Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or selling goods internationally? If so, then here’s a great idea: consider providing users with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software allows your prospects to have the price of an international currency transaction translated to their local currency when checking out products on e-commerce sites. It also allows customers to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One advantage of showing currency conversion on your website is that it allows customers to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, it’s easy and simple to add currency conversion via a plugin to WordPress, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily calculate the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – Currency Converting Plugin For WordPress
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free to install and use on your WP site.
The Currencyr currency conversion plugin features:
- In-line converter
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo! and Open Exchange Rates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shop & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Full support for language translations
Note: The Currencyr plugin needs 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. Alternatively, ask your webhosting provider to update your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking the “Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can visit the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress admin user menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can select your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default currency is ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose another option, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can specify how often you want the currency exchange rates to be updated by choosing an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave these as they are …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings according to your preferences and remember to click Save Changes when finished …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to your WordPress website’s posts using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Using Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets with no technical knowledge using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell an item for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is insert the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also insert pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 175.00, 197.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode should look when inserting it into a post …
When the page or post has been published, the converted currency will display like this …
Using the above example, let’s also translate the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the above shortcode appears when added to a page …
Once the post has been published, your converted currency will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to use a different base currency than the one you have set as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to non-European visitors (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
After publishing the page or post, the converted currency amounts will then appear as shown in the screenshot below …
Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your site’s sidebar section using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add the currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now appear on your sidebar menu with the options you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional 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 select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values with a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you enter another symbol and resave your settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Using The Currencyr Plugin With WordPress-Compatible e-Commerce Software
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)