Do you sell products online to a worldwide customer base? If so, then here’s a good idea: consider providing your potential customers with currency conversion.
Currency converting tools let your web visitors translate international currency pricing into their home currency at the purchase or checkout stage. It also allows your customers to view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One great benefit of showing currency conversion is that it lets visitors see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, it’s simple to add a currency converter to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your site.
Some of the features of this great plugin include:
- Inline converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Google and Open Exchange Rates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce & Shopp.
- Automatically detects local currency
- Supports full language translations
Important: The Currencyr plugin needs 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 check and upgrade your PHP server installation if necessary.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
When the plugin has been installed and activated, you can access the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your admin user menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can select your base currency from a dropdown menu. The default base currency is ‘USD’ …
You can specify which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default option is Yahoo Finance, but you can also select one of the other options, like FoxRate or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can select how often you would like to update the exchange rates 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 (like WP plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings and remember to click Save Changes when done …
When you have configured your plugin settings, you can easily start adding currency conversion to any WordPress post or page using widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, ZAR, etc …) in this plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WordPress pages, posts and widgets without having to edit code using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail goods online for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product sales page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also display prices in dollars and cents (for example, 165.49, 47.00, 129.10, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode should look after you have inserted it into a page …
After publishing your page or post, the converted currency amount will appear like this …
Using this example, let’s also translate the same amount into multiple currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode looks when added to a page …
Once the post has been published, the currency conversion will then display as shown below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn how to change the currency separator symbol in this plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to select a different base currency than the one set 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 customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the shortcode looks when you add it to a post …
Once your post or page has been published, the currency conversion will then display like this …
Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar section using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets from the WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an ‘Active Widgets’ area …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
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 a symbol of your choice 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) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you choose another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Software
As described earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image source: plugin site)
And there you have it! 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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