Do you plan to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods globally? If so, then it’s a great idea to think about providing your potential customers with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software tools let your web visitors have the cost of an international currency amount translated to their local currency when checking out products online. It also lets your customers view the exact amount their credit card or PayPal account will be charged, displayed in their own home currency.
The obvious benefit of adding currency conversion is that it lets visitors see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own local currency, making it it easier for visitors to work out their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, you can add currency conversion using a plugin to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to quickly and easily work out the cost of your products.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Converter
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a visually attractive converter tooltip. And, it’s 100% free to install and use on your web site.
Some of the many useful features of this plugin include:
- In-line conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Google & European Central Bank
- WP-Cron task scheduler enabled
- Currency table and converter widget
- Supports integration with a number of e-commerce plugins such as WooCommerce, Shop & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Supports full language translations
Important: The Currencyr 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 host to upgrade your PHP server installation if required.
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You can install the currency conversion plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins area and clicking the “Install” button …
After you have installed and activated the plugin, you can configure the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP admin navigation menu …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the Base Currency drop-down menu if you prefer to use something other than the default option (USD) …
Similarly, you can specify which data provider you want to use from a dropdown menu. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also choose one of the other options, such as FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you choose Open Exchange Rates as your provider, an API (Application Programming Interface) is required …
You can specify how often you would like to update the exchange rates by choosing an option from the Update Rates dropdown menu …
The Currencyr 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 (e.g. WP plugins).
If you have no reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the rest of the plugin settings to suit your own needs and don’t forget to click Save Changes when done …
Once you have configured your settings, you can start adding currency conversion to any WordPress post using shortcodes.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, CAD, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into posts, pages and widgets without having to mess with your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WP posts and pages:
Let’s say that you are selling goods on your website for a set amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display this conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your sales page.
To do this, you simply need to insert the following shortcode into your page content …
Note: You can also display pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 165.49, 197.00, 295.75, etc …)
The example below shows how your shortcode looks after being inserted into a page or post …
When your page has been published, your currency conversion will appear as you can see in the example below …
Using the same example, let’s also display the same amount into different currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (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 your content …
Once your post or page has been published, your currency conversion will then display like this …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol within this plugin.
Now, suppose you want to specify a different base currency than the one you have selected as the 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 customers in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The example below now shows how the above shortcode appears when inserted into a page …
After publishing your content, your currency conversion will then appear like this …
Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your website’s sidebar menu using the plugin’s widget.
To add the currency converter to your sidebar menu, select Appearance > Widgets in your WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the ‘Active Widgets’ location …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add the currency codes you want to display on your widget separated by a comma), and click Save to save your settings …
The currency converter will now display on the sidebar menu with the settings you have specified when configuring the widget …
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 several currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings field.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your currency values using the forward slash as shown below …
If you change the symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your web visitors will see the new symbol used as the currency separator …
Using The Currencyr Plugin With WP-Compatible e-Commerce Software
As mentioned earlier, the Currencyr plugin integrates with a number of WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins such as WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image source: Currencyr plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your WordPress site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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