What 89 tree service Facebook ads taught us
By Luke Ahern, founder of Ads Astra Labs · Updated November 6, 2026
Every agency has opinions about what makes a good tree service ad. We wanted numbers. So we took 89 Facebook and Instagram ads from seven tree service accounts we run, January 2025 to September 2026, and the 2,140 leads they brought in, and looked at what actually moved the cost per lead. Some of the answers surprised us.
Ad length doesn't change the cost per lead
Ads between 15 and 33 seconds long got leads at the same cost. Each extra 10 seconds changed leads per dollar by only 2% to 5%, well inside the noise, whether we compared accounts month by month or ad sets week by week. Meta tends to give longer ads more of the budget at the same cost per lead, so there's no penalty for a longer story if the story is good.
The first three seconds decide almost everything
76% of viewers were gone by the three-second mark, and only 2% were still watching at 20 seconds. Yet the median script didn't mention a free estimate until 14 seconds in, when almost nobody was left. Put the hook, the work and the area in the first three seconds: a tree coming down, a machine over a roofline, the owner saying where you work.
Ads wear out, fast
By the time an ad was 60 to 119 days old, it brought in about a third fewer leads per dollar than when it was new. In September 2026, 89% of the spend across these accounts was on ads more than 60 days old, which is exactly when cost per lead creeps up. The fix is boring and reliable: new ads every month, filmed on real jobs, with the old winners rested and brought back later.
The lead form matters more than the ad
91% of the difference in cost per lead within an account came from the share of people who finished the form, not from how many clicked. Most tree accounts run a single form that has never been tested. Testing the form, the questions it asks and the higher-intent review step, is one of the biggest levers left in most tree service Facebook accounts.
Town-by-town ads usually cost more
Ads aimed at a single town got about 18% fewer leads per dollar than the broad campaign covering the whole service area. Sometimes a town still earns its place, as Lakefield did for CBL Tree Service, but test it on a small budget first.
What didn't matter
No content feature on its own moved the cost per lead: showing a machine, listing services, mentioning years in business, opening with a question or running an offer. What mattered was whether the ad was real, fresh and fast to the point. The best single examples, with their numbers, are in our All Green Tree Care case study and on our tree service advertising page.
How we ran the study
89 tree service ads across seven accounts, January 2025 to September 26, 2026, and 2,140 leads. We left out one equipment sales account selling to other businesses, whose long green-screen video at a very low cost per lead would have distorted the results, and a hiring ad. Lengths came from the video files, and drop-off from Meta's video retention data.
FAQ
Questions tree service owners ask
How long should a tree service Facebook ad be?
Length barely matters between 15 and 33 seconds. What matters is the first three seconds: show the work and say where you work before most people scroll on.
How often should a tree service change its Facebook ads?
Add new ones every month. Ads lost about a third of their efficiency by 60 to 119 days old in our study, so rest the winners and bring them back later.
Can you run our tree service Facebook ads?
Yes. We run Facebook and Instagram ads for tree companies, starting with a 100% free trial: two weeks, no cost, no commitment. See Facebook ads for tree service companies.
Still have a question?
Call or text Luke. We'll get back to you within 24 hours.