leave reviews and refer friends immediately after a good experience. But if you don't ask, most won't think to do it. This sequence asks at the right time with the right incentive.

→ Start simple with just 3 emails - Don't try to build all five sequences at once. Start with: (1) Thank you email after jobs, (2) Spring storm prep reminder, (3) Referral request after 30 days. Get those working, then add more. (Or hit reply and we can help you with these)

→ Use plain text, not fancy designs - Tree service customers don't want newsletter graphics. They want useful information that feels personal. Plain text emails with your company signature perform better than heavily designed templates.

→ Segment by service type - Customers who had emergency storm removal need different follow-up than customers who had routine pruning. Tag them in your system and send relevant content. Someone who just removed a dead tree doesn't need "pruning tips."

→ Email service recommendations - Mailchimp (free up to 500 contacts), Constant Contact (tree service-friendly), or simple: just use your CRM if it has basic email automation. Don't overthink the platform. The content matters more than the tool.

Let me be clear: Sending useful, relevant information to people who hired you and gave you their email address is not spam. Sending them garbage daily offers for services they don't need would be spam. That's not what I'm suggesting.

Here's what actually happens when you email past customers with seasonal tree care tips: They appreciate it. Because most homeowners have no idea when trees should be pruned, what signs of disease look like, or how to prepare for storm season.

You're not interrupting their day with junk. You're helping them protect what's often their most valuable asset (their home) from a risk they don't fully understand (dangerous trees).

The tree service owners who say "I don't want to spam people" are the same ones who have zero repeat business and constantly complain about lead costs. Meanwhile, they're spending $200 per lead on Google while ignoring the database of people who already hired them once.

You know what's actually inconsiderate? Letting your past customers forget about tree maintenance until a branch falls on their roof. Then they have to deal with an emergency, pay emergency pricing, and scramble to find a tree service because you never stayed in touch.

I'm not suggesting you email people every day with aggressive sales pitches. I'm suggesting you send a quarterly email reminding them about seasonal tree care. Four emails per year. That's one email every three months.

If your customers consider four educational emails per year about protecting their property to be "spam," you probably did terrible work and they don't want to hear from you anyway.

But for the 95% of customers who were happy with your work? They'll appreciate the reminders. Some will hire you again. Some will refer their neighbors. And you'll stop hemorrhaging money on acquiring new customers when your past customers would've hired you again if you'd just stayed in touch.

The tree services winning in 2025 aren't the ones with the biggest ad budgets. They're the ones with the best systems for turning one-time customers into repeat clients and referral sources.

Build the system. Send the emails. Stop leaving money on the table.

Most “marketing” you’re paying for isn’t incremental… It’s leakage.
Money dripping out through busted listings, weak reviews, and “experts” running the same playbook for everyone.

We don’t sell theory. We run what’s working right now for real tree companies — and we’ll show you exactly what’s bleeding you dry.

It’s a $100 working session (not a pitch).
You’ll walk out with a play-by-play of what’s broken, what it’s costing you, and how to flip the script on cheaper competitors.
If it’s not worth 10× that, we’ll refund you on the spot.

Stop guessing. Start scaling.

Written by Jacob Hastings
Head of Growth & Client Strategy at Growth Ring Media