Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell your products worldwide? If so, then it’s a great idea to consider providing users with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software lets your prospects convert international currency transactions into their local currency when purchasing or checking out products on e-commerce sites. It also allows visitors to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
One benefit of adding currency conversion is that it allows visitors to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, it’s simple to add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily calculate the cost of your products.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
The Currencyr useful plugin features:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with various e-store plugins like WooCommerce, Shop and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full language translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin requires your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Alternatively, ask your web host to update your PHP.
***
You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress admin area by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins section and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP dashboard area …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu if you want something other than the default option ‘United States Dollar – (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 select one of the other options, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates, you will need to obtain an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how often you would like the currency exchange rates to update by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
Once you have finished configuring your plugin settings, you can add currency conversion to any of your WP posts using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Currencyr Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to WP posts, pages and widgets with no coding skills or knowledge using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail an item online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
To display this information, just insert the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also display pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 6.95, 37.95, 129.10, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode should look once you have added it to the product page …
After publishing your page or post, your currency conversion will appear like this …
Using this example, let’s now convert the same price into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
Once the post or page has been published, the converted currency amounts will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one set as your default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to customers in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
Once the information has been published, your currency conversion will then appear as you can see below …
Plugin Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your website’s sidebar menu using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets from 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 options as shown below (add any currency codes you would like to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on the sidebar menu with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional 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 several currencies.
You can change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency amounts with a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you enter another symbol and update your settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As mentioned earlier, the plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr 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:
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie