Freshchat sits on your dental practice website with Freddy AI answering questions: "What insurance do you accept?" "What are your hours?" "How do I reschedule?" Excellent support for existing patients who already know you. But zero new patients found your website this month through Google because you have no SEO strategy, 14 reviews, and a competitor with 280 reviews at position 1. Freshchat supports the 500 patients you have while you lose the 50 new patients you could have had. Every service business has natural attrition — patients move, change providers, age out of services. Without acquisition offsetting attrition, a support-focused business shrinks 10-15% annually.
TL;DR
Freshchat supports existing clients. Growth creates new clients. The Webevo platform does both — acquires through SEO and voice AI, supports through CRM and chat.
Support vs Acquisition
Freshchat (part of the Freshworks suite) provides customer messaging with AI chatbots (Freddy AI), live agent routing, ticketing, and knowledge base integration. It solves the support problem. It does not solve the growth problem. Support and growth serve complementary but different objectives.
| Function | Freshchat | Webevo Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Chat support | ✅ AI + live agents | ✅ AI chat |
| Phone support | ❌ Text only | ✅ Voice AI 24/7 |
| Client acquisition | ❌ Not a marketing tool | ✅ SEO + Reputation |
| CRM | ⚠️ Freshworks suite add-on | ✅ Native AI-powered |
| Content marketing | ❌ | ✅ AI-generated |
| Per-agent pricing | $0-$83/agent/month | Team subscription |
Chatbots Are Text — Customers Want Voice: Chatbot platforms handle text-based conversations. But 68% of service business inquiries come through phone calls, not chat windows. A MedSpa patient wanting Botox prices calls. A homeowner with a burst pipe calls. A car accident victim calls. Voice AI handles the dominant inquiry channel that chatbots fundamentally cannot address.
Compare: LiveChat, ChatBot.com, Chatbase.
The Per-Agent Pricing Trap
Freshchat's pricing model charges per agent per month. Free tier offers limited features. Growth tier costs $23/agent. Pro tier costs $49/agent. Enterprise costs $83/agent. A dental practice with a receptionist, office manager, and dentist who occasionally responds to messages pays $147-249/month for chat support — for existing patients only.
As the practice grows, per-agent pricing scales linearly. Adding a second location means adding agents. Hiring a new receptionist means another seat. The cost of supporting existing clients grows while the support tool provides zero assistance in acquiring the new clients that justify the growing team. Platform economics penalize growth instead of enabling it.
Support vs Growth Math
Support tools maintain existing revenue. Growth tools create new revenue. For a MedSpa with $40,000/month revenue and 10% annual attrition, the practice needs 50-60 new clients per year just to stay flat. Freshchat supports the existing $40,000 beautifully — but it cannot generate a single new dollar. The $147/month spent on chat support could be invested in SEO and voice AI that generates 8-10 new clients per month at $500 average first-visit value, producing $4,000-5,000 in new monthly revenue.
This is not to say support does not matter — client retention is critical. But retention without acquisition is a slow decline. Every service business needs both. The Webevo platform provides both in one platform: growth marketing acquires new clients, CRM and communication tools support and retain them.
When Freshchat Makes Sense
Freshchat fits SaaS companies and e-commerce businesses with dedicated support teams handling high volumes of customer inquiries across chat, email, and messaging channels — organizations where 100+ daily support conversations justify per-agent infrastructure and Freshworks suite integration.
For MedSpas, law firms, and home services businesses that need growth AND communication in one platform — the Webevo platform provides acquisition through SEO and voice AI plus retention through CRM and automated messaging.
