Are you thinking about setting up an e-commerce site or selling goods globally? If so, you may want to think about providing users with a currency conversion feature.
Currency conversion software tools allow your prospects to convert foreign currency prices into their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also allows visitors to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion is that it allows your customers to view and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you can add a currency converter to your website, allowing your prospective customers to easily work out the cost of your goods.
Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Some of the useful features of this plugin include:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with various online store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Full language translation support
Note: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Alternatively, ask your web host to update your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the “Install Now” button …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings screen by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress dashboard navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings screen …
For example, you can select a base currency from a drop-down menu if you prefer to use a different currency than the default option ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can select a data provider from the dropdown menu in the Provider section. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose another option, like European Central Bank or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can select how often you would like to update the currency exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WordPress plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, simply ignore this option …
Configure the remainder of the plugin settings and remember to click the Save Changes button when you have finished configuring this screen …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can start adding currency conversion to any WP post or page using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into WordPress pages, posts and widgets without touching your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you sell an item online for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would also like to display your amount converted into British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below into your post or page …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (e.g. 89.95, 97.00, 399.99, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode looks when added to your page or post …
After publishing your post, the currency conversion will then display as you can see below …
Using the same example, let’s also convert the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below now shows how the shortcode looks when added to a post …
After publishing the information, the currency conversion will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s suppose that you would like to use a different base currency than the one you have selected as your default.
For example, say you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your website targeted to non-European visitors (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the above shortcode appears when you add it to a post …
Once your page or post has been published, the converted currency amounts will then display as you can see in the screenshot below …
How To Use The Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your site’s sidebar using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar area, select Appearance > Widgets from your WP dashboard 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 in the example below (add any currency codes you want displaying on your widget separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
Your currency converter 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 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 you can see in the example below …
If you choose another symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Software
As stated earlier, the plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Shopp …
(image source: plugin site)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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