Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or making products available for sale internationally? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing your web visitors with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce web site.
Currency conversion lets your customers translate international currency pricing to their home currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also allows your visitors and customers to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their home currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion is that it allows customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, and makes it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to currency conversion to WordPress via a plugin, allowing your visitors to quickly determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s 100% free!
This useful WP plugin includes features such as:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Google & Open Exchange Rates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with various e-store plugins like WooCommerce, Shop and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin needs 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. Ask your webhosting support team to update your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WordPress admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking the “Install Now” button …
When you have installed and activated the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings screen by selecting Currencyr from your WordPress admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu if you prefer a different currency than the default option (USD) …
You can select which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select one of the other options, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how often you want the exchange rates to be updated by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings and click ‘Save Changes’ when you have configured all the options on this screen …
When you have finished configuring your settings, you can easily add currency conversion to all of your WP pages and posts using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with this plugin.
Currencyr Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP pages, posts and widgets without having to edit code using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell goods on your site for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show the price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 16.95, 79.45, 544.97, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how your shortcode should look once you have added it to your post or page …
After publishing the post, your currency conversion will appear like this …
Using the same example, let’s now display the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
After publishing your page, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you want to select a different base currency than the one set as the default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
After publishing your post or page, the converted currency amounts will then display as shown in the screenshot below …
Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website’s sidebar area using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WordPress user admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add any currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now display on the sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can change the symbol in the Multiple Separator settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices using a forward slash as shown below …
If you change this symbol and resave your settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Software
As described earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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