Do you plan to sell goods and services online worldwide? If so, then you should consider providing users with a currency conversion tool.
Currency converting software tools let your prospective customers translate foreign currency amounts into their local currency when purchasing or checking out products on e-commerce sites. It also allows customers to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion to your website is that it lets visitors see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, it’s easy to add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your customers to easily calculate the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WP Free Currency Converter
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique converter tooltip. And, it’s completely free!
Useful plugin features include:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of online shopping plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Important: The Currencyr 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 webhosting support team to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WordPress admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can access the plugin’s settings area by choosing Currencyr from your admin navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can select your base currency from a dropdown menu. The default option is ‘United States Dollar – (USD)’ …
You can specify a data provider from a drop-down menu. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select another option, such as European Central Bank 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 frequently you want the exchange rates to update by specifying an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
Unless you have a reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings to suit your own needs and remember to click the Save Changes button when finished …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress page using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Using Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without editing your web templates 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 goods online for a fixed price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To do this, just add the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 188.35, 197.00, 295.75, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode will look when inserting it into the page …
After publishing your post or page, your currency conversion will display like this …
Using the above example, let’s now translate the same price into different currencies.
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 shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
Once your content has been published, the converted currency amounts will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to use a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your e-commerce pages targeted to non-European customers (for example, Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
After publishing the page, your currency conversion will then appear as seen below …
How To Use The Plugin Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add the currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click Save to update your settings …
The currency converter will now appear on your site’s sidebar menu with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the Currencyr 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) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you change this symbol and update your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! 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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