Do you sell products online globally? If so, then you should consider providing your prospects with a currency conversion feature.
Currency converting software lets your visitors have the cost of an international currency amount translated into their home currency when purchasing products on e-commerce sites. It also lets your customers see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One benefit of showing currency conversion is that it allows your customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add a currency conversion plugin to currency conversion to your website or blog via a plugin, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily determine the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Conversion Plugin For WP Websites
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
This useful WP plugin includes features like:
- In-line converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Google, Open Exchange Rates and European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with a number of e-store plugins like WooCommerce and Shopp.
- Can determine local currency automatically
- Support for language translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Ask your web host to upgrade your PHP server installation if needed.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking the “Install” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings screen by choosing Currencyr from your admin user navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu. The default option is ’USD’ …
You can choose which data provider you want to use from the dropdown menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose another option, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you want to update the currency exchange rates by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings to suit your preferences and click ‘Save Changes’ when you have configured this screen …
Once you have configured your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any of your WordPress pages or posts using a shortcode.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, JPY, etc …) with this plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WordPress pages, posts and widgets with no technical skills using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail a product for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show this amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also add amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 19.95, 47.00, 295.75, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode should look after being inserted into a post or page …
After the content has been published, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using this example, let’s now convert the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a post …
After publishing your content, the converted currency amounts will then appear as seen below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European customers (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode looks when added to a post …
After publishing your content, the currency conversion will then display as seen in the screenshot below …
How To Use The Plugin Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your website’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add the currency codes you would like to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency converter tool will now appear on your website’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency amounts with a forward slash as shown below …
If you select another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
WP E-Commerce
As mentioned earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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