Do you sell products online to an overseas customer base? If so, then you may want to think about providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your e-commerce site.
Currency converting tools let your customers translate foreign currency prices into their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows your visitors and customers to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One great advantage of showing currency conversion on your website is that it lets your customers see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add currency conversion via a plugin to your site, allowing your site visitors to quickly and easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WP Currency Conversion Plugin
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a beautiful and unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
The Currencyr plugin features:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google & European Central Bank
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Note: This plugin needs PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WP dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin area …
This takes you to the plugin settings section …
For example, you can select a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default base currency is ’United States Dollar’ …
You can specify any supported data provider from a drop-down menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another provider, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how frequently you would like the exchange rates to be updated by choosing an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (like WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to edit the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Configure the remainder of the plugin settings to suit your own preferences and click ‘Save Changes’ when done …
When your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily start adding currency conversion to WordPress blog’s pages using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets with no coding skills or knowledge using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell an item on your site for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your page content …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (e.g. 155.25, 97.00, 129.10, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode looks after you have added it to your page or post …
After the page has been published, the currency conversion will appear as you can see in the example below …
Using the above example, let’s now convert the same amount into different currencies.
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 inserted into your content …
After publishing your information, the currency conversion will then display as shown in the screenshot below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to select a different base currency than the one set as the default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to non-European customers (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a page …
Once the content has been published, the converted currency will then appear like this …
How To Use The Currencyr Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar area, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the example below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now display on the sidebar with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin allows you to specify a symbol of your choice 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 you can see in the screenshot below …
If you select another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As mentioned earlier, the plugin can be integrated with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce and Shopp …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
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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