Do you plan to set up an e-commerce web site, or sell products internationally? If so, then it’s a great idea to consider providing users with the convenience of currency conversion on your website.
Currency conversion allows your visitors to have the cost of a foreign currency transaction converted to their home currency at the point of sale. It also allows visitors and customers to view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own local currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion to your site is that it allows your customers to see and understand prices in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
Fortunately, if you are a WordPress user, it’s quite simple to add currency conversion via a plugin to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to easily perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your goods.
WordPress Currency Converter – Currencyr
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WordPress plugin with a unique converter tooltip. It’s also free!
Some of the many useful features of this useful plugin include the following:
- In-line converter
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Google, Open Exchange Rates, European Central Bank and FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with various e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce & Shopp.
- Automatically determines local currency
- Translation support
Note: This plugin requires your server to be running 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 web hosting company to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP dashboard by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you can configure the plugin’s settings by selecting Currencyr from your WordPress administration area …
The plugin settings section provides several configuration options …
For example, you can select a base currency from a drop-down menu. The default currency is (‘USD’) …
Similarly, you can choose any supported data provider from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another provider, such as European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you choose ‘Open Exchange Rates’, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can select how often you want to update the exchange rates by choosing 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).
Unless you have a reason to change the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Edit the remainder of the plugin settings to suit your own preferences and remember to click ‘Save Changes’ when you have finished configuring this page …
After you have finished configuring your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to WordPress pages using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to use currency codes (e.g. USD, NZD, JPY, etc …) with the Currencyr plugin.
Shortcodes
You can easily insert currency conversion into WP pages, posts and widgets with no programming knowledge using shortcodes.
Here are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WP pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling your products 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 product information page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also add prices in dollars and cents (for example, 19.95, 197.00, 129.10, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode should look when added to your post …
When your page or post has been published, the currency conversion will display as seen below …
Using the above example, let’s also translate the same price into different currencies.
To do this, use the shortcode shown below (add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the shortcode appears when added to your content …
Once the content has been published, your currency conversion will then display as seen below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to use a different base currency than the one selected as your default.
For example, say you have specified your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to customers in 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 inserted into a post …
Once the content has been published, the currency conversion will then display as seen below …
Currencyr Widget
You can also insert a currency converter into your website or blog’s sidebar area using the Currencyr widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets from the WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to the ‘Active Widgets’ location …
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 display on your sidebar with the settings 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 change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices with a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you select another symbol and update your plugin settings …
Your website visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
E-Commerce Integration
As stated earlier, the plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shopp and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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