Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce website or selling goods internationally? If so, you should think about providing your potential customers with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce site.
Currency conversion software allows your prospects to translate foreign currency pricing into their home currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also allows visitors to see the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their home currency.
One benefit of providing currency conversion is that it lets customers view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built using WordPress, you can add a currency conversion plugin to your web site, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily calculate the cost of your products.
Currencyr – WordPress Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Some of the many features of this useful plugin include the following:
- In-line converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Google and Open Exchange Rates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with various e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Translation support
Important: This 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 support team to update your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard 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 selecting Currencyr from your admin user menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings area …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default base currency is ‘USD’ …
You can choose a data provider from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also select another option, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how frequently you want the exchange rates to be updated by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings and click ‘Save Changes’ when finished …
Once you have configured your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP page using widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without having to edit code using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail your products on your website for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show the price converted into British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is insert the following shortcode to your page content …
Note: You can also display amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 155.25, 79.45, 544.97, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks after being inserted into the post or page …
Once the page has been published, the currency conversion will appear as seen below …
Using the same example, let’s now convert the same price into multiple currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a page …
Once the page or post has been published, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one you have selected as your default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to non-European customers (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
After publishing the page or post, the currency conversion will then display like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your site’s sidebar section using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, select Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add any currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency conversion tool will now display on your site’s sidebar with the settings 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 several currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values using a forward slash as you can see in the example below …
If you select another symbol and resave your settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With WP e-Commerce Platforms
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! Now you can go and easily add currency conversion to your WordPress site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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