Are you planning to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell your products online? If so, then it’s a great idea to consider providing users with a currency conversion service.
Currency converting tools allow your prospective customers to have the cost of an international currency transaction converted into their local currency at the purchase or checkout phase. It also allows your customers to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their local currency.
The obvious advantage of providing currency conversion is that it allows customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s really easy and simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to your WP site, allowing your site visitors to quickly work out the cost of your products.
Currencyr – WordPress Currency Conversion Plugin
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your website or blog.
The Currencyr currency conversion plugin features:
- Inline converter
- Supports several exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-store plugins such as WooCommerce and Shopp.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Translation support
Important: This plugin requires your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to upgrade your PHP server installation if necessary.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking “Install Now” …
When you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WP admin navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can choose a base currency from a dropdown menu. The default option is (‘USD’) …
Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the Provider section. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can select one of the other options, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you want to update the currency exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WP plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, simply ignore this option …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings according to your needs and remember to click Save Changes when finished …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WordPress page using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WP posts, pages and widgets with no programming knowledge using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail your products for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to display this price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
To display this information, you will need to insert the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 175.00, 97.00, 400.00, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode will look when added to a product page …
When the content has been published, the currency conversion will then appear as you can see below …
Using the above example, let’s now convert the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode appears when inserted into a post …
Once the page has been published, your converted currency amounts will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you would like to select a different base currency than the one selected as your default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode appears when added to a post …
Once your page has been published, your converted currency will then display as seen below …
Using The Currencyr Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your website or blog’s sidebar using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now show on your site’s sidebar 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 allows you to specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by the forward slash as shown below …
If you choose another symbol and update your settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
e-Commerce Platform Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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