Do you plan to sell goods online to an online market? If so, then here’s a good idea: think about providing your potential customers with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software tools let your prospects have the price of an international currency transaction translated to their local currency at the purchase or checkout stage. It also lets your visitors and customers view the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion is that it lets customers see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, making it it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s really easy and simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to your site, allowing your site visitors to quickly understand the cost of your goods.
WordPress Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique converter tooltip. And, it’s 100% free!
Plugin features include:
- In-line converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, like Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce and Shopp.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Translation support
Important: This plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed on your server. Ask your webhosting support team to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WP dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking the “Install Now” button …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP admin menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default option is ‘USD’ …
Similarly, you can specify which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default option is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can also choose another provider, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates, you will need to enter an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how frequently you want to update the exchange rates by selecting an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The Currencyr 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 WP plugins).
Unless you have a reason to change the jQuery settings, just ignore this setting …
Configure the rest of the settings according to your preferences and don’t forget to click the Save Changes button when finished …
Once you have configured your plugin settings, you can easily add currency conversion to any WordPress page or post using shortcodes and widgets.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to WP posts, pages and widgets without having to mess with code using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail goods on your site for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also insert amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 155.25, 29.95, 399.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode should look once you have added it to the post or page …
After publishing the content, the converted currency will then display like this …
Using the same example, let’s now convert the same amount into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you like separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
Once the information has been published, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to use 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 e-commerce pages targeted to visitors from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below shows how the above shortcode looks when added to a page …
After publishing your post or page, the converted currency will then display as seen in the screenshot below …
Plugin Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your site’s sidebar area using a widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on the sidebar with the options you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the Currencyr plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, using the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values using the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify this symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Platform Integration
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you can go and easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce web site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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