Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods internationally? If so, then here’s a great idea: consider providing users with currency conversion.
Currency converting tools allow your prospects to translate foreign currency pricing into their local currency at the buying or checkout stage. It also allows visitors to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own home currency.
One great benefit of showing currency conversion on your site is that it lets your customers see and understand pricing 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 easy to add currency conversion via a plugin to your WordPress website, allowing your customers to easily understand the cost of your goods.
WP Free Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your site.
Some of the many useful features of this useful plugin include the following:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports several 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, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full language translation support
Note: 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 on your server. Ask your web hosting support team to check and upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking the ”Install Now” button …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your admin area …
The plugin settings page provides a number of configuration settings …
For example, you can choose your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu. The default option is (‘USD’) …
Similarly, you can select which data provider you want to use from a drop-down menu. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can select one of the other options, like European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how frequently you would like the exchange rates to be updated by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ dropdown menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (like WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, just ignore this section …
Configure the remainder of the plugin settings according to your preferences and don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you have finished configuring all of your options …
When you have finished configuring your plugin settings, you can add currency conversion to WP posts and pages using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, CAD, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to posts, pages and widgets without editing your web templates using shortcodes.
Let’s take a look at some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP posts and pages:
Let’s say that you retail a product for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to show the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is add the shortcode below to your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (e.g. 19.95, 29.95, 1356.87, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks after being added to your page or post …
After publishing the information, the currency conversion will appear as you can see below …
Using this example, let’s also translate the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (add as many currency symbols as you want by using vertical pipes) …
The example below now shows how the shortcode appears when added to your content …
Once the content has been published, the currency conversion will then display as you can see in the screenshot below …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify a different base currency than the one you have set as the default.
For example, if you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European visitors (like Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
Once the page or post has been published, your converted currency amounts will then appear as shown below …
Using The Widget
You can also add currency conversion to your website’s sidebar area using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets from your WordPress admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the screenshot below (add currency codes separated by commas), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your website’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 lets you specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices with the forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify the symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Software Integration
As stated earlier, the plugin integrates with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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