1. Think about the size of your company. A small business usually does not have the budget to support a major chat software package. Besides that, a company of that size will rarely use all the features available with the high end chat products. On the other hand, if your business is large, you cannot afford to ignore the needs of your huge customer base. You need maximum chat support capabilities.

2. Reflect on how extensive your website is. If you have a small website with only a small number of pages and offer only a limited variety of products, you will not need to buy the most top of the line chat software package. However, if your website is massive, offering hundreds of products and encompassing many pages, you will likely need a more premium package.

3. Count up the departments in your company. The more departments your business has, the more operators you will need to handle the questions that arise for those individual areas. Each operator will be well-versed on the products and services for that one department. He can transfer chat support to a different department if their expertise is needed. For a single-department company, you will not need as many operators.

4. Try to get an idea of how many people visit your site every day. The amount of traffic to your website will largely determine how much chat support you will need. The more guests that come to see your site, the more potential there is for questions. For a website with a lot of visitors, the most extensive chat software packages are often appropriate.

5. Include all your company's websites in your plans. There are options for businesses that operate multiple websites. You can go with chat software packages that set your business up to handle all your websites, rather than purchasing individual software packages for each and every website. This keeps you more organized and your data more fully coordinated.

Once you have answered all the necessary questions about your company, you will have a better feel for what kind of chat software package you need. From there, it pays to shop around and find the deal that offers the best features for a reasonable price.