Are you planning to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell any products internationally? If so, you should think about providing users with currency conversion.
Currency conversion tools allow your prospective customers to translate international currency transactions to their home currency when checking out products online. It also lets visitors and customers see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
One advantage of providing currency conversion is that it lets your customers view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add currency conversion using a plugin to WordPress, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily understand the cost of your products.
Currencyr – Free Currency Converting Tool For WordPress
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
This currency conversion WP plugin features:
- In-line converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Google and European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with various online shopping plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can determine local currency automatically
- Supports full language translations
Note: This plugin requires your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress administration menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select your base currency from the Base Currency dropdown menu if you prefer something other than the default option ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can select a data provider from a drop-down menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another option, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how frequently you would like the currency exchange rates to update by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to modify the jQuery settings, just ignore this option …
Configure the rest of the settings and click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you have configured this section …
When you have configured your plugin settings, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP page using a shortcode.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without editing code using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling goods on your site for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to show your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To do this, you simply need to insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 175.00, 189.00, 399.99, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when added to a post or page …
Once the page has been published, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using the same example, let’s also translate the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when you add it to your content …
After publishing your post or page, the currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to specify a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to non-European visitors (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode looks when added to a post …
Once your content has been published, your converted currency will then appear like this …
Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website or blog’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your website’s sidebar menu with the options you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices using the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify this symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
WordPress E-Commerce
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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