Are you planning to set up an e-commerce website, or sell goods to an international audience? If so, then you should probably consider providing your prospects with currency conversion.
Currency converting software tools let your visitors translate international currency amounts to their home currency when purchasing products on e-commerce sites. It also lets your visitors and customers view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their local currency.
One great benefit of adding currency conversion is that it allows your customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your visitors to easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WP Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple yet advanced, intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s free to install and use on your web site.
Some of the many features of this plugin include the following:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, such as Yahoo!, Open Exchange Rates & European Central Bank
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Can be integrated with a number of online shopping plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency detection
- Translation support
Important: This plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your web hosting company to update your PHP.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking “Install Now” …
After installing and activating the plugin, you can get to the plugin’s settings section by choosing Currencyr from your administration menu …
The plugin settings page provides several configuration settings …
For example, you can select your base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ dropdown menu. The default option is ’USD’ …
Similarly, you can choose which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default provider is ‘Yahoo! Finance’, but you can select one of the other options, like European Central Bank, FoxRate, Google Finance or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’ as your provider, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can choose how frequently you want the currency exchange rates to be updated by specifying an option from the Update Rates drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which allows web developers to add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WP plugins).
If you have no reason to edit the jQuery settings, you can simply ignore this setting …
Configure the rest of the settings according to your preferences and remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when done …
After your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP page or post using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, JPY, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Using Currencyr Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to posts, pages and widgets with no technical knowledge or skills using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you retail an item online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to show this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode to your post or page …
Note: You can also display amounts in dollars and cents (for example, 175.00, 22.00, 149.00, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode will look when added to your product page …
After publishing the information, the currency conversion will then appear as seen in the screenshot below …
Using this example, let’s now convert the same price into different currency formats.
To do this, use the shortcode below (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
The example below shows how the shortcode looks when you add it to a page …
After publishing your information, your currency conversion will then appear as shown in the example below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol within the Currencyr plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify 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 site targeted to customers from countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the shortcode appears when added to a post …
Once the page or post has been published, your converted currency amounts will then appear like this …
Currencyr Widget
You can also insert currency conversion into your website or blog’s sidebar area using the Currencyr widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets from the WordPress dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and add it to an Active Widgets location …
Configure the widget options as shown below (add any currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to save your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now appear on the sidebar menu with the options you have specified …
Additional Plugin Notes
Here are some additional notes and useful information about using the 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 change the symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as shown below …
If you change the symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol display as the currency separator …
Integration With e-Commerce Platforms
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WP-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(above image sourced from Currencyr plugin site)
Congratulations! 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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